The training town was not intended to be a permanent civilian community. It was a military training facility designed to imitate the kinds of villages and small towns American troops might encounter overseas.
Buildings and other features were arranged to create streets, intersections and structures that could be incorporated into tactical exercises.
Instead of simply practicing maneuvers on an open field, soldiers could enter a simulated town and work through problems that required them to think about:
Moving through streets and intersections
Approaching buildings
Entering and clearing structures
Cover and concealment
Communication between units
Supporting movements
Coordinating infantry with other elements
Responding to enemy positions
Moving through areas where visibility was limited
The purpose was to make the training as realistic as possible before soldiers faced actual combat.
The tactical town was particularly useful for small-unit training.
A platoon or company could be given a tactical problem and ordered to advance through the training area. Officers and noncommissioned officers could observe how their men reacted and then correct mistakes.
Soldiers learned that fighting in a town was very different from moving across an open training field.
Buildings created blind spots. Streets created natural avenues of movement. Corners, windows and doorways could conceal an enemy. Units had to maintain communication and avoid becoming separated.
American soldiers might fight in open countryside one day and then find themselves entering a French village, German town or Japanese-held settlement.
