Editing Fort Bliss (section)

===World War II and postwar===
During [[World War II]], Fort Bliss focused on training [[Anti-aircraft warfare|anti-aircraft artillery battalions]] (AAA). In September 1940, the Coast Artillery's anti-aircraft training center was established. In 1941, the [[List of units using the B-26 Marauder during World War II#Tow target squadrons|1st Tow Target Squadron]] arrived to fly [[target drone]]s.<ref name=Metz/> The [[List of units using the B-26 Marauder during World War II#Tow target squadrons|6th, 19th, and 27th Tow Target Squadrons]] were at the nearby [[Biggs Army Airfield|Biggs Field]]. On 3 August 1944, the [[United States Army Air Defense Artillery School|Anti-Aircraft Artillery School]] was ordered from [[Camp Davis]] to Fort Bliss to make the training of anti-aircraft gunners easier, and they became the dominant force at Fort Bliss following the departure of the [[1st Cavalry Division (United States)|U.S. 1st Cavalry Division]].<ref name=Metz/> On 15 September 1942, the War Dept. made space available for handling up to 1,350 POWs, while POW camps could be constructed.<ref name="Krammer">{{cite book|last1=Krammer|first1=Arnold|title=Nazi Prisoners of War in America|date=1979|publisher=Stein and Day|location=New York|isbn=0-8128-2571-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/naziprisonersofw00kram/page/27 27]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/naziprisonersofw00kram/page/27}}</ref> During the war, the base was used to hold approximately 91 [[Internment of German Americans|German]], [[Internment of Italian Americans|Italian]], and [[Internment of Japanese Americans|Japanese]] Americans from Hawaii (then a territory), who were arrested as potential [[fifth column]]ists but, in most cases, denied due process.<ref>[http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Fort%20Bliss%20%28detention%20facility%29/ "Fort Bliss"] ''Densho Encyclopedia'' (accessed 12 June 2014)</ref>

[[File:Project Paperclip Team at Fort Bliss.jpg|thumb|upright=1.45|A group of 104 [[Operation Paperclip]] [[rocket scientist]]s in 1946 at Fort Bliss. 35 were at the [[White Sands Proving Grounds]].<ref name=McCleskey>{{cite web |last=McCleskey |first=C. |author2=D. Christensen |title=Dr. Kurt H. Debus: Launching a Vision |url=http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/docs/pdf/debus.pdf |page=35 |access-date=7 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080917103545/http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/docs/pdf/debus.pdf |archive-date=17 September 2008 }}</ref>]]
<!--A Ft Bliss or WSMR volunteer should use the mountain background of http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/photo/team.html to resolve whether the photo was taken at Fort Bliss or WSPG-->

By February 1946, over 100 [[Operation Paperclip]] German scientists and engineers had arrived to develop [[rocket]]s, and were attached to the Office of the Chief of [[United States Army Ordnance Corps|Ordnance Corps]], Research and Development Service, Suboffice (Rocket), headed by Major James P. Hamill.<ref name=McGovern/> Although these men were initially "pretty much kept [[wikt:on ice|on ice]]", resulting in the nickname "Operation Icebox",<ref name=McGovern>{{cite book |last=McGovern|first=J|title=Crossbow and Overcast|url=https://archive.org/details/crossbowovercast00mcgo|url-access=registration|year=1964|publisher=W. Morrow|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/crossbowovercast00mcgo/page/209 209]–210, 233, 246}}</ref> they were divided into a research group and a group who assisted with [[List of V-2 test launches|V-2 test launches]] at [[White Sands Missile Range|White Sands Proving Grounds]].<ref name=Huzel>{{cite book |last=Huzel|first=Dieter K|title=Peenemünde to Canaveral|year=1962|publisher=Prentice Hall|location=Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey|pages=210, 214 |isbn=0-313-22928-7}}</ref>

German families began arriving in December 1946.<ref name=McGovern/> By the spring of 1948, the number of German rocket specialists, nicknamed "[https://books.google.com/books?id=8jIeqqCkDHQC&dq=%22prisoners+of+peace%22+%22von+braun%22&pg=PA63 Prisoners of Peace]", in the US was 127.<ref name=McGovern/> Fort Bliss rocket launches included firings of the [[Private (rocket)|Private missile]] at the [[Hueco Mountains|Hueco Range]] in April 1945.<ref name=Ley>{{cite book |last=Ley|first=Willy|author-link=Willy Ley|title=Rockets, Missiles and Space Travel|year=1958|edition=revised|publisher=The Viking Press|location=New York|page=246|orig-date=1944}} NOTE: In 1948, the United States honored the 100th year of Fort Bliss with a [[commemorative stamp]] depicting a rocket launch, the first stamp ever issued by the US related to space efforts or to depict a rocket.</ref> In 1953, funding cuts caused the cancellation of work on the [[Hermes project|Hermes B2 ramjet]] work that had begun at Fort Bliss.<ref name=Ordway>{{cite book |last=Ordway |first= Frederick I III|author2=Sharpe, Mitchell R|title=The Rocket Team|series= Apogee Books Space Series 36|year= 1979|publisher=Thomas Y. Crowell|location=New York|pages=395, 423 |isbn=0-434-55300-X}} NOTE: On 3 September 1948, FBI informant PT-1 reported a Fort Bliss barber had been recruited to send missile photographs and information to the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City.<sup>p406</sup></ref>

In late 1953, after troops had been trained at the Ft Bliss Guided Missile School, field-firing operations of the [[MGM-5 Corporal]] were underway at Red Canyon Range Camp, WSPG.<ref name=Corporal>{{cite web|title=Corporal history |url=http://www.redstone.army.mil/history/pdf/corporal/corp2.pdf |page=249,263 |quote=In 1960, organizational control of the [[MGM-5 Corporal]] transferred from the ARGMA to the ABMA.  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051113142226/http://www.redstone.army.mil/history/pdf/corporal/corp2.pdf |archive-date=13 November 2005 }}</ref>{{Rp|263}} In April 1950, the 1st Guided Missile Group named the [[Republic-Ford JB-2]] the Army Loon.<ref name=Corporal/>{{Rp|249}}