Fort Chaffee, Arkansas

Fort Chaffee Maneuver Training Center
Part of Arkansas National Guard United States Army Reserve
Fort Smith, Arkansas
U.S. Army Reserve soldiers of the 652nd Multi-Role Bridge Company, from Ellsworth, Wis., launch and position bridge bay sections during River Assault 2011 at Fort Chaffee, Ark. River Assault 2011.
Coordinates	Coordinates: 35°16′12″N 94°12′07″W / 35.270°N 94.202°W / 35.270; -94.202
Type	National Guard Training Camp
Site information
Owner	Arkansas
Controlled by	Arkansas National Guard
Open to the public	Prior Permission needed
Site history
Built	1941
Built by	United States Army
In use	1941-Present
Battles/wars	World War I, World War II, Cold War
Garrison information
Occupants	U.S. Army, Arkansas National Guard

Fort Chaffee Maneuver Training Center is an Army National Guard installation in western Arkansas, adjacent to the city of Fort Smith. Established as Camp Chaffee in 1941, renamed to Fort Chaffee in 1956, Fort Chaffee has served as a United States Army base, training camp, prisoner-of-war camp, and refugee camp. The base was closed following the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission round. Since that time, the Arkansas National Guard has been using 66,000 acres as a training facility. The State of Arkansas received 6000 acres, about half of which have been redeveloped as of 2014. The main environmental concern has been asbestos, released during various fires.

Fort Chaffee is just outside Fort Smith (Sebastian County) and Barling (Sebastian County) on Arkansas Highway 22, one mile (1.6 km) southeast of Fort Smith Regional Airport. The Arkansas River flows eastward along its northern border and Interstate 40 is five miles (8 km) to the north on the opposite side of the river.

Fort Chaffee was originally named Camp Chaffee. The camp was named after Major General Adna R. Chaffee Jr., an artillery officer who, in Europe during World War I, determined that the cavalry was outmoded and, unlike other cavalry officers, advocated for the use of tanks.

The groundbreaking of Camp Chaffee was held on September 20, 1941, as part of the Department of War's preparations to double the size of the U.S. Army in the face of World War II. That month, the U.S. government paid $1.35 million to acquire 15,163 acres from 712 property owners, including families, farms, businesses, churches, schools, and other government agencies. It took only sixteen months to build the entire base. The first soldiers arrived on December 7, 1941, the day of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The installation was activated on March 27, 1942 and from 1942 to 1946, the Sixth, Fourteenth and Sixteenth Armored Divisions trained there. The creation of the camp caused the nearby town of Barling to experience a tremendous boom in housing and businesses. Fort Chaffee also served as a prisoner-of-war-camp during World War II, housing 3,000 German prisoners of war.