Replacement depot

A replacement depot in United States military terminology is a unit containing reserves or replacements for large front-line formations, such as field armies. As such, the term refers to formations similar to, but larger than, march battalions in other countries. The slang term "repple depple" came into common use in the US Army during World War II.[1]

These depots were used by the US Army in Europe in World War II, but were found to be ineffective as the men assigned from these large pools had poor esprit de corps and were unfamiliar with the fighting formations to which they were subsequently assigned.[2] The handling of the replacements in a bulk, impersonal way by permanent depot staff tended to cause psychological trauma so that they were weakened by the experience.[3] The Oxford English Dictionary notes, in a citation from The New York Times Magazine, 9 December 1945, that "repple depples, in short, are dreary places."[1]

Locations

World War I

1st Replacement Depot, St Aignan, France: support for the American Expeditionary Force.

World War II

Location of replacement depots in Europe c. January 1945.[4]

DepotLocationPurpose(s)
Training Center No. 1Shrivenham, EnglandRetraining of limited assignment men for new duty
2nd Replacement DepotThaon, FranceUS Seventh Army direct support depot
3rd Replacement DepotVerviers, BelgiumUS First Army direct support depot
9th Replacement DepotFontainebleau, FranceOfficer and officer candidate retraining center
10th Replacement DepotLichfield, EnglandProcessing of hospital returnees
11th Replacement DepotGivet, BelgiumUS First Army intermediate depot
US Ninth Army intermediate depot
12th Replacement DepotTidworth, EnglandTheater reception depot
Enlisted retraining center
14th Replacement DepotNeufchâteau, FranceUS Third Army intermediate depot
US Seventh Army intermediate depot
15th Replacement DepotLe Havre, FranceTheater reception depot
16th Replacement DepotCompiègne, FranceEnlisted retraining center
17th Replacement DepotAngervilliers, FranceUS Third Army direct support depot
18th Replacement DepotTonges, BelgiumUS Ninth Army direct support depot
19th Replacement DepotÉtampes, FranceProcessing of hospital returnees
51st Replacement BattalionCharleville, FranceUS Fifteenth Army direct support depot
54th Replacement BattalionMarseilles, FranceTheater reception depot
6900th Provisional DepotVerviers, BelgiumField army intermediate depot
Officer and officer candidate retraining center
6960th Provisional DepotCoëtquidan, FranceEnlisted retraining center

After World War II

Location of replacement depots after World War II and the Cold War.

DepotLocationFormation served
8068th Replacement DepotBeppu, Japan
8069th Replacement DepotSasebo, Japan
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References
  1. "Repple depple". Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 2002.
  2. Karsten, Peter (2006). Encyclopedia of war and American society. Sage publications. pp. 727, 1115. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. Merton, Robert King (1957). Social theory and social structure. Free Press. pp. 272–75.
  4. Ruppenthal, Robert G. Logistical Support of the Armies: September 1944 - May 1945. Washington, DC: Department of the Army, 1959. Accessed July 9, 2014. http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-E-Logistics2/.


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