Military Training at Fort Snelling

Military Training at Fort Snelling. . , As an active military base for more than 120 years, Fort Snelling has offered many kinds of military training. From mock battles and trench warfare to instruction in ceremonies and parades, the fort is where many soldiers mastered skills they would need in the Army., Soldiers on maneuvers in skis. Fort Snelling, 1942, Minnesota Historical Society, Snow Skills , Fort Snelling's location and climate offered training opportunities that other military bases in the United States could not, including learning to cross difficult winter terrain with snowshoes and cross-country skis., Men on snowshoes pulling machine gun, Fort Snelling, 1923, Minnesota Historical Society, Preparing for War , During World War I, a new form of training, Officers' Training Camps, took place at Fort Snelling. These camps, held at sixteen locations around the nation, helped prepare a large number of officers for service in the war. Training camps were held at Fort Snelling between May and November 1917. Four thousand recruits were trained in tactics, trench building, and defense. They also held bayonet drills and mock battles., Bayonet drill, Fort Snelling, 1918, Minnesota Historical Society, Trench building, Fort Snelling, c. 1917, Minnesota Historical Society, Officers' Reserve Training Camp at Fort Snelling, 1917, Minnesota Historical Society, Step In Line , Soldiers at Fort Snelling learned how to participate in military parade. On parade, soldiers demonstrated their ability to march and drill in ceremonial formations. Here at the Upper Post, soldiers practiced their parade skills on what is now the Neiman Sports Complex., Military Parade at Fort Snelling, 1918, Minnesota Historical Society, 3rd Regiment on parade at Fort Snelling, 1918, Minnesota Historical Society