Preface
Chemicals in Combat is the last of three volumes concerned with the activities of the Chemical Warfare Service in World War II. It is devoted to the overseas story—administration, logistics, and combat. In World War II the CWS faced a unique situation, in that it found itself in the unenviable position of preparing for an unconventional kind of warfare that never came to pass. Yet, even as it served as insurance in the event of the introduction of gas by the enemy (United States policy permitted the use of gas only in retaliation) , it also had to be useful in a gasless war.
The CWS was useful in World War II. Its contributions included the missions of smoke, flame, and incendiary weapons, which, less heralded at first, eventually eclipsed the gas mission. How the CWS carried out these various missions in the theaters of operation is the main theme of this volume.
“Chemical Warfare” is a term meant to include the employment of artificial smoke, flame, and incendiary munitions as well as gas offensive and defensive munitions. While the practice at the time of this writing is to refer to the “employment of chemical weapons” rather than to “chemical warfare,” the latter term is appropriate to a World War H setting, and the term “chemicals” retains its inclusive World War II meaning.
In planning a volume devoted to the overseas activities of the CWS, the authors found the logic of either of two alternative organizational methods was appealing: (1) trace each CWS activity, such as preparedness, administration, and logistics, and each of the combat functions, from war area to war area in a unified account by subject; or (2) treat all CWS activities for each overseas area in a unified account under an area heading. The first alternative tended to obscure the administrative and logistic individuality of the CWS overseas branches. It also tended to minimize the impact of area physical characteristics, of area organizational policy, and of area tactics. Even two theaters so intimately
connected and in many ways so parallel as the European and North African were decidedly different entities from the CWS point of view. The theater chief chemical officers operated from different echelons of command, and these individuals did not hold the same conception’ of operating control. The possibility of gas warfare was great in Europe but usually remote in North Africa. The CWS supply system was highly centralized in Europe; it was in part decentralized in the Mediterranean area. But neither did the second alternative solve all the problems. The development of mortar and smoke tactics and techniques in the Mediterranean area was much more closely related to the employment of those tactics and techniques in the European theater situation than it was to the evolution of the Mediterranean theater supply systems. Further, in the Pacific the development of flame weapons and tactics would not observe area boundaries, and Pacific incendiary bomb experience was only a grand enlargement of European experience.
The authors fully realize that the war was carried on in more than the four major areas usually considered herein. They have no desire to detract from the considerable contributions of the CWS branches in the other major areas and in those outposts which could not be designated major. But the authors believe that most CWS problems can be illustrated from activities in the European and North African/Mediterranean theaters and the Southwest and Central Pacific Areas with some reference to the South Pacific Area. The China, Burma-India, North Pacific, and Middle East areas are thus excluded.
The CWS in the United States is treated in two complementary volumes which have preceded the publication of Chemicals in Combat. The first of these, Organizing for War, traces matters of organization, administration, and training from World War I CWS origins through the end of World War II. The second, From Laboratory to Field, deals with CWS research, development, and supply.
The present volume was begun by and under the direction of the late Dr. Paul W. Pritchard, then Chief, U.S. Army Chemical Corps Historical Office. While Dr. Pritchard’s work appears only in portions of the chapters on smoke, the authors greatly benefited from his guidance and advice and from his unflagging interest in overseas military operations. He was one of those historians who could become personally involved in and enthusiastic about his subject without impairment of objectivity. Dr. Pritchard’s successor, Dr. Leo P. Brophy, continued to
provide valuable guidance and advice. Dr. Brooks E. Kleber wrote Chapters VIII through XVII. Dr. Dale Birdsell wrote Chapters II through VI. These authors collaborated on Chapters I and XVIII. Mr. Sherman L. Davis wrote Chapter VII. Dr. Kleber coordinated the work on the volume.
The authors are greatly indebted to Dr. Stetson Conn, Chief Historian, and to Dr. John Miller, jr., Deputy Chief Historian, Office, Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, for guidance and suggestions. Many members and former members of the staff of the U.S. Army Chemical Corps Historical Office also contributed knowledge, preliminary research, or early drafts of portions of this volume. Individuals who were especially helpful and their areas of interest are: Mr. H. Gilman Wing, flame throwers and administration; Lt. Col. Leonard J. McKinney, flame throwers; Dr. Ben R. Baldwin, mortars and readiness; Dr. Alfred J. Bingham, mortars, readiness, administration; and Mr. Innis Brown, chemical troop units. The following U.S. Army Chemical Corps Historical Office enlisted research assistants were especially helpful: Thomas J. Morgan, Nelson Ledsky, Richard Breault, William Piez, Harvey Fergusson, John J. Keeley, Victor H. Walton, and Arthur Macqueen. Mrs. Alice E. Moss supervised the preparation of the manuscript, did yeoman service in checking source locations, and diligently performed preliminary editorial tasks. Mrs. Doris M. Jacobson displayed extraordinary skill in preparing the final typescripts.
Research for this volume was greatly facilitated by personnel of the World War II Records Division, National Archives, especially Mrs. Lois Aldridge, Mrs. Hazel Ward, and Mrs. Caroline Moore. Mr. Howard Bauté, Mrs. Mary K. Stuart, and Mrs. M. Virginia Nester of the Federal Records Center in Alexandria were most helpful in locating CWS records, and personnel of the Federal Records Center, Kansas City, the Archives Division, The Air University, and the Marine Corps Archives provided many collections of overseas records. Mr. Israel Wice and Miss Hannah Zeidlik of the Office, Chief of Military History, steered the authors to many records sources they might otherwise have overlooked. Miss Ethel M. Owens, Office of the Chief Chemical Officer, provided valuable information on the careers of CWS officers.
The veterans of the Chemical Warfare Service have been remarkably frank in supplying materials which do not appear in the official records, and many have given unstintingly of their time. The authors are grateful to all these officers whose interviews or comments have been cited as well as to others who provided more general background in-
formation. They are especially grateful to Maj. Gen. Alden H. Waitt, Brig. Gen. Hugh W. Rowan, and Col. Maurice H. Barker, all of whom followed the project throughout the entire span and contributed much to the authors’ understanding of the World War II experience of the CWS. The following officers were always ready with good counsel: Cols. William A. Copthorne, Alexander Batlin, Frank M. Arthur, and Nelson McKaig, Jr., Lt. Col. Levin B. Cottingham, Maj. Gen. William N. Porter, Cols. Siegfried P. Coblentz, James H. Batte, and Robert W. Breaks, Brig. Gen. Charles S. Shadle, Cols. Alfred J. P. Wilson, Alexander Leggin, John C. MacArthur, Thomas H. Magness, Jr., Claude J. Merrill, Carl V. Burke, Irving R. Mollen, John C. Morgan, Harold Riegelman, and Patrick F. Powers.
Thanks are also due to several other members of the Office of the Chief of Military History: Mr. David Jaffe, editor, Mrs. Marion P. Grimes, assistant editor; Miss Ruth A. Phillips, who selected the photographs; and Mr. Elliot Dunay, who prepared the maps.
For errors in the facts presented and in the conclusions drawn, the authors assume sole responsibility.