Texas' lost communist 'invasion' of 1952 For a few days a small Texas town was under (fake) communist rule

PHOTOS: When communists 'invaded' Texas Paratroopers of the 508th Airborne Regimental Combat team hit the silk high over Texas despite an order canceling the jump because of strong winds during Operation Longhorn. Click through to see more images from the fake occupation... less PHOTOS: When communists 'invaded' Texas Paratroopers of the 508th Airborne Regimental Combat team hit the silk high over Texas despite an order canceling the jump because of strong winds during Operation ... more Photo: New York Daily News Archive/NY Daily News Via Getty Images Photo: New York Daily News Archive/NY Daily News Via Getty Images Image 1 of / 60 Caption Close Texas' lost communist 'invasion' of 1952 1 / 60 Back to Gallery

In March 1952 more than 100,000 troops descended on Lampasas, Texas to restore order to the small town west of Fort Hood. For two months after the paratroopers jump out of the Texas sky, America's fighting men worked to retake the Texas town from a communist threat.

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The military training exercise, dubbed Operation Longhorn, was the Operation Jade Helm of the 1950s, without all the sticky conspiracy theories. Lone Star soil was used to train U.S. Army and Air Force troops on what to do if those feared communists overtook a town and declared martial law, according to the Lampasas Dispatch Record. It is one of the most quirky, and obscure tales in modern Texas history.

At the time, Operation Longhorn was one of the biggest military maneuvers undertaken since the end of World War II, with exercises costing $3.3 million. An aggressor force called the People's Republic, headed up by troops from the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg, went up against several Army divisions from nearby Fort Hood. A fake newspaper was even published all about the invasion, along with a radio broadcast.

Don't worry, everyone was in on the plan.

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City officials were "arrested" and churches were shut down to simulate the invasion. A list of rules was distributed, detailing dos and don'ts for locals. Even propaganda leaflets rained from the sky at one point, urging locals to resist and to evoke the memory of the Alamo and Goliad. Thankfully they didn't or else things could have gotten out of hand.

Some derisively called it a "cold war pageant" for the fear-mongering involved. A recent Texas Standard episode shared some of the radio and film reels released during the operation.

Although the invasion was fake, there were very real casualties.

According to the Temple Daily Telegram, one paratrooper died during an April 8, 1952 jump, with another 221 injured after high winds proved to be problematic. An Air Force pilot died in the operation when his F-51 fighter collided with another plane.

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Lampasas city fathers and angry ranchers refused to have another Longhorn-type event in their city. Troops had damaged some of their fields and were frankly annoying, according to reports. You don't scare a Texas man's turkeys to death and expect him to take it lying down. The next maneuver happened in Louisiana, far away from Lampasas.

"Farmers and ranchers who bore the burden of the maneuver have gotten little enjoyment out of the whole thing because of worry over damage to fences, and misplaced livestock, and many have said, after hearing plans for another maneuver next year, that they would refuse to sign easements for their land to be used for maneuvers again," the local paper wrote after the fact.