National Defense: Impenetrable Swamp

Few hours before dawn one morning last week, Alexandria, La. (pop. 27,000) was wakened by the bangs and bops of rifle fire. In the moonlit streets below bedroom windows flame spurted from Springfields and Garands; from hedges, fences, shadows, machine guns chattered. Streets filled with clanking trucks and sputtering motorcycles. In Louisiana's Army maneuvers, soldiers of three divisions had met in the city, were settling down to fight for its possession. And Alexandria loved it. But Army authorities, mindful of the awful traffic tangle that 8 o'clock would bring, were horrified. Umpires straightway ordered the troops out of town, saved...

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