United States Army in World War II: The Technical Services: The Quartermaster Corps

Organization, Supply, and Services: Volume II

by Erna Risch and Chester L. Kieffer

Center of Military History

Department of the Army

Washington, D.C.

1955

. . . to Those Who Served

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

Part One: Supply

The first four chapters are a continuation of the supply story begun in Volume 1.

Chapter 1: Salvage Policies and Procedures

Administrative Organization—Relations With the Services of Supply—Relations With Civilian Agencies—Relations With the Field—Clarification of Procedures—Transfer of Responsibility to the Army Service Forces—Conservation Programs and Command Responsibilities—Quartermaster Salvage Program

Chapter 2: Reclamation and Conservation Activities

Money Allowances Versus Issues in Kind—Utilization of Obsolete and Class B Clothing—Repair Shop System—Return of Unserviceable Materiel to Supply Channels—Classification and Serviceability Standards—Improvement of Repair Shop Production—Value of the Repair Program—Conservation of Food

Chapter 3: Problems of Industrial Demobilization

Planning for Demobilization—Downward Revision of the Production Program—Development of Contract Termination Policy—Advance Planning for Mass Terminations—Disposal of Termination Inventory—Disposal of Surplus Property

Chapter 4: Statistical Review of Quartermaster Supply Operations

Part Two: Personnel and Training

Chapter 5: The Procurement of Quartermaster Enlisted Personnel

Administrative Organization—Qualations of Enlisted Men in the QMC—The Army Classification System and the QMC—Classification by Occupational Skill—Classification by Physical Capacity—Classification by Intellectual Capacity—The Number and Quality of Negro Troops in the QMC—Summary

Chapter 6: The Procurement of Quartermaster Officers

Procurement Problems in the Emergency Period—The Critical Officer Shortage of 1942—The Role of the Officer Candidate School—The Commissioning of Civilians—Classification and Assignment—Operation of the Officer Pool—Officers for Negro Troops—Summary

Chapter 7: The Training of Enlisted Replacements

The Development of Administrative Controls—Quartermaster Replacement Training Centers—Evaluation of the Replacement Training Program

Chapter 8: Schools for Officers and Enlisted Specialists

The Officer Candidate School—The Quartermaster School—Reserve Officers’ Training Corps—Motor Transport Schools—Civilian Trade and Factory Schools—Schools in Civilian Educational Institutions—Schools for Bakers and Cooks—Subsistence School—Officer Training at Depots .—Summary

Chapter 9: The Activation and Training of Quartermaster Units

Origin and Development of Quartermaster Units—The Corps’ Limited Responsibility for Unit Training—Principal Training Problems—The Development of the Training Program—Summary

Part Three: Special Services

Chapter 10: Animals for Military Use

Organization for Handling Remount Activities—Horses and Mules—Dogs for War Purposes

Chapter 11: Quartermaster Laundry and Dry Cleaning Operations

Administrative Organization—Expansion of Fixed Laundries—Use of Mobile Laundries—Operation of Quartermaster Laundries

Chapter 12: Care of the Dead

Growth of Functions—Administrative Organization—National Cemeteries—Headstones and Markers—Disposition of Remains—Graves Registration Service—Planning for the Final Disposition of Remains—Statistics on the Return of the Dead Program

Bibliographical Note

List of Abbreviations

Index

Tables

1. Summary of Quartermaster Contract Terminations

2. Estimated Value of ASF Procurement Deliveries: January 1942–December 1945

3. Value of QMC Procurement Deliveries by Major-Item Group: 1942–1945

4. Deliveries of Selected Clothing, Equipment, and Supply Items

5. Deliveries of a Few Selected Subsistence Items

6. Purchases Directed by Office, Quartermaster General of Petroleum Products by Major Commodities: 1 June 1943–31 August 1945

7. Value of Quartermaster Lend-Lease Shipments

8. Distribution of Quartermaster Lend-Lease Shipments

9. Quartermaster Civilian Supply Shipments to All Liberated Areas: 1 July 1943–31 August 1945

10. Net Usable Storage Space Operated by the Quartermaster Corps in the Continental United States

11. Tonnage Received and Shipped by Depots: September 1942–August 1945

12. Quartermaster Personnel and Work Load Per Employee in Storage Operations: September 1942–June 1945

13. Growth of the QMC and the Army: Actual Strength

14. Separations of Enlisted Men From the QMC

15. Accessions of QMC Officers During World War II

16. Separations of Quartermaster Commissioned Officers

17. Types of Quartermaster Units in World War II

18. Units Trained by the Office of The Quartermaster General

19. QMC Fixed Laundry and Dry Cleaning Plant Activities: Fiscal Years 1940–1945

Charts

1. Stop-Work Stages for Clearing Machinery Under JTR 241.3, Worsted and Woolen Manufacturing Industry

2. Stop-Work Stages for Clearing Machinery Under JTR 241.3, on the Combed and Carded Systems of the Cotton Textile Manufacturing Industry

3. Growth of the Quartermaster Corps: 1939–1945

Illustrations

Repairing Army Shoes in 1918—Salvaging Scrap Material—Salvage Tin Dump—Repairing Mess Kits—Rebuilding Shoes—Trainees Repairing Shoes—Rifle Practice—Clothing and Textile Repairmen in Training—Mobile Laundry Unit in Operation—Students Learning to Repair Engines—Instruction in Meat Cutting—Trainees Repairing Clothing—Dummy Boxcar—Miniature Models for Training, 253—Model Warehouse Demonstration—Training Automotive Mechanics—Class in Pastry Baking—Pack Animals in Italy—Pack Animals in Burma—Dog Teams in Alaska—Reception Center for War Dogs—Kennels at Front Royal—War Dog on Biak Island—Patrol at Aitape—Pressing Clothing—Mobile Semitrailer Laundry Units—Makeshift Washing Machine—Prisoners of War at Work—U.S. Army Transport Honda Knot—Temporary U.S. Military Cemetery

All illustrations in this volume are from U. S. Department of Defense files.