Editing Beale Air Force Base (section)

===United States Army===
In 1940, the "Camp Beale" area consisted of grassland and rolling hills and the 19th century mining town of [[Spenceville]]. [[Marysville, California|Marysville city]] officials encouraged the [[United States Department of War|Department of War]] to establish a military facility in the area. The U.S. government purchased {{convert|87000|acre|km2}} in 1942 for a training post for the [[13th Armored Division (United States)|13th Armored Division]], the only unit of its kind to be entirely trained in California. Camp Beale also held training facilities for the [[81st Infantry Division (United States)|81st]] and [[96th Infantry Division (United States)|96th Infantry Division]], and a 1,000-bed hospital. Dredge tailings from the area's abandoned gold mines were used to build streets at the Camp.

As a complete training environment, Camp Beale had tank maneuvers, mortar and rifle ranges, a bombardier-navigator training, and chemical warfare classes. At its peak during [[World War II]], Camp Beale had 60,000 personnel.

Camp Beale also housed a German [[POW camp]], and served as the main camp for a series of satellite POW camps around northern California. Branch camps were established at [[Arbuckle, California|Arbuckle]], in Colusa County (200 Germans); [[Chico, California|Chico]], in Butte County (475 Germans); [[Davis, California|Davis]], in Yolo County (250 Germans); [[Yountville, California|Napa]], in Napa County  (250 Germans);<ref>{{cite news |title=Forgotten history: German POWs worked at Napa ranches during war |newspaper=[[Napa Valley Register]] |url=https://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/forgotten-history-german-pows-worked-at-napa-ranches-during-war/article_acf71d66-88d6-5c99-bd9b-c191b97790b6.html |accessdate=March 7, 2022 |date=February 12, 2022 |last=Huffman |first=Jennifer}}</ref> and [[Windsor, California|Windsor]], in Sonoma County (250 Germans). All of the camps provided agriculture manpower to local farms and ranchers. German POWs at Beale also provided manpower for base support operations.<ref>{{cite web |title=Beale Air Force Base |publisher=California State Military Department|access-date=25 August 2012 |url=http://www.militarymuseum.org/Beale.html}}</ref>