{{Short description|In US military terminology, a unit containing replacements for large front-line formations}}{{Infobox military unit | unit_name = Ground Forces Replacement System <br/>Ground Forces Reinforcement Command | image = GROUND FORCES REPLACEMENT DEPOT.png | image_size = 200 | dates = 1944-1945 | country = {{flagicon|US}} United States | branch = {{flag|United States Army}} | command_structure = ETOUSA | garrison = Cheltenham, England<br/>Le Mans, France | commander1 = BG Walter Layman | commander1_label = 24 October 1943 - 24 September 1944 | commander2 = BG Henry J. Matchett | commander2_label = 24 September 1944 - 27 January 1945 | commander3 = MG Albert E. Brown | commander3_label = 27 January 1945 - April 1945 }} 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.<ref name="oed">{{Cite encyclopedia | title = Repple depple | encyclopedia = Oxford English Dictionary | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2002 }}</ref>
Replacement depots were under the command of the Ground Forces Replacement System (GFRS) later renamed the Ground Force Reinforcement Command (GFRC) during World War II.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Klinek |first=Eric |date=May 2014 |title=The Army's Orphans: The United States Army Replacement System in the European Campaign |url=https://scholarshare.temple.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/ffe86e37-52ed-4c04-8d1d-42e764e189e8/content}}</ref>
These depots were used by the US Army in the Pacific, North Africa, Italy, and Europe in World War II. They were efficient at continuously keeping fighting units at high numerical strength during prolonged combat when compared to the German system, but were found to be deleterious to morale as the men assigned from these large pools often had poor ''esprit de corps'' and were unfamiliar with the names, history, and traditions of the formations to which they were subsequently assigned.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia | last = Karsten | first = Peter | title = Encyclopedia of war and American society | pages = 727, 1115 | publisher = Sage publications | year = 2006 }}</ref> The handling of the replacements in a bulk, impersonal way by permanent depot staff tended to cause psychological trauma such that they were weakened by the experience.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Merton | first = Robert King | title = Social theory and social structure | publisher = Free Press | year = 1957 | pages = 272–75 }}</ref> 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."<ref name="oed"/>
The depots of the GFRC reduced training in order to rush soldiers to the front lines.<ref name=":0" /> This meant soldiers would arrive at the front to their new units without weapons. It also meant that replacement officers were often only given 90 days of training and sent directly into combat.<ref name=":0" />
In June of 1944, the GFRC introduced the policy of sending casualties back to their original units automatically. This greatly improved morale of the soldiers in hospitals and depots.<ref name=":0" />
==Locations== ===World War I=== 1st Replacement Depot, St Aignan, France: support for the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF).
===World War II=== Location of replacement depots in Europe c. January 1945.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ruppenthal |first=Robert G. |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-E-Logistics2/ |title=HyperWar: Logistical Support of the Armies, Vol. II: September 1944 - May 1945 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Department of the Army |date=1959 |access-date=July 9, 2014 |via=www.ibiblio.org}}</ref> {| class="wikitable" |+ List of Replacement depot in European theatre |- ! Depot !! Location !! Purpose(s) |- | Training Center No. 1 || Shrivenham, England || Retraining of limited assignment men for new duty |- | 2nd Replacement Depot || Thaon, France || US Seventh Army direct support depot |- | 3rd Replacement Depot || Verviers, Belgium || US First Army direct support depot |- | 9th Replacement Depot || Fontainebleau, France || Officer and officer candidate retraining center |- | 10th Replacement Depot || Lichfield, England || Processing of hospital returnees |- | 11th Replacement Depot || Givet, Belgium || US First Army intermediate depot <br> US Ninth Army intermediate depot |- | 12th Replacement Depot || Tidworth, England || Theater reception depot <br> Enlisted retraining center |- | 14th Replacement Depot || Neufchâteau, France || US Third Army intermediate depot <br> US Seventh Army intermediate depot |- | 15th Replacement Depot || Le Havre, France || Theater reception depot |- | 16th Replacement Depot || Compiègne, France || Enlisted retraining center |- | 17th Replacement Depot || Angervilliers, France || US Third Army direct support depot |- | 18th Replacement Depot || Tonges, Belgium || US Ninth Army direct support depot |- | 19th Replacement Depot || Étampes, France || Processing of hospital returnees |- | 51st Replacement Battalion || Charleville, France || US Fifteenth Army direct support depot |- | 54th Replacement Battalion || Marseilles, France || Theater reception depot |- | 6900th Provisional Depot || Verviers, Belgium || Field army intermediate depot <br> Officer and officer candidate retraining center |- | 6960th Provisional Depot || Coëtquidan, France || Enlisted retraining center |}
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:small;" |+ List of Replacement depot in Asian theatre |- ! Depot !! Location !! date !! Purpose(s) !! Note |- | Hawaii Replacement Depot || Scofield Barracks || November 19, 1942 ~ November 1, 1943 | | |- | 1st Replace Depot || || || | |- | 4th Replacement Depot || Australia<br/> Camp Zama, Japan || November 5, 1942 ~ January 25, 1945 || |<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080620012256/http://www.history.army.mil/html/forcestruc/lineages/branches/ag/0014psctr.htm 14th Personnel Center] U.S. Army Center of Military History, November 15, 2006</ref> |- | 5th Replace Depot || || || | |- | 6th Replace Depot || New Caledonia || || | |- | 13rd Replace Depot || Oahu || || | |- | 23rd Replace Depot || Saipan || || | |- | 25th Replace Depot || Scofield Barracks || || | |- |}
===After World War II=== Location of replacement depots after World War II and the Cold War.
{| class="wikitable" |- ! Depot !! Location !! Formation served !! Note |- | 8068th Replacement Depot || Beppu, Japan || || |- | 8069th Replacement Depot || Pusan, South Korea || || <ref>{{cite web|title=Retreat ceremony planned for closing of Camp Hialeah|url=https://www.stripes.com/news/retreat-ceremony-planned-for-closing-of-camp-hialeah-1.52514|publisher=Stars and Stripes}}</ref> |- | 8091st Replacement Depot || || || |- | 8609th Replacement Depot || Camp Drake, Sasebo, Japan || || |}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Replacement Depot}} Category:Military organization
{{mil-stub}}