Sequestered between rugged mountain ranges in the remote Butler Valley is the site of a top secret WWII training base, Camp Bouse. New night fighting tactics and an ultra-secret tank-mounted weapon designed to "change the course of the war" necessitated complete secrecy. The men named their new weapon "The Gizmo."
General George S. Patton, Jr. led a reconnaissance party through the desert Southwest in 1942 and reported not seeing one inhabitant in four days. This led to the establishment of the Desert Training Center (DTC) and California-Arizona Maneuver Area (C-AMA): 31,500 square miles, or 35 million acres, of desert in southeastern California, western Arizona and southern Nevada.
Camp Bouse was so extremely top secret, it was not listed with the dozen other training camps of the DTC. To this day, historian/authors often miss Camp Bouse when writing about the DTC.
Come visit! The first full weekend in February, the Bouse Chamber of Commerce hosts an annual Camp Bouse Dedication at the tank memorial site on Highway 72 Saturday, and a Camp Bouse tour & picnic Sunday. Bring your ATV or 4-wheel drive and join the fun.
East of Hwy 72, drive north east on Main Street to the stop sign. Turn left on Rayder, which turns into Swansea Road. Go 2.2 miles to the Bouse Y trail head (look for the BLM information sign on the left) and continue on the Swansea Road (left fork). Camp Bouse is approximately 25 miles from Bouse, accessible by four-wheel drive or ATV. Passenger vehicles might make the trip, but there is deep sand along the way.
September 1, 1939 - World War II breaks out in Europe
December 7, 1941 - Japan attacks Pearl Harbor
1942 - Poston Japanese Internment Camp opens along the Colorado River
1942 - General George S. Patton, Jr. led a reconnaissance party through the desert Southwest in the autumn of 1942 and reported not seeing one inhabitant in four days. This led to the establishment of the Desert Training Center (DTC) and California-Arizona Maneuver Area (C-AMA): 31,500 square miles, or 35 million acres, of desert in southeastern California, western Arizona and southern Nevada.
1943 - Fighting ends in North Africa
1943 - Desert Training Center annexes an additional 11,000 square miles.
August, 1943 - Troops begin arriving in Bouse, Arizona. One trooper reported, "It was so hot, you could fry an egg in your hand."
Paranoia and deep secrecy were the orders in Bouse. Camp Bouse was so top-secret it was not listed among the training camps of the Desert Training Center's (DTC) California-Arizona Maneuver Area (C-AMA). Troop movement was extremely restricted -- once in Camp Bouse, there was no chance of transferring out. Gold miners working active claims in the mountains around Camp Bouse were encouraged to evacuate -- usually a little over-their-heads target practice encouraged their departure. Even all the dogs in Bouse, 25 miles away, were rounded up and relocated. To this day, researchers often miss Camp Bouse *.
Our Bouse troopers were deployed in Europe, but The Gizmo never got a chance to prove its worth in battle -- the powerful light was used for night advances, stream crossing and to identify and seek out the enemy. The tanks were later exchanged for a different model. One report said the Gizmo-fitted tanks sank in the mud in France and were left to rot.
For more on Camp Bouse, read Where Heroes Trained, written by the troops who were stationed here.
| 1944 | 1-Apr | Camp Bouse declared surplus |
| 1944 | 30-Apr | Desert Training Center land returned to Department of Interior and private landowners |
| 1945 | 8-May | Germany surrendered |
| 1945 | 6-Aug | United States bombed Hiroshima |
| 1945 | 9-Aug | United States bombed Nagasaki |
| 1945 | 14-Aug | Japan surrendered |
| WWII troops trained at Camp Bouse to use a top-secret new night-fighting weapon they dubbed, "The Gizmo." |