Carroll H. Dunn
could not handle it, we removed them from the training program. After first
handling-including planting and finding dummy mines-we started using live mines,
although not activated, to plant and to find. We had a few German mines and used
these also. We kept up this training so that at graduation each man who lasted through
it and appeared to have the emotional stability to do it had to pass the final exam, which
was to remove a buried live mine that was booby trapped with a pressure release device
and a quarter pound of TNT. In other words, this was a lethal thing. It didn't make
sense to me to have people training with dummy or inactivated mines when, in a few
weeks, they were going to be in combat.
Of the men in the platoons and line companies, as I remember it, somewhere between
300 and 400 passed that final exam. There was one training accident in which one man
was killed when he started to deactivate this device and, through some means, whether
from carelessness or some other reason, it exploded. In my own view, this was
extremely tragic. Nevertheless, for the group as a whole, in order to prevent more
casualties during combat operations, it was essential that we train people to be capable
of removing mines in combat. Just about the time we finished this training program,
someone in the theater headquarters got the idea that training accidents were verboten
and forbade the use of live mines in training. I think this was one of the most unwise
training directives that I've ever heard of under the circumstances. It would have made
sense back in the United States as people were starting their training, but here we had
people (with D-Day just a matter of weeks away) who would be in France working in
a very heavily mined area (from all the intelligence reports). I saw, as one of the
primary missions of this battalion, the need to remove mines. I could not bring myself
to take these people into enemy minefields without the psychological training of having
dealt with live mines in their training.
This was the training program that I developed as a battalion commander. I don't know
how many other people used it. I was astounded when the orders came out from
headquarters that we could not use live mines in training. I think it was a very short-
sighted view. I don't know who was responsible for it, but I was delighted that we had
completed our training before this came about and with only one casualty. I am
absolutely certain we saved many lives when we faced the real thing.
Q.
Do you think the order was a reaction to your accident?
A
We weren't the only ones, but I suspect that ours had a part. But the training proved
that we had people who had a respect for mines but were not afraid of what they had
to do when they went into combat. Of all the training innovations for which I was
personally responsible, I really believe that this was one of the most effective. As I say,
we didn't
people in it if we saw (of course, we weren't psychologists, but the
officers were very careful to observe people) that they lacked the psychological
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