| Training Area A, Chopawamsic Recreational Demonstration Area |
In early 1942, as the United States prepared to deploy clandestine operatives into occupied territory, Colonel William J. Donovan began searching for a secluded yet practical location to train his newly formed Office of Strategic Services. His requirements were exacting: the site had to be remote enough to conduct demolitions and live-fire exercises without endangering civilians or attracting attention, but also close enough to Washington, D.C. to allow for rapid communication with the President. Electricity and running water were considered essential, even in the most rustic setting.
Attention soon turned to the Chopawamsic Recreational Demonstration Area in Prince William County, Virginia. Though previously developed as a summer camp and Civilian Conservation Corps site, it offered the necessary seclusion and infrastructure. Along with its sister facility in Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland, Chopawamsic was selected to host the Office of Strategic Services training programme. The park’s manager, Ira B. Lykes, received an official order from Secretary of War Henry Stimson. It instructed that all park facilities be placed at the disposal of an unnamed government body. Stimson further ordered that the site’s true purpose, as well as the identity of the agency involved, be kept from public record. The military nature of the operation was never to be mentioned in published federal documents.
This second national park selected for Office of Strategic Services training operations is Chopawamsic Recreational Demonstration Area (Now Prince William Forest Park) in Virginia, then known as Chopawamsic Recreational Demonstration Area. Located approximately 55 kilometres south of Washington, D.C., near Quantico, the park encompasses roughly 3,600 hectares of hilly, densely wooded terrain in a sparsely populated rural area to the west of the Potomac River. Scattered throughout the forested landscape are a Civilian Conservation Corps work camp and five rustic summer cabin camps. The rugged terrain is considered highly suitable for paramilitary training exercises.
The expansive western sector of the park, covering approximately 2,000 hectares, is selected as the site for advanced Special Operations training and designated as Training Area A. This zone includes a Civilian Conservation Corps work camp and three cabin camps. Although Area A opens at the same time as Area B in early April 1942, advanced Special Operations training does not commence until late April or early May, due to the unavailability of qualified trainees during the initial phase.
Chopawamsic was not alone in its secret wartime function. Nearby Fort Hunt, in Alexandria, Virginia, operating under the codename P.O. Box 1142, was also carrying out highly classified intelligence activities for the war effort. These included interrogation, counter-intelligence, and cryptographic work.
By April 1942, Office of Strategic Services recruits began arriving at Chopawamsic, prompting widespread speculation among the local population. Residents were barred from entering parts of the park. The sudden appearance of armoured vehicles, construction equipment, and the sharp crack of explosives at night fuelled local rumours. Some speculated that the park had been converted into a prisoner-of-war facility. Others assumed the activities were an extension of training from the Marine Corps base at nearby Quantico. The truth, however, remained hidden.
The southern and western sections of Chopawamsic Park are designated as Area A, forming the primary training ground for Office of Strategic Services Special Operations and Operational Groups . Several of the existing summer cabin camps are repurposed for military use: Cabin Camp 2 becomes Area A-2, Cabin Camp 3 is redesignated Area A-3, the former Civilian Conservation Corps camp becomes Area A-4, and Cabin Camp 5 is named Area A-5.
Area A is devoted to the training of personnel in irregular warfare, sabotage, and fieldcraft. Trainees, drawn from both military and civilian backgrounds, live in the same wooden cabins once used by children and summer counsellors. They run reconnaissance drills and navigate compass courses through the forest. The craft cabins, once used for rainy-day activities, are converted into lecture halls, where instructors deliver lessons on tactics, leadership, and codes. Outdoors, agents learn how to destroy railway lines and bridges, and to wield small arms to maximum effect. Nearby ravines serve as firing ranges for pistols, rifles, and grenades, while disused farm fields become grounds for tactical movement exercises.
| Multimedia |
| Area A-2 |
As one of the largest camp complexes in the park, A-2 serves multiple functions. It operates as a training ground for Operational Groups and as a basic instruction site for Office of Strategic Services personnel preparing for overseas deployment. It also functions as a holding area for operatives in transit, either arriving or awaiting assignment. The site includes a pistol range, a submachine gun range, and an obstacle course. Every building on the camp is used, with additional structures such as a guard house and an armoury, still standing today, constructed during the war.
Within Area A, several specialised training structures gain notoriety as “Mystery Houses”, “Little Tokyo” or “Houses of Horrors.” Though their exact locations have been lost over time, it is widely believed that at least one of them is located in A-2. These buildings represent a stark departure from conventional weapons instruction. Inside, trainees are challenged to react instinctively to pop-up targets and hostile scenarios in darkness, testing their reflexes, composure, and decision-making under fire.
| Area A-3 |
In the summer of 1942, Area A-3 becomes home to an Office of Strategic Services parachute school. Army officer Lucius Rucker Jr. arrives with a team from Fort Benning, Georgia, to establish airborne instruction. Trainees fly out of the airstrip at Quantico Marine Base and parachute over Chopawamsic, landing in the forest below. At the time, the park is more open than it is today, allowing safe drop zones. After landing, agents must hike back to their base camp and then return to the airstrip to repeat the process. It is not uncommon for trainees to complete five jumps in a single day. The school is later shut down, with parachute instruction moved back to Fort Benning. However, the Office of Strategic Services continues to operate a parachute school in Algiers for several years thereafter.
| Area A-4 |
The Civilian Conservation Corps originally establishes a year-round camp near Joplin Road, complete with a winterised headquarters, a motor pool, supply buildings, and barracks. By spring 1942, this site becomes the headquarters of Detachment A. The Civilian Conservation Corps barracks house the permanent cadre. At full strength, Detachment A includes 280 cadre members and approximately 600 trainees. Today, the site is the location of the park’s modern maintenance yard.
| Area A-5 |
Area A-5, one of the smaller camps in the park, hosts the Advanced Special Operations Course. Army engineers construct a boathouse and dock on the lake to support aquatic training. Trainee Art Reinhardt recalls seeing a pylon structure with rope ladders submerged in the water, designed to simulate amphibious assault conditions. Operatives practise jumping into the lake, allegedly in full combat gear, and are required to tread water and remain afloat unaided. Personnel also train in waterborne landings and crossings, critical skills for coastal operations and sabotage. Later in the war, the Office of Strategic Services establishes a dedicated Maritime Unit and relocates aquatic training to Area D, thought to be situated near Smith’s Point in Charles County, Maryland.
Each sub-area within Area A is tailored to a specific aspect of guerrilla warfare, and collectively they form the backbone of Office of Strategic Services Special Operations training in the eastern United States.
| Multimedia |
| Training |
Trainees usually began their journey aboard covered military trucks departing from Washington, D.C. The drivers deliberately followed a circuitous route, weaving through a maze of back roads to disorient the passengers and obscure the precise location of the camp.
Their first destination was Area A, where crisp uniforms and assumed names were the order of the day. They leave their real names behind for reasons of security and are given student names which we will be known by for the duration of our training. Names such as Joe, Ben, and Al. Anonymity was not only a matter of operational security but also a form of protection for the agents and their families. Relationships, if formed at all, were shaped by secrecy.
Upon arrival, the recruits were divided. Those selected for advanced Special Operations remained at Area A. Those training as radio operators or cipher specialists were sent to Area C. Both locations comprised rustic log cabins, a dining facility, a main lodge, and administrative buildings. Despite their rural appearance, the camps were fitted with modern conveniences, including refrigerators and dishwashers, luxuries uncommon in wartime installations.
As with its counterpart in Maryland, the function of Area A evolves over time. It becomes a venue for both basic and advanced courses for Special Operations personnel, and from 1943 onwards, it also begins to host training for the newly established Operational Groups. In addition to its core instructional purpose, the area serves intermittently as a holding station for operatives awaiting assignment, either prior to or following their training.
Paramilitary instruction is occasionally extended to members of other Office of Strategic Services branches operating in related fields, including Secret Intelligence, Morale Operations, the Maritime Unit, and Counter-Intelligence. Area A comprises three of the cabin camps and the Civilian Conservation Corps camp, which is eventually converted into the Area A headquarters.
The station complement at Area A includes 130 staff and instructors, while the facility as a whole is capable of accommodating up to 500 trainees simultaneously. Its capacity and seclusion make it an ideal environment for conducting advanced clandestine instruction, supporting the expanding demands of Office of Strategic Services operations throughout the war.
Training Area A was further subdivided into smaller sections that included a pistol range, obstacle course, boathouse, and facilities for parachute training. Recruits would board aircraft at Quantico Marine Corps Base and parachute into the park’s forests, later hiking back either to the airfield or to one of the most infamous training sites: the “House of Horrors.”
Within Area A of Chopawamsic Recreational Demonstration Area, purpose-built “problem houses” are constructed to provide trainees with realistic environments in which to practise fieldcraft and operational procedures. These facilities are designed to simulate hostile or covert conditions, and are used for exercises such as dismantling booby traps and conducting secure message drops. Each structure is configured to present varying challenges, forcing recruits to apply critical thinking, calm under pressure, and precise technique.
Known more formally as the “Pistol House,” this structure was used to simulate life-or-death scenarios in dark, confined quarters. This not the famous House of Horrors. This is most likely built in Training Area B. In the middle of the night, recruits would be abruptly roused and ordered to report to the pistol house for a surprise evaluation. Upon entry into the darkened structure, the trainee would receive a scenario from the instructor: “A group of enemy saboteurs are active in the neighbourhood, taking a heavy toll of life and property. You are to make contact and maintain it until either you or the enemy is wiped out.”
With that, the trainee would be sent down pitch-black corridors, forced to kick open doors and engage in close-quarters combat with pop-up cut-outs of German soldiers. The exercise tested not only reflexes and marksmanship but also composure and decision-making under psychological duress.
Among the specific tactical skills taught in these houses is a highly specialised exercise in which trainees must assess a room full of enemy officers and decide, within seconds, which target presents the greatest immediate threat. The decision-making process involves recognising rank insignia, evaluating posture, proximity to weapons, and likelihood of retaliation. One scenario focuses particularly on identifying which German staff officer to eliminate first during an ambush or breach, a skill intended to maximise mission success and ensure the operative’s survival.
One of the most intricate and ambitious espionage training simulations carried out by the Office of Strategic Services took place in Fredericksburg, Virginia, approximately 40 kilometres south of Chopawamsic. The exercise was designed to replicate a covert sabotage operation deep within enemy-held territory. The primary objective was to infiltrate local government offices and simulate the destruction of strategic infrastructure, specifically the iron bridge on Route 1 spanning the Rappahannock River.
To begin the mission, a team of Office of Strategic Services trainees travelled to Fredericksburg and presented themselves at the City Manager’s office, armed with a forged letter purportedly from the White House. This falsified document was used to gain access to the town’s administrative records, including detailed schematics of the water supply, electrical grid, and telephone systems. The deception was a critical test of the trainees’ ability to assume false identities, forge high-level documents, and extract sensitive information without raising suspicion.
With this intelligence secured, two operatives, disguised as local fishermen, positioned themselves along the city’s reservoir. Under the cover of their disguise, they stealthily entered the water and swam toward the dam. From there, they navigated their way through the interior structure to reach the hydroelectric plant. Once inside, they identified key machinery and marked selected generators with white chalk, indicating that these had been “destroyed” in a simulated sabotage action.
The exercise was frequently successful, demonstrating the Office of Strategic Services trainees’ capacity to plan and execute coordinated infiltration missions. However, due to repeated use of the same scenario, the City Manager of Fredericksburg eventually recognised the pattern and realised his town was being used as a mock target for training. With this discovery, he brought an end to the simulation, forcing the Office of Strategic Services to adjust its operational exercises elsewhere.