United States Army in World War II
The Army Service Forces
The Organization and Role of the Army Service Forces
byJohn D. Millett
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This volume is "under development" and will be completed as time allows...
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. . . For Those Who Served
Contents
| Forward | ix | ||
| Introduction | 1 | ||
| The Choice of General Somervell To Command the ASF | 2 | ||
| Characteristics of the Choice | 6 | ||
| PART ONE The Creation of the Army Service Forces |
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| I. | The War Department and Army Organization at the Beginning of World War II | 11 | |
| Changes in the National Defense Act | 13 | ||
| The Pershing Reorganization | 16 | ||
| Developments Between 1921-1941 | 18 | ||
| II. | The Reorganization of the War Department | 23 | |
| Reorganization of the OUSW | 26 | ||
| Reorganization of G-4 | 28 | ||
| The Reorganization of 9 March 1942 | 36 | ||
| Some Problems of the Reorganization | 39 | ||
| PART TWO The Role of the ASF in the War Department |
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| III. | The Procurement and Supply Activities of the ASF | 45 | |
| Lend-Lease | 49 | ||
| The Relations Between Strategy and Supply | 53 | ||
| IV. | Strategy and Supply: Early Phases | 57 | |
| BOLERO | 59 | ||
| North Africa | 60 | ||
| Operations in Europe, 1943 | 62 | ||
| The Post-Casablanca Trip | 63 | ||
| The TRIDENT Conference | 67 | ||
| The Build-up for OVERLORD | 68 | ||
| The Early Campaigns in the Pacific | 69 | ||
| The QUADRANT Conference | 70 | ||
| V. | Strategy and Supply: Final Phases | 73 | |
| The Cairo and Tehran Conferences | 79 | ||
| Preparations for OVERLORD | 80 | ||
| Italy and France | 81 | ||
| Supply Crisis in the European Theater | 83 | ||
| Malta and Yalta | 86 | ||
| The War in the Pacific | 86 | ||
| Potsdam | 89 | ||
| Other Overseas Operations | 90 | ||
| VI. | Services for the Army | 93 | |
| Medical Service | 93 | ||
| Communications and Photographic Activities | 96 | ||
| Construction | 98 | ||
| Personnel | 99 | ||
| ASF Relations with G-1 | 104 | ||
| Police Activities, Internal Security, and Custody of Military Prisoners | 105 | ||
| Legal Activities | 106 | ||
| Fiscal Activities | 106 | ||
| Postal Service and Publications | 108 | ||
| The Management of Posts, Camps, and Stations | 108 | ||
| Training | 109 | ||
| VII. | The ASF and the OPD | 111 | |
| VIII. | The Army Air Forces and the ASF | 124 | |
| Procurement and Supply Relationships | 125 | ||
| The Conflict Over Post and Base Management | 129 | ||
| The Controversy Over Allotment of Funds | 134 | ||
| IX. | The Somervell Proposals for War Department Reorganization | 138 | |
| X. | The Transfer of ASF Activities to the War Department Staff | 148 | |
| Public Relations | 148 | ||
| Budgeting | 150 | ||
| The Civil Affairs Division | 153 | ||
| Research and Development | 154 | ||
| National Guard and Executive for Reserve and Reserve Officers' Training Corps Affairs | 155 | ||
| Postwar Planning | 155 | ||
| Counterintelligence | 155 | ||
| XI. | Further Reconsideration of the Role of the ASF | 157 | |
| The AGS and the ASF | 158 | ||
| Somervell Raises a Basic Issue | 163 | ||
| The Effort To Resolve the Issue | 165 | ||
| The War Department Decision | 168 | ||
| The Relations of the ASF and the AAF to the Technical Services | 168 | ||
| XII. | Somervell's Relationship With Patterson and Marshall | 173 | |
| The Under Secretary | 173 | ||
| The Chief of Staff | 177 | ||
| PART THREE The Role of the ASF in Industrial Mobilization |
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| XIII. | The ASF and the WPB: Early Attempts To Define Responsibilities | 185 | |
| The Industrial Mobilization Plan | 186 | ||
| Industrial Preparations for War | 187 | ||
| The Creation of the WPB | 189 | ||
| The Army-WPB Agreement | 190 | ||
| Trouble Starts | 193 | ||
| The Agreement on Field Offices | 198 | ||
| XIV. | The ASF and the WPB: The Control of Raw Materials | 201 | |
| Revision of the Priorities System | 203 | ||
| Allocating Raw Materials | 207 | ||
| XV. | The ASF and the WPB: The Control of Production | 213 | |
| Production Scheduling | 220 | ||
| Reconversion | 226 | ||
| Smaller War Plants | 233 | ||
| XVI. | The ASF and Other Civilian Agencies Controlling Procurement Resources | 236 | |
| Research and Development | 236 | ||
| Special Handling of Food, Petroleum, Rubber | 239 | ||
| WMC and Labor Relations | 243 | ||
| Price Control | 246 | ||
| Housing and Community Facilities | 250 | ||
| The Office of War Mobilization | 251 | ||
| XVII. | The ASF and Civilian Agencies Concerned With Military Supply and Defense | 254 | |
| Ocean Transportation | 254 | ||
| Rail Transportation | 262 | ||
| Lend-Lease | 266 | ||
| Civilian Defense | 267 | ||
| XVIII. | Procurement Collaboration With the Navy | 269 | |
| Desirable Organization for Army-Navy Collaboration | 277 | ||
| XIX. | The Procurement Role of the ASF | 281 | |
| Military Procurement | 282 | ||
| Did the Army Want Control of the Civilian Economy? | 288 | ||
| PART FOUR Internal Organization of the ASF |
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| XX. | The Technical Services | 297 | |
| Creation of the Transportation Corps | 298 | ||
| General Depots | 300 | ||
| Adjustments in Responsibilities of Technical Services | 302 | ||
| Internal Organization | 304 | ||
| FIeld Installations of Technical Services | 305 | ||
| Technical Service Duties of Army-Wide Scope | 308 | ||
| XXI. | The Service Commands | 312 | |
| The Service Command Reorganization | 314 | ||
| Pressure for Decentralization | 317 | ||
| The Mission of the Service Commands | 319 | ||
| The Supervision of Class IV Installations | 326 | ||
| The Handling of Labor Supply Problems in the Field | 329 | ||
| Organization Within Service Commands | 332 | ||
| XXII. | The Evolution of ASF Headquarters | 338 | |
| The Merging of the OUSW and G-4 | 338 | ||
| The Administrative Services | 347 | ||
| General Organization of the Staff | 351 | ||
| The Technical Services as Staff Divisions | 354 | ||
| Interstaff Relations | 357 | ||
| A Functional Staff | 359 | ||
| XXIII. | The Management of the ASF | 364 | |
| Urgency | 366 | ||
| Chief Lieutenants | 369 | ||
| Sense of Organization | 371 | ||
| The Quest for Unity | 373 | ||
| Management Improvement | 376 | ||
| Personnel Management | 378 | ||
| Budget Administration | 383 | ||
| Public Relations | 384 | ||
| Legislative Relations | 386 | ||
| XXIV. | The Proposed ASF Reorganization of 1943 | 397 | |
| The ASF Organization Situation in 1943 | 397 | ||
| The Preparation of an Alternative Organization for the ASF | 400 | ||
| Consideration of the 1943 Plan | 405 | ||
| The Public Controversy | 408 | ||
| The Plan Dropped | 411 | ||
| Lessons of the Episode | 414 | ||
| Epilogue | 417 | ||
| Somervell's Departure | 419 | ||
| The Dissolution of the ASF | 421 | ||
| Appendix | Page | ||
| A. | Key Personnel of the ASF, 9 March 1942-31 December 1945 | 428 | |
| B. | Documents on the Relations With the AAF: Position of ASF in the War Department | 433 | |
| C. | Documents on the Relations With the AAF: Relation of Supply and Service Agencies to Combat Forces | 437 | |
| D. | ASF Relations With WPB | 442 | |
| E. | Nelson-Somervell Correspondence in 1942 | 446 | |
| F. | Stimson Letter to Senator Reynolds on Organization of an Office of War Mobilization and Civilian Verses Military Responsibility for Procurement | 452 | |
| G. | Stimson-Knox Agreement on Organization and Functions of the Production Executive Committee of the WPB | 457 | |
| H. | Statement by Under Secretary Robert P. Patterson on Responsibility for Military Procurement Before the Senate Special Committee Investigating the National Defense Program, 77th Congress, 2d Session, 16 December 1942 | 458 | |
| I. | The Duties of the Army Service Forces | 461 | |
| Glossary | |||
| Bibliographical Note | 469 | ||
| INDEX | 475 | ||
TABLES |
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| 1. | Comparison of Medical Service, World War I and World War II | 96 |
| 2. | Technical Service Field Installations | 306 |
| 3. | Proposed Service Command Realignment | 403 |