Chapter 7: Storage, Transportation, and Packing Problems
The distribution of Quartermaster materiel to forward bases and supply points was marked by unusual difficulties stemming partly from the perishable nature of many items and partly from the unfavorable conditions under which distribution activities were conducted. Nowhere in the forward areas were truly appropriate storage facilities available. Outside Oahu, New Zealand, and Australia what passed as “covered” storage seldom furnished adequate protection. Actually, most supplies were kept more or less in the open, where they were exposed to the destructive effects of tropical heat, moisture, and insects. Poor packing, which did not adequately protect supplies from rough handling and the hazards of tropical storage, further intensified distribution difficulties.
Quartermaster Storage
Plans for Quartermaster storage in forward areas usually called for nothing more than insubstantial, quickly built structures, which were assigned the lowest building priorities. By the time the Corps of Engineers had completed airfields, docks, roads, hospitals, and higher headquarters, months had often elapsed, and construction materials and equipment were needed for similar tasks at new bases. Frequently, Engineers could do no more than put up the framework of Quartermaster buildings; sometimes they could not do even this. Quartermaster units themselves, with the help of native laborers, were often obliged to complete what Engineers had started; occasionally, they even had to erect the structures from start to finish. Such emergency operations seldom furnished storage suitable in either quality or quantity.
For six months or more after the establishment of a base, most Quartermaster supplies were placed in open dumps. The primary consideration in choosing the location of these dumps was that they be situated as near as possible to landing points in order to facilitate prompt discharge of vessels and insure maximum utilization of available trucks. As areas surfaced with concrete, asphalt, cinders, or crushed stones were seldom in existence during this period, supplies were simply dumped on the ground, where they were exposed to the full glare of the sun, soaked in the rain, and bogged down in the mud. Owing to the need for quick discharge of ships and the comparative scarcity of service troops, supplies were at times hurled into these dumps without
Thatched roof warehouses provided some protection against the elements at Quartermaster depots.
segregation as to type.1 In July 1943, the OCQM sent Maj. Carl R. Fellers, head of the laboratory in the Subsistence Depot, to New Guinea to observe supply conditions. He found large quantities of rations piled on low ground unsuitable for storage purposes. At Port Moresby rain from neighboring hills “flowed through the dump and actually covered several tiers of canned foods.” At Milne Bay, too, open storage areas were “extremely muddy.” Major Fellers concluded that up to then it had been “physically impossible to protect subsistence stocks from serious and rapid deterioration.”2 While the New Guinea bases at this time had just selected sites for new dumps on well-located land, most of the proposed facilities would not be completed before the beginning of 1944, a year or more after the installations had been established.
In the meantime rude shacks, thatched with nipa leaves and other native materials, were as far as possible substituted for unprotected open storage. At first few of these makeshift structures were built as service troops could not be spared from the more immediately pressing tasks of loading and discharging supplies. With the help of native laborers many thatched structures were eventually constructed.3 Modeled upon native huts and known as “bures” warehouses, they varied in size, but all were
based upon a framework of coconut or bamboo poles and cross bracings, with a gabled roof and with the sides and top covered with nipa strips. They had no floors and at best furnished imperfect shelter for food and clothing.4
When imported milled lumber became available, it was utilized instead of thatch and rude local poles to construct sturdier warehouses. The food warehouses, the best at Milne Bay, were somewhat larger than most of the other warehouses, measuring about 200 feet long and 30 feet wide. Unlike similar buildings elsewhere in the Pacific, they had concrete floors and corrugated roofs. They had, however, only the simplest wood frameworks. The middle sections of these narrow structures were sometimes utilized as runways, a practice that absorbed as much as 40 percent of the space. At Guadalcanal, Oro Bay, and Port Moresby the eaves were projected so as to render end and side walls unnecessary. This expedient enabled trucks to drive directly alongside stacked supplies and so eliminated wide central aisles.5
Some bases used quonset huts and prefabricated wood or steel warehouses, but these structures were never available in large numbers and on the whole were not very practicable. Generally measuring only about 20 by 120 feet, they provided little space. They had, moreover, no floors. As the tin roofs generated too much heat to permit the storage of canned foods, the huts were utilized chiefly for other Quartermaster items.6
Since even prefabricated warehouses and rude shacks could not be provided for more than a fraction of the incoming supplies, proper protection of materials stored in the open became a major Quartermaster task. Yet as late as August 1943 half the food stocks at Port Moresby and Milne Bay had not even the protection afforded by tarpaulins. When available, these canvas covers, usually, were simply flung over the stacks, but this practice prevented the free circulation of air and trapped heat and moisture under the canvas. Two expedients were adopted in trying to provide better protection for supplies in open storage. One was the “portable paulin warehouse,” built of ordinary tarpaulins and tent poles. Though this so-called warehouse was, essentially, no more than a tent, if properly arranged it permitted air to circulate and dry out the stacks. The other expedient was the “paulin oasis,” formed by placing a canvas-covered, rooflike frame directly on top of the stack. Two men could easily move this frame from a depleted pile to a new pile. If lack of tarpaulins forbade these expedients, salvaged matting might be laid horizontally on the stacks as makeshift protection.7
At most bases, particularly in the first half of the Pacific war, shortages of materials and manpower and widespread ignorance of the principles of tropical storage resulted in poor stacking and hastened the
Open storage of Quartermaster items caused rapid deterioration of outer containers.
Lack of dunnage materials forced the use of coconut log ramps.
deterioration of supplies. Food containers in boxes, improperly piled solidly together, sweated and rusted, disintegrating canned meats and vegetables by releasing acids; these acids ate into the tin, seeped out, and contaminated other cans. Damage from this cause was appreciably increased when tarpaulins were thrown over the stacks in such a way as to cover the sides and prevent the piles from drying out. Another hindrance to good stacking was the scarcity of dunnage, a scarcity so great that stocks were often put directly on the ground, thus increasing the spoilage of food in the lower layers. In the South Pacific Area, ramps of coconut logs placed about a foot apart were often substituted for ordinary dunnage.8
First priority on Quartermaster covered space was accorded to combat rations, sacked sugar, flour, salt, rice, condiments, and other foods especially liable to irreparable damage. If sacked flour, for example, was not well protected, it became moldy and insect-infested within a few weeks. Drummed and canned petroleum products were stored on high ground in the open, as were general supplies not liable to rusting. Until covered space became available in large quantities, even tinned foods were customarily piled in the open. During his trip to New Guinea Major Fellers found that 60 to 70 percent of the canned fruits, vegetables, juices, meats, and evaporated milk was still outdoors. Though the Army called canned foods “nonperishable,” they were actually in varying degrees perishable. Huge losses of these products occurred because of corrosion and rusting, puncturing of containers during handling operations, and high temperatures, which accelerated food spoilage. Subsistence, it was estimated, deteriorated twice as fast at 90° F. as at 70°, and four times as fast as at 50° or 55°. For this reason it was sometimes recommended that shipments of rations to operational areas be limited to the smallest amounts consistent with the tactical situation.9
The disastrous effects of prolonged outdoor storage on poorly protected subsistence were vividly described by an OQMG observer on his return to the United States from New Caledonia late in 1943:
I saw two huge dumps in the open with no protection from the weather except for some untreated tarps placed on the piles very carelessly. In many cases they had blown off. In others, they only partly covered the stacks; and in some instances they were open at the top. Most of them had been there for over a year, and some for eighteen months. I can’t tell you how many cases, but for the sake of something to figure on as a basis, consider shiploads. ...
The condition of these stores is ten times worse than covered by any report we have seen. ... In the center of some of the stacks solid fiber cases were just like mush. Wooden cases were so rotten the wood could be mashed between one’s fingers. Many cans were completely covered by rust. The center of the stacks looked like a big mold culture. One can breaks and spreads its contents over surrounding cans; and mixed with water and mold it multiplies until a huge area is affected. ... I saw one disposal dump that contained over 100,000 cans of spoiled product.10
Better means of storing nonperishable foods were provided toward the end of hostilities. In February 1945 General Gregory found such food supplies in New Guinea
fairly well warehoused except at the Hollandia base, which had been set up only in the previous June.11 Here, five months after General Gregory’s visit, 75 percent of the ration stocks, mostly canned subsistence, still remained in open storage. They all had, however, tarpaulin protection, which, in a similar stage of development at the earlier New Guinea bases, had been provided for only about half the stocks. Of the rations at Hollandia 23 percent were stored in warehouses with corrugated roofing and 2 percent in structures with tarpaulin roofs.12 At that time 90 percent of the subsistence area at Bougainville, which was fairly typical of storage conditions in the Solomons, consisted of wood ramps with tarpaulin-covered frames.13
As in the case of nonperishable food, inadequate storage caused heavy losses of clothing, equipage, general supplies, and petroleum products. At Guadalcanal bulldozers and other essential pieces of heavy equipment at first were not available for leveling the ground and installing drainage systems at the dumps set up for these supplies. By the time projects holding higher priorities were completed, many stores had become water-soaked and irretrievably damaged. To a lesser extent other bases experienced similar difficulties.14
Since textile and leather goods were particularly liable to mildewing and other forms of tropical deterioration, they were, if at all possible, placed under cover. If nothing better could be found while a base was first being set up, they were put in storage tents. Later, they were kept in thatched shacks or in warehouses. At Guadalcanal 40 shacks, about 85 feet long and 28 feet wide, were employed. To protect clothing from dampness, floors were provided in all these buildings. Ramps of coconut logs, on which incoming supplies were placed before being tallied in, connected the buildings.15
Refrigeration Ashore
The most persistent deficiency in Quartermaster storage was the lack of refrigeration ashore for eggs, butter, and milk and for fresh meat, fruits, and vegetables. At no time during the war did advance bases, let alone forward areas, possess sufficient refrigeration. Improvisation was virtually out of the question because of the highly mechanized nature of cold-storage equipment. Such elaborate equipment had to be procured from the United States, for, while Australia furnished some portable models, it never became a major source of supply. As the agency mainly interested in refrigeration, the QMC determined cold storage requirements and presented them to the Corps of Engineers for procurement. In the Southwest Pacific Area the QMC also allocated refrigeration among supply centers and Army units. In the Central and South Pacific Areas no agency was at first clearly responsible for this function, and distribution became badly unbalanced. This problem was finally solved by making the Island Commanders responsible for the allotment of available equipment.
The scarcity of cold-storage space continued throughout the war. In April 1944 the Southwest Pacific Area set the refrigeration needs of military organizations at
250,000 cubic feet, to be furnished by units with a capacity of 220 cubic feet or less; of distribution centers at 1,000,000 cubic feet, to be provided mostly by 660-cubic-foot units; and of ports at 2,000,000 cubic feet, to be supplied by units with a capacity of more than 660 cubic feet. Actually, at this time military organizations had less than 50,000 cubic feet, or only a fifth of their estimated requirements; distribution centers had about 260,000 cubic feet, or a fourth of what they needed; and ports had approximately 764,000 cubic feet, or somewhat more than a third of their requirements.16
The shortage of refrigeration in military organizations stemmed in the main from belated inauguration of a large-scale manufacturing program in the United States. War Department figures of June 1945 illustrated how far deliveries fell below requirements even at that late date. These figures dealt with 26½- and 125-cubic-foot refrigerators, models utilized chiefly by small organizations and mess kitchens and hence of prime significance in maintaining a regular flow of fresh provisions to consuming troops. They showed that Southwest Pacific Area requirements for 3,000 units of 26 IA -cubic-foot capacity and for 1,600 units of 125-cubic-foot capacity had been approved months before, but that only 1,008 units of the smaller refrigerator and 365 units of the larger refrigerator had been delivered or were on the way to the area. The figures for the Central Pacific Area told a similar story insofar as the 26½-cubic-foot units were concerned. Requisitions for 1,835 refrigerators of this type had been approved, but only 345 had been delivered or were on their way. For the larger refrigerators Central Pacific Area demands for 863 units had been completely filled. South Pacific Area requisitions for 177 small refrigerators and 400 large refrigerators had been entirely met. The War Department promised that, starting in July, 700 units of 26½-cubic-foot capacity would be allocated from production every month to fill uncompleted requisitions. This meant that demands for these refrigerators could not be wholly met before 1 December. The War Department hoped to complete requisitions for 1,235 units of the larger refrigerators by 1 August, but actually it was not able to do so.17
Shortages of refrigeration equipment ashore were not attributable solely to incomplete requisitions but also resulted from the inability of the Pacific areas to transfer such equipment from old to new bases at a rate matching the growth of troop strength at the new bases. This fact is illustrated by the situation in New Guinea in March 1944. Port Moresby then had more refrigerated space and fewer troops than any other base in New Guinea. At the same time Milne Bay, possessor of the next largest amount of cold storage, was losing troops every day to the rapidly growing Base F at Finschhafen, which had 50,000 troops but only 5,000 cubic feet of refrigerated space—obviously, too small a quantity to provide fresh food for so large a body of men. Inasmuch as sufficient refrigerated vessels were also unavailable, the only way to obtain perishables at Finschhafen was to fly them in. The best means of increasing shore refrigeration at Base F would have been by the removal of unneeded equipment from the older bases to Finschhafen, but, as most of this equipment was of a semipermanent,
Prefabricated refrigerated warehouses are shown in process of assembly al Oro Bay, New Guinea.
nonportable type, this solution proved impossible. Alleviation of the cold-storage situation at Finschhafen thus depended mostly on shipments of portable refrigerators from sources outside New Guinea.18
Permanent cold-storage warehouses of the standard 80-by-200-foot type, capable of holding 100,000 cubic feet of provisions, were not built at bases outside Oahu. Nor were smaller permanent types employed except at Port Moresby and Milne Bay. Because of their relatively large size these structures could be run economically, but it took months to build them. By the time they were in full operation, supply activities were being concentrated at more advanced installations.19
Prefabricated warehouses with a capacity of 600 and 1,800 cubic feet provided most of the refrigeration at many bases. These units could be readily disassembled and moved, and for this reason were especially desirable in the Pacific. The base at Finschhafen eventually employed about fifty 1,800-cubic-foot refrigerators and that at Oro Bay about thirty. At Saipan and Guam this type of refrigerator was also utilized but in lesser quantities. Though valuable because of their portability, knockdown refrigerators entailed the operation and maintenance of comparatively large numbers of engines for the limited amount of space they
furnished and so wasted manpower. In mid-1944 the Southwest Pacific Area therefore began to procure in Australia larger portable warehouses having a capacity of 4,300 cubic feet, but not many of these new units had been delivered before hostilities ended.20
The American-built, 10-ton refrigerated semitrailer with a capacity of 600 cubic feet, enough to store a day’s supply of meat for one division, was employed but rarely. Designed primarily for extensive land areas supplied with modern highways, it could not be operated efficiently in the Pacific because combat operations were carried out so largely on territory lacking fully developed road systems. Even for the transportation of perishables from bases to supply points only ten to twenty-five miles away these vans seldom proved satisfactory. On such trips their large size and heavy weight made them hard to drive over the rough terrain ordinarily encountered. One Quartermaster observer suggested that for carrying fresh provisions portable equipment of a size fitted to 2½-ton trucks would be preferable.21
Quartermaster Refrigeration Companies, Mobile, which were established to operate the refrigerated semitrailers, were in fact utilized principally for storage of perishables received from shipside rather than for transportation of these products. In New Caledonia a refrigeration platoon, serving in this fashion, proved essential to the operations of hospitals and medical units. It also set up and repaired fixed refrigeration equipment at South Pacific bases. Refrigeration units were used sparingly in combat operations.
The platoon assigned to the Sixth Army was broken up into sections, which were assigned to task forces. These sections were of considerable value during the early stages of operations before fixed refrigeration became available. Unfortunately, such units could not be made available for every operation.
Despite the fact that storage space of all kinds became larger in quantity and better in structure as the war continued, it never fully met Quartermaster demands. According to Southwest Pacific Area logistical standards Quartermaster Class I, II, and IV supplies required twenty square feet of covered space per ton, but island bases could never provide this much space. In May 1944 Lt. Col. Charles A. Ritchie, Quartermaster of the Intermediate Section, USA-SOS, which allocated physical facilities in New Guinea, studied covered space requirements and concluded that the Corps could get along with ten square feet per ton, or only half the prescribed amount. At this time Class I, II, and IV supplies at Milne Bay, “covered” in the flexible Southwest Pacific Area meaning of the word, were stored in 328,000 square feet of space, but 1,350,000 square feet were demanded on the basis of standard requirements and 675,000 square feet even under Colonel Ritchie’s revised estimate.22 Depending on which statement of requirements was taken, the QMC thus had only about one fourth or, at best, one half of the covered space it needed at Milne Bay. This condition typified those prevailing at other island bases.
The unavailability of sufficient service troops for manual operations necessitated fullest possible use of time- and labor-saving equipment. Unfortunately, the proper conditions for employing this equipment did
not exist in the forward areas. Standard solid-rubber-tired fork-lift trucks, the most serviceable equipment at zone of interior depots, required for efficient operation roads and floors with concrete or wood surfaces.
But as Quartermaster storage areas in the Pacific were seldom so surfaced, these trucks could not be used extensively. Pneumatic-tired fork-lifts, which operated fairly well in soft areas, were, indeed, the only type suitable for the island bases, and they did not arrive until well into 1944, and then only in numbers too small to help appreciably.23 The employment of tractors and trailers also presented difficulties. Only trailers with dual wheels and oversize tires could operate in muddy dumps, but this type of carrier, like fork-lift trucks, was hard to procure. So were roller conveyors, use of which materially reduced the manpower required to handle supplies.
Because of the scarcity of satisfactory storage places and modern materials-handling equipment on the north shore of New Guinea the “standard operating procedures,” which were designed to teach the principles of good warehousing, frequently meant little even to storage officers. Lacking the mechanical equipment for application of these principles, they lost interest in them. At Oro Bay and Finschhafen an observer found no evidence
... of any conception of the SOP or its practical application as a stabilizing influence in such forward bases. There are no hard standings worthy of mention capable of supporting mechanical handling, no cement requisitioned, no program planned and no apparent knowledge of efficient materials handling. No pallets are available. Fork trucks and other equipment are misused in the mud and coral. ...24
Once Southwest Pacific Area forces reached the Philippines, storage conditions rapidly improved. More building materials were procurable locally, and owing to the better shipping situation, more construction materials and warehouse equipment were obtained from the West Coast. Thousands of fairly skilled civilians, too, were available both for the construction of covered storage facilities and for routine depot operations. Even at the early bases, particularly at San Fernando, La Union, in Luzon, some warehouses were built from imported materials soon after these installations were opened. Usually, some hard-surfaced roads and storage areas were available, making possible more effective utilization of forklift trucks, tractors, and trailers. Commercial space was also obtainable in fairly substantial quantities for Quartermaster operations.25
Distribution Problems
The difficult conditions found in the Pacific areas created vexatious problems in the distribution as well as the storage of supplies. During most of the war a large part of Quartermaster items at advance bases was furnished under an automatic system of supply which employed base inventories, taken at regularly designated periods, to determine base needs. This inventory system generally applied to subsistence below the equator. The practice as to petroleum
products, clothing, and general supplies varied from place to place, but the trend was strongly toward replenishment on the basis of requisitions prepared by the bases themselves.26
Whether inventories or requisitions furnished the impetus for distribution, approximately correct stock records were essential to satisfactory supply. Yet, owing to the lack of qualified technicians this condition could not always be met. At Milne Bay in November 1943 no records of clothing and general supply stocks could be maintained, and “little was known as to the actual goods on hand.”27 So extreme a condition was unusual, but Colonel Cordiner believed that “inventories were generally never more than 50% correct.” “How,” he wrote, “anyone can expect to maintain a proper level without inventories is beyond me.”28 By March 1944 more accurate records were being kept everywhere and from that time incorrect inventories became less significant as a factor in unbalancing stocks.
In the Southwest Pacific the determination of distribution routes was a more complex matter than in either the Central Pacific, where the installations in the Honolulu area constituted the main transshipment centers, or in the South Pacific, where the ration depot in New Zealand and the general supply depot in New Caledonia served as the principal transshipment points. In Australia, Base Section 3 at Brisbane in
the beginning supplied clothing and general supplies to all American forces in New Guinea, chiefly through Port Moresby.29 In February 1943, following the establishment of bases at Milne Bay and Oro Bay, the support of troops in the huge island was divided between the Brisbane and Sydney base sections. While Brisbane supplied Port Moresby with all its Quartermaster needs, Sydney filled the comparable needs of the two new installations, which in turn supplied the north shore of New Guinea.30 During the ensuing months insufficient stockages at Sydney and swift growth of troop strength in forward areas made it increasingly hard for that installation to support its large distribution area. For this reason its responsibilities were lessened by charging other base sections with direct support of the large supply points set up for ground and air troops near Oro Bay; Townsville provided rations while Brisbane provided clothing and general supplies.31
The principal weakness in this system of definitely charging designated Australian base sections with the supply of one or more advance base sections was the impossibility of keeping Australian installations constantly stocked with all the items needed by their distribution areas. When the arrangement was originally set up, USASOS realized that this problem might develop but felt that the shipping shortage necessitated such a method of supply. It had at least the
virtue of requiring vessels to call at only one port and of thus facilitating prompt and solid loading. The alternative method of making movements from whatever Australian bases had the largest stocks of needed items was rejected, for it required that supplies be picked up at several ports, with loss of valuable shipping time.32
The method actually adopted likewise proved wasteful. Food, for example, was generally procured in southeastern Australia, but most of it was not shipped from there to the advance bases. Instead, it was sent north by rail or water to Brisbane and Townsville, where it was discharged, stored, reloaded, and shipped to the New Guinea bases supplied by these installations. This system, wrote Col. John P. Welch, Quartermaster, ADSEC, added to the burdens of the already overloaded railroads and needlessly tied up water transportation.33 In September 1943, the OCQM suggested that a more flexible method of distribution would be possible if it were given control over the movements of its supplies. Under this system the OCQM would direct that shipments be made from the Australian bases best equipped at the time to send supplies to New Guinea. In general, rations would be moved from Sydney, clothing and general supplies from Brisbane, and drummed petroleum products from both Brisbane and Sydney, but any of these supplies might be moved from any point chosen by the OCQM.34
This system was adopted in November 1943, when each technical service at Headquarters, USASOS, became for a short time responsible for coordinating the movements of its own supplies. The OCQM, for example, received requisitions or inventory figures from the New Guinea bases and issued directives to base quartermasters in Australia instructing them what to ship, when to ship, and where to ship. This system lasted only until the beginning of 1944, when the newly established Distribution Division undertook the task of controlling all supply movements from the United States and Australia to New Guinea, and the Distribution Branch, Milne Bay, that of controlling movements within New Guinea.35 Centralized control, whether by the Distribution Division or the OCQM, proved to be a vast improvement over the rigid system of supplying designated areas only through specific bases.
The question of administrative control was only one of those which demanded solution. In all the Pacific areas problems stemming from the shipping situation also demanded solution. Generally speaking, the offices of base and service command quartermasters all had Quartermaster shipping sections to look after the movement of Quartermaster supplies to advance areas. Their major functions were to arrange for the scheduling of the necessary shipping, to assemble and deliver Quartermaster cargoes at the designated ports, and to maintain item-by-item records of all water movements, supplemental to those of the Transportation Corps, in order that lost cargoes might be quickly duplicated. In Australia in the early days, as in San Francisco during the same period, Quartermaster supplies with low shipping priorities, though on dock, could not always be booked for movement
and even if booked, could not always be placed on board the available ships. For that reason alone the maintenance of adequate stocks at advance bases was occasionally very difficult. Quartermaster shipping sections nevertheless tried to place as many of their supplies as possible on the scheduled vessels.36
When enough ships were not on hand for the transportation of all supplies awaiting movement, the whole chain of distribution might be disrupted. In that event shipments could not be spaced at the intervals required for the regular flow of supplies, and materials piled up at bases. Cargoes were either not delivered in the expected quantities or were delivered only after protracted delays. Shortages then appeared in stocks at advance bases and were reflected in unbalanced issues to troops. These weaknesses in the distribution system could not easily be eliminated because of the world-wide shipping shortage. At no time did the Army in the Southwest Pacific Area control enough bottoms to meet its supply requirements without difficulty.37 The situation was similar in the South and Central Pacific Areas. In March 1944, for example, the Army in the latter area required 93 vessels yet had only 63.38
The tying up of ships for days or even weeks by making them await discharge at poorly equipped bases often aggravated the scarcity of cargo space. At the still undeveloped port of Nouméa in late 1942 and early 1943 scores of idle vessels awaiting discharge filled the harbor.39 Comparable conditions existed at Guadalcanal, Espiritu Santo, and the Russells in their early days and even later during periods of active combat. The naval convoy system as well as congestion at base ports lengthened turnabout time. In the Southwest Pacific, for example, vessels from Australian ports assembled at Townsville and awaited convoy to their destinations, a procedure that held up movements for several days or more. These delays were occasionally so prolonged that “entire shipments” of potatoes and onions carried as deck cargo deteriorated.40 Frequently, from 1,000 to 5,000 sacks of these vegetables were lost. After leaving Australian waters ships bound for the north shore of New Guinea or for neighboring islands were collected at Milne Bay, the naval control center for these areas; their dispatch from this point hinged on the tactical situation and on the readiness of forward bases to handle their cargoes. Both these factors might force postponement of sailings. If, for example, there were two reefers bound for Lae, a port which could handle only a single reefer at a time, one vessel would be held until the other had proceeded to its destination and discharged its cargo. Between 24 May and 18 July 1943 hostile air and naval activities plus delays in completion of port facilities at Oro Bay prevented any vessels carrying Quartermaster supplies from leaving Milne Bay for that base. A huge backlog of all sorts of Quartermaster commodities accumulated at the
control center, and when ships bearing Quartermaster items were finally called forward, twenty sailed within three weeks.41
Refrigeration Afloat
Just as lack of refrigerated space ashore hampered Quartermaster supply on land, so did the shortage of refrigeration afloat hamper the distribution of perishables by water. In prewar days the military forces in Hawaii and the Philippines had secured most of their fresh food from local commercial sources. The Army in consequence had no fully refrigerated vessels. It had indeed only the limited cold-storage space needed to keep food for passengers and crews of the troop transports that sailed to Honolulu and Manila. Shortly before Pearl Harbor the Maritime Commission had contracted for the building of refrigerated vessels under the emergency defense program. Deliveries on these contracts started in May 1942, but, since perishables for the South and the Southwest Pacific Areas came almost wholly from Australia and New Zealand, most of the new ships were assigned to the Atlantic service.42 This allocation of reefers made possible better utilization of available vessels because the short Atlantic runs permitted the delivery of fresh provisions to Great Britain and North Africa in larger quantities than could have been made to the southern Pacific areas within the same period of time. But it deprived troops below the equator of much needed vessels for supplying perishables to distant installations and combat forces.
The Central Pacific Area felt the reefer shortage less keenly. Its favorable position resulted principally from the relative proximity of Honolulu to the West Coast, a factor that allowed the shipment of substantial amounts of perishable subsistence from San Francisco. The Cold-Storage Coordinating Committee, composed of representatives of the Navy, Army, War Shipping Administration, and Hawaiian civilians, periodically determined what proportion of cargo space on reefers in the Hawaiian—San Francisco pool was allocated to Army, to Navy, and to civilian requirements. When distribution of perishables among these three consuming elements became maladjusted, the committee transferred space from one element to another in order to restore the proper balance.43 During the first two years this system usually provided Army troops in Hawaii with about two cubic feet of food per man per month. After the drive across the Central Pacific started, reefers were diverted from the Hawaiian—San Francisco run in order to care for the needs of the fleet, advance bases, and combat forces, whose supply became the paramount consideration, and the allowance of perishables for soldiers and sailors in Hawaii was slashed by 50 percent to one cubic foot per man per month. In spite of these restrictive measures a shortage of about 550,000 cubic feet in Central Pacific Area reefer requirements had developed by March 1944. At this time top priority on deliveries of perishables was granted to hospitals, forward installations,
combat vessels, and ships carrying amphibious forces.44
The South Pacific Area depended mostly on the Navy reefer fleet, which was too small to maintain regular distribution of perishables out of New Zealand. Small refrigerated vessels for transshipping fresh provisions to remote points in the northern Solomons were particularly scarce. Even the large and relatively accessible base in New Caledonia repeatedly went without fresh eggs and vegetables.45 In January 1945 responsibility for deliveries of fresh provisions in the South Pacific Area and the Central Pacific Area was divided between the Army and the Navy. The Army was charged with delivery of fresh and frozen provisions to all U.S. servicemen, whether ashore or afloat, in the Gilberts and the Marshalls. The Navy was charged with deliveries elsewhere in the two areas outside Hawaii and the Line Islands, where each service supplied its own men.46 At this time standard allowances governing the distribution of perishables among the forward installations were established in order to foster more equitable distribution. For soldiers and sailors ashore outside Hawaii 1.5 cubic feet per man per month were allowed; for those afloat, 1.75 cubic feet. In general these allowances were met.
The Southwest Pacific Area, as in many other matters, suffered more than the others from the shortage of reefers. Obliged to rely chiefly on its own efforts, the area during 1942 converted some barges and other small vessels into reefers, but they could not fill even the requirements of the small forces then in New Guinea. During the following two years the reefer fleet was gradually reinforced by about thirty small craft from the United States, mainly “lakers,” which averaged about 12,000 cubic feet in capacity. Though these vessels, called “X-ships,” were indispensable to distribution activities, they were slow, between twenty and thirty years old, and in poor condition. About a fifth of them were ordinarily laid up for repairs. The normal turnabout time between Australia and New Guinea early in 1943 amounted to thirty-eight days, a period so long that part of the cargo usually spoiled before reaching its destination.47
Late in 1943, two relatively fast ships, which had been used to carry troops on leave between New Guinea and Australia, became available for transportation of fresh subsistence. These leave vessels each had about 45,000 cubic feet of refrigerated space that could be spared for base supplies. Since their turnabout time was approximately 18 days, both ships together had a carrying capacity of about 160,000 cubic feet a month, only a little less than the 166,000 cubic feet of all X-ships.48 Owing to quick turnabouts, leave vessels had the advantage of transporting perishables with little deterioration, but their rigid sailing schedule, permitting only three days for loading, did not allow enough time to fill all refrigerator space. This shortcoming was
especially serious at Sydney because of poor stevedoring. In March 1944 it was reported that leave vessels had never once left Australian ports fully loaded; every month they had run with 35,000 to 40,000 cubic feet of cold-storage space, or approximately 25 percent, empty. Maj. Gen. James L. Frink, commander of USASOS, therefore ordered that loading time be extended to five days.49
A further measure of relief was obtained in August 1943, when the Navy made unused refrigeration on the USS Mizar, a former commercial reefer, available for transporting fresh provisions to Milne Bay. At the same time the Navy agreed to bring perishables to that base whenever its refrigerator vessels had vacant space. Advantageous though this arrangement was, its benefits could not be fully realized, for the Army did not have enough small reefers to transship all the fresh subsistence consigned to other New Guinea bases and Sixth Army supply points on Goodenough, Woodlark, and Kiriwina Islands. Navy reefers nevertheless furnished sizable quantities of food that otherwise would not have been secured. In March 1944 it was estimated that Quartermaster supplies occupied every month between 80,000 and 100,000 cubic feet. One particularly favorable aspect of the arrangement was the virtual absence of spoiled food, an advantage attributable to the fast speed of the ships as well as to refrigeration.50
During most of 1944 the two Army leave vessels continued to make regular runs from Australia to Milne Bay and Oro Bay and the X-ships to supply other bases. The point at which the leave ships were loaded was determined by the degree of congestion at Australian ports and by the cargo. Beef was taken on mainly at Townsville and Brisbane; and potatoes and onions at Sydney. Melbourne, though a good source of all kinds of fresh provisions, lay too far from New Guinea to be employed extensively save by fast naval vessels.51
Lakers and leave and naval craft together could not supply perishables in the required quantities. Because of incessant demands for fresh meats their distribution of this item constituted perhaps the most acute problem. Five meat issues a week, or twenty-one issues a month, were prescribed in the forward areas. But General Frink reported in February 1944 that, though every resource was being tapped to meet this standard, no more than six issues could be made. He calculated that the provision of twenty-one issues for the 355,000 troops then in the forward areas demanded at least 219,250 cubic feet of reefer space. Yet after allowing for ships under repair and for turnabout time, there were available for meat only 97,500 cubic feet, or about 120,000 cubic feet less than requirements based on twenty-one issues a month. Of the remaining reefer space, 12,400 cubic feet were used for fresh eggs; 11,100 for fresh fruits; 88,700 for potatoes and onions; and 11,800 for other vegetables.52
In New Guinea early in 1944 a special ADSOS (Advance Section, USASOS) fleet, composed of three small reefers, each with a capacity of about 5,000 cubic feet, was organized to transship fresh
provisions from Port Moresby and Oro Bay to Finschhafen and Hollandia, neither of which then had sufficient shore refrigeration to receive large movements direct from Australia. But while the ADSOS fleet proved useful, it never became large enough for truly effective operations.53 For general transportation of perishables two additional leave ships and a number of smaller vessels were acquired late in the year; yet the growth of cold-storage space afloat still did not keep pace with the rise in troop strength and the lengthening of communication lines. In April 1944 it had been estimated that from then until June 1945 about 807,000 cubic feet of fresh provisions would be moved north from Australia each month. Since part of the reefer fleet was normally under repair and turnabout time would be protracted to much more than a month after the Philippines were reached, the Southwest Pacific Area would actually have to control 1,452,000 cubic feet of space in order to transport the needed perishables. But in July available reefers could move food at a rate of only 280,000 cubic feet a month, or only slightly more than a third of current requirements and just enough to provide eight or nine issues of fresh subsistence a month. Late in the year the space problem was somewhat alleviated; nonetheless large-scale relief did not come until victory in Europe freed reefers for Pacific service.54
Air Transportation
The shortages created by shipping troubles occasionally forced the use of air transportation in order to build up fast vanishing stores of fresh provisions in forward areas. Plane shipments indeed normally included more perishables than they did other Quartermaster items.55 Air transportation in the Southwest Pacific was used not only during periods of severe shipping shortages as a supplement to inadequate deliveries by water but also as an emergency means of establishing and replenishing stocks at times when consuming centers had no other means of communication with the outside world and when their undeveloped bases were still too poorly equipped to handle heavy demands.
Movements by air presented many difficulties. Cargo planes were controlled by the Army Air Forces and were limited in number. Moreover, they were designed primarily for the carriage of supplies belonging to the AAF; quite naturally, that organization furnished transports more freely for moving its own items than for carrying those of other armed services. Nevertheless it generally supplied planes for Quartermaster supplies in cases of urgent necessity.56 Transport planes at best carried only a small cargo; 5,000 pounds constituted a sizable load for a C-47, the basic type. Air movements, furthermore, were often improperly coordinated. For example, on shipments of Quartermaster supplies from Brisbane and Townsville to Dobodura via Port Moresby in June and July 1943, USAFFE established shipping priorities, but since it did not
officially book these movements with the Fifth Air Force, which handled the transshipments at Port Moresby, the supplies were left in open storage until all formally booked cargoes had been cared for. On 6 August 1943 an observer at that base found 54,000 pounds of Quartermaster supplies awaiting shipment; some of this accumulation had been there since 12 July. When the supplies were finally started on their way to Dobodura, no tallies or other shipping documents accompanied them and no notification of their impending arrival was sent to the consignee. Accordingly, no trucks were on hand to receive them, and the items were simply unloaded and left unguarded on the field, where they became the easy prey of pilferers until trucks could be found to move them.57
In spite of such difficulties, which were probably unavoidable accompaniments of unstandardized methods of shipments, air transportation was frequently a vital means of Quartermaster supply. From the establishment of the airfield at Dobodura in January 1943 until the following June, troops there received practically all Quartermaster items by plane, an expedient required by the lack of roads between the air base and Oro Bay, twenty miles away.58 For the same reason nearly all newly established airfields in New Guinea, most of which were situated inland at some distance from ports, and similarly located installations of the Sixth Army as well, were at first supported by planes.59 Radar and other small outposts, in general placed at remote points almost inaccessible by either land or water, were supplied about twice a week by parachute packs containing rations and equipment. Many weeks would have been required to deliver these items over rough jungle trails, but one plane sometimes supplied as many as twenty outposts on a single trip lasting only a few hours.60
Packaging and Packing
The unusual danger of deterioration to which many supplies were exposed in the Pacific made proper packaging and packing of the utmost importance.61 In some instances better packaging and packing constituted the most practicable method of coping with storage and distribution hazards. Since there were too few research and development technicians to permit designing of improved packs in the Pacific, this task was primarily one for the OQMG in the zone of interior. Through its efforts supplies from the United States were eventually shipped in better containers and the standards for packaging and packing materials bought below the equator were materially improved.
Subsistence
At the outset of hostilities neither American industry nor the OQMG fully realized that packaging and packing specifications for food sent abroad must be substantially higher than those for food distributed within the United States. Most shipments for overseas destinations were at first packaged
in the paper, fiber, and cloth containers of retail trade and packed in fiber cartons, usually without overpacking. Corrugated fiber containers, which were used mostly for packing canned goods, were strong enough to insure safe delivery in the zone of interior, where there were few handlings and plenty of covered storage space, materials-handling equipment, and trained employees, but they lacked the strength to withstand the hard usage of overseas areas and deteriorated rapidly in hot, humid climates. In the beginning no substitutes for fiber containers were available in adequate quantities.
In March 1942 the OQMG authorized the use of a recently developed and supposedly weatherproof solid fiber container, which during the following summer provided the principal shipping carton for subsistence going overseas. The new container made possible substantial savings in space, weight, and scarce materials, but unfavorable reports from abroad soon belied its reputation for strength and resistance to moisture and caused a notable reduction in its use. In an effort to give more protection to fiber containers of all sorts, the OQMG late in July directed that as a temporary expedient depots overpack them in wood.62 These installations opposed this innovation, claiming that it made heavy demands upon scarce labor and materials and required nearly 15 percent more warehouse and shipping space than was needed by supplies which were simply moved in fiber cartons. In defense of their position the depots pointed out that the overpacking of the 30,000,000 solid fiber containers then scheduled for movement overseas would increase the space occupied by each box to such an extent that an additional 225,000 displacement tons of shipping would be required. It was also pointed out that huge quantities of lumber, which was daily becoming more scarce, would be needed and that, in any event, neither canners nor depots had sufficient equipment for nailing wooden boxes. These cogent arguments compelled the OQMG to substitute metal-strapping for overpacking of fiber containers.63
Temperature changes during the long voyage from the West Coast caused cans containing fruits and vegetables to sweat and rust. Once these supplies had arrived at their destination and had been placed in open storage, they were subject to three additional weather hazards: excessive heat, torrential rains, and high humidity, which rusted metal cans, broke fiberboard boxes, rotted wooden containers, and fostered the rapid growth of mold cultures on food, textiles, and leather goods. The prolific insect life further endangered poorly packed supplies.64
Quartermaster supplies in the Pacific were handled at least three to five times if they were brought straight from the United States to a point of consumption; if transshipped from base to base, they might be handled ten or more times. Colonel Cordiner estimated that food was commonly handled eighteen to twenty-six times en route from Australia to a point of consumption in New Guinea. Combat rations might go through several tactical operations without being issued and in consequence be handled as many as forty times.65 Poorly packed food
Damaged subsistence in a storage shed at Milne Bay, New Guinea.
Damaged subsistence in the hold of a ship carrying rations.
suffered heavy damage in being loaded and discharged by sling nets. This damage was particularly heavy if cargo vessels were discharged as swiftly as possible in order to reduce turnabout time. Containers were then tossed five or six feet from trucks into a net spread on the ground, often landing on corners or edges. When the net was lifted or dropped, it crushed and then pushed the boxes in all directions. Diagonal pressures threw the load on the weakest points of the cartons, frequently denting or puncturing inner containers.
Time and again available mechanical equipment and service troops did not suffice to handle peak loading and discharging demands, and untrained islanders, who could not be expected to exercise much care, were necessarily employed to do the job by hand. During the first two years, moreover, danger of bombing repeatedly forced the hasty discharge of vessels at night, with severe losses of supplies. In August 1943 one observer in New Guinea concluded that the greatest injury to poorly packed items occurred during operations of this sort.66 The Guadalcanal offensive illustrated the rough usage to which Quartermaster items were subject under such circumstances. Owing to the presence of many enemy planes and ships, supply vessels might have to move at a moment’s notice and consequently did not drop anchor. Lighters were brought alongside after nightfall, and cargo was simply flung overboard to waiting boats. In some instances makeshift piers were built to receive it, but usually only beaches were available.67
Throughout 1942 and most of 1943 Pacific quartermasters commonly described the outer packing of subsistence items as “completely worthless.”68 A survey of bases between Hawaii and New Caledonia in the spring of 1942 disclosed that corrugated fiber cartons in outdoor storage fell apart as soon as a heavy downpour hit them. In the humid Fijis they disintegrated even in warehouses.69 On the docks at Wellington cartons, awaiting transshipment to Guadalcanal, became wet and broke open. Flour, sugar, rice, coffee, cereals, and baking powder, flimsily packaged for sale in grocery stores, fell out and covered the docks with a mushy deposit. Even wooden packing cases were not entirely adequate.70 Tightly fastened with nails, they lacked resilience and broke up more quickly under rough handling than did less rigid boxes. Straps did not afford much protection; they were too light in weight and too few in number, only one ordinarily being placed around the short circumference of a container, whereas a minimum of two was needed.71
Pacific quartermasters regarded the inner packagings, with the exception of tin cans, as no better than the outer packs. Col. Joseph H. Burgheim, Task Force Quartermaster in New Caledonia, scathingly described them as “a complete waste” of funds.72 Salt and sugar, shipped in cloth bags, were often already half dissolved by
Corrugated fiber cartons used for packing soon disintegrated in the rains of the South Pacific Area, and afforded little protection for their contents.
moisture on arrival at advance points. Similarly packaged flour and rice frequently became moldy and full of weevils. Though fiber cans furnished more protection, they did not provide safeguards against excessive humidity for the salt, sugar, baking soda, and corn starch they usually held. Nor were they structurally strong enough to withstand hard usage and were therefore often dented and pierced.73
Composite cans—fiber containers with metal ends—were employed for packaging cocoa, gelatin, spices, condiments, baking powder, tea, and hard candy. These containers, particularly the larger ones, proved unsatisfactory because of the weak joint between the fiber sides and the metal tops and bottoms. In some shipments of large five-pound cocoa cans the metal bottoms came off practically all the containers. A stronger joint could not be developed without use of a side wall disproportionately thick in relation to the size of the contents. Even glass containers, used for syrup, pickles, vinegar, jams, jellies, and concentrated butters, were not fully satisfactory, for a high percentage always broke in shipment. 74
Despite the fact that tin cans were in general considered fairly reliable, they were easily punctured. As these containers were unlacquered, they were also liable to rust. If the labels, which covered the cans, became wet, rusting was accelerated. Furthermore, moist labels speedily disintegrated and once the label was gone, there remained no ready means of identifying the contents or learning the date of packing. Frequently, cans had to be issued with no certainty as to the age or even the contents.
Packing and packaging deficiencies, however caused, obliged Quartermaster and Veterinary personnel to devote countless hours to the separation of unspoiled from spoiled food. Once this chore had been completed, more hours had to be spent in the repacking of usable cans earmarked for shipment to advance bases or combat areas. Sometimes the shortage of lumber made repacking impossible.75
Because of the numerous hazards to which Quartermaster items were liable, better packaging and packing, obviously, had to be developed. Subsistence in general had to be packed to protect it an entire year or even longer, for reserve supplies accumulated at bases and, as operations advanced, were either left behind for protracted periods of time or else dragged through new campaigns. Combat rations in particular might be stored for many months; consequently, they needed protection for at least two years.76
In Washington the OQMG tried to develop more durable outer containers. It especially sought a fiber box equaling nailed wooden boxes in packing performance. Corrugated fiberboard manufacturers, eager to become once more competitive in the military container market, undertook the development of the desired products. They created two new types—one, a superstrength, all-kraft solid fiber container with a sisal outer layer, and the other, a corrugated container in which sisal was used in the construction of the kraft paper itself.
Both cartons, it was claimed, surpassed nailed wooden boxes in resisting rough usage. Dropped 50 times in a testing drum to simulate rough handling in a ship’s hold, then immersed in water for twenty-four hours, and finally again tumbled in the drum until they broke, two all-kraft containers sustained 315 and 526 falls and a sisal-kraft container 569 falls before they failed. The weatherproof solid fiber container survived only 21 falls and the nailed wooden box 222 falls.
Using “V” for “Victory,” the OQMG termed the new materials “V-board” and at the close of 1942 issued specifications for three grades. V1 grade, based on the superstrength, all-kraft, highly water-resistant fiber box used in the tests, furnished the best grade; it was made entirely of virgin fibers and had a bursting strength of 750 pounds per square inch when dry and 500 pounds when wet. The V2 grade, made from both virgin and used fibers, had a bursting strength of 500 pounds per square inch, either wet or dry. The V3 grade, with a strength of 400 pounds if dry but only 150 pounds if wet, made merely a superior weatherproof solid fiber container. Sleeves, fitted over the V-containers from end to end, appreciably increased resistance to hard usage. Further protection was given by two metal straps tightly drawn at right angles to each other. Later a third strap was added for still more protection.77
Production of V-containers was at first severely circumscribed by the limited capacity of box factories, the shortage of fiber pulp, labor troubles, and the inability of the OQMG to issue procurement directives in time to obtain delivery by the desired dates. For some months these handicapping factors forced the continued use of weatherproof solid fiber boxes. Not until the summer of 1943 were V-boxes made in substantial volume, and even then the output was not commensurate with requirements. The QMC, indeed, never obtained all the V-boxes it would have had if production had not been curtailed by continued manufacturing difficulties. V2- or V3-board often had to be used when the superior V1 grade was preferable.78
V-containers did not reach Pacific bases in significant numbers until the close of 1943. Employed principally for food items, they withstood handling hazards well, and most observers believed them superior in this respect to wooden boxes. If V2-boxes were provided with sleeves, they were suitable for packing canned goods, but the sturdier V1-boxes were preferred for emergency rations and other items stored over long periods of time. The less durable V3-containers proved most satisfactory for such fast-selling PX articles as beer, soft drinks, and fruit juices. Efforts were made to send V1- and V2-boxes as far as possible to forward areas and V3-boxes to rear areas; but the mixing of all three grades in shipment made this difficult. Since V-boxes lacked the rigidity of wooden cases, they did not stack as well and sometimes collapsed if they bore the weight of a superimposed load or if not fully packed. They were most suitable when used for foods packaged in tin cans or other strong inner containers capable of helping boxes withstand stacking pressures. V-containers were also inferior to wooden containers in that they were more easily damaged by moisture. The new boxes retained heat longer than did those made of wood, but excessive spoilage was seldom observed. In spite of the inferiority of V-containers in some respects, their superiority in
space-saving qualities, ease of handling, and, above all, resistance to hard usage, more and more won them acceptance.79
During 1943 the OQMG developed the conception of “amphibious packing” to indicate packing that could be easily carried and that could withstand exceedingly rough usage and about ninety days of exposure to the elements. In practice the term implied a relatively low poundage and the employment of superior outside packing materials. Amphibious packing, designed originally for tactical operations, was actually applied to most of the subsistence sent to the Pacific late in the war. As far as possible packers employed the freshest food. They preferred metal-strapped V1- or V2-containers with sleeves, but, if these cartons were unavailable, they substituted nailed or wire-bound wooden cases. Because of the repeated necessity for carrying combat rations by hand, packers restricted the weight of amphibious packs to about 40 pounds in contrast to the 50 to 60 pounds of other packs.80
While fiber and wooden boxes were the containers most commonly used for overpacking food items, the OQMG developed a special container for flour, salt, sugar, powdered milk, rice, and dry beans and peas—a multiwall paper sack lined with asphalt moisture barriers. Originally, these products had been shipped in burlap or osnaburg, that is, coarse cotton, bags, which furnished only slight protection against handling hazards, moisture, and insects. Tin containers would have been more satisfactory, but the growing shortage of tin plate prohibited their extensive use. After the spring of 1942, five-ply multiwall sacks with two asphalt barriers were prescribed as the outer containers. The plies from inside to outside consisted of one layer of natural kraft; one layer of duplex, waterproof, asphalt-laminated kraft; two layers identical with the first two; and, finally, a fifth layer of natural kraft. In February 1943 a second type of outer sack, the laminated paper-osnaburg-paper bag, which afforded more protection against moisture than the first, was authorized. It consisted of creped kraft paper laminated with asphalt to osnaburg cloth, which, in turn, was laminated with asphalt to creped, wet-strength-treated kraft paper. Both types of multiwall sack were sealed with wax and water-resistant adhesives.81
The contents of multiwall bags were packaged in sacks of cotton sheeting. In the 60-pound sack there were usually 12 inner bags containing 5 pounds each, or 6 bags containing 10 pounds each, or one bag containing 50 pounds, the precise size of the bag depending upon the standard unit employed in distribution of the product. Flour and sugar were shipped in 50-pound bags and salt, which was in less demand, in smaller bags.82
Special Packaging Problems
While the OQMG in Washington grappled with packing difficulties, it also tried to solve packaging difficulties. The principal problem was the shortage of tin, which, though easily punctured and prone to rust, still provided the most generally satisfactory packaging material for subsistence. Even before Japanese conquests cut off the rich tin resources of southeastern Asia, the supply of this metal did not suffice to meet all essential military and civilian requirements. In view of the fact that a suitable substitute for tin cans could not be developed quickly, the OQMG focused its attention on conservation measures that would increase the supply of tin cans without use of additional tin. In the late spring of 1942 it substituted lightweight, electrolytic tin plate for the much heavier hot-dipped tin plate. Since even the latter type speedily rusted in the tropics, the lighter type manifestly would rust even faster. Originally, the OQMG had thought that the lacquering of cans was unnecessary, but it now recognized that protective coating or, as it was commonly known, “procoating,” was almost mandatory. Such a program proved difficult to start, for manufacturers did not ordinarily lacquer cans and therefore kept no adequate equipment on hand for this purpose_ Nor was it known what paints, enamels, and wax emulsions gave the maximum security against rust. Not until the late summer of 1943 was this information available and equipment ready for coating the outsides of cans at some thirty contracting plants, two of them pineapple canneries in Hawaii.83
In the spring of 1944 millions of containers, lacquered or enameled on the outside, began to arrive in the Pacific. In open storage they were generally unrusted, whereas unlacquered cans stacked at the same time were already corroding. One observer in the South Pacific declared that inside as well as outside surfaces of fruit juice cans should be lacquered. This precaution would, he believed, eliminate the pinholing of the can by acid juices.84 Little was done, however, to implement this suggestion. Summing up the procoating program in the Pacific, Col. Rohland A. Isker, wartime chief of the Subsistence Research Laboratory in Chicago, declared that it had prolonged the life of treated cans by at least three or four months and so saved huge quantities of food.85
Marking
In the spring of 1943 the OQMG took steps to dispense with some of the paper labels on tin cans. It required that the full name of the product or a five-letter abbreviation be lithographed, stamped, or embossed on containers.86 Labels were still employed to convey other information. A few months later the procoating program, which, for the best results, demanded the complete elimination of paper coverings, strengthened the argument for not applying any labels. Finally, in January 1944, the OQMG ordered their use discontinued and instructed the food-procuring depots to lithograph, stamp, or emboss on the can all the essential data still carried on labels,
particularly the year in which the pack was made.87 Embossing of cans for citrus commodities created a fresh problem, for the embossing die occasionally fractured the container and permitted acid liquid to spread over and rust the can. A more serious fault was the repeated failure of contracting plants to indicate the name of the product and the date of packing, omissions that rendered identification of contents and the consistent provision of fresh foods almost impossible.88
Marking of outside containers for movement overseas, like that of tin cans, received considerable attention from the OQMG. Regulations governing this matter varied from time to time and from one class of supply to another, but from 1 March 1943 to the termination of hostilities the marking of outside containers was in general governed by the Schenectady Plan, so named because it was tested at the Schenectady General Depot. Under this system markings on containers were limited to those required in combat areas; data required in the zone of interior was placed by itself on a special label. Unfortunately, contracting firms remained lax in the execution of marking instructions, and the Quartermaster inspection staff was too small to rectify more than a few errors.89
Some months elapsed before supplies marked, at least in theory, in accordance with the improved method reached the Pacific. Even then quartermasters were not wholly satisfied. Col. James C. Longino probably expressed the prevailing opinion when he claimed that markings were too complicated and too small to be “readily detected and understood by relatively unintelligent labor.90 Owing to the failure to indicate clearly the contents of boxes, the wrong item or incorrect quantities of the right item were often issued. Fewer markings—and these in larger letters—were what Pacific quartermasters wanted. They objected in particular to the small ¼- to ½-inch lettering of the name of the product and to its appearance on only one side and one end of the container. They wanted this identification placed on both sides and both ends in 3- or 4-inch letters and the number and weight of units in the container and the date of packing similarly indicated in slightly smaller letters.91 Facts not required overseas merely confused handlers. Yet cases arrived, covered, in violation of instructions, with such irrelevant data as the name of the contractor, the purchase and specification numbers, the name and location of the manufacturing plant, the names of the procuring and receiving depots, and other information valuable only in the zone of interior.92
Despite the fact that marking, packaging, and packing problems arising in the supply of subsistence from the United States were never wholly solved, better marking and sturdier packages and packings reduced losses materially. That more was not achieved is attributable to lack of materials, deficiencies in contractors’ equipment, and inability to anticipate in prewar days all the packaging and packing problems that arose in areas so widely different from the United States in climate, terrain, and social and economic development as were those of the Pacific.
Packing of Clothing, Equipage, and General Supplies
The provision of packing protection for clothing, equipage, and general supplies was a simpler matter than in the case of food, for they were all much less liable to deterioration. In packing these supplies, bales, wooden boxes and crates, plywood cases, and wood-cleated fiberboard containers, all served as packing containers and except for plywood and wood-cleated fiber boxes, which were easily broken, gave moderately satisfactory results.
Baling was the common method of packing compressible clothing and equipage in the zone of interior. It withstood rough usage well and reduced space requirements by about 30 percent. Bales even afforded protection against water damage as the tight compression of the contents diminished seepage of dampness into interior layers. Wrapping of baled goods in water-resistant paper gave extra protection. In spite of these precautions, clothing was occasionally mildewed, but on the whole the amount damaged was small. The major criticism centered about the difficulty of moving un-eared bales by hand because of their excessive weight—often several hundred pounds, a load much too heavy for easy manipulation in areas with limited mechanical equipment. The introduction of lighter, eared bales late in 1943 eliminated this cause of complaint. On the long trip from depots in the United States to Pacific bases some bales always disintegrated because of torn coverings, rusted metal straps, and crumbled waterproof paper. In spite of these mishaps advantages of baling far outbalanced disadvantages.93
The zone of interior never completely solved the problem of packing nonbalable clothing and equipage. These items were customarily placed in unwieldy plywood boxes or wood-cleated fiber cases, which carried loads too heavy for their frameworks and often fell apart, requiring many man-hours for recooperage.94 In most instances packing of general supplies proved satisfactory, but experience revealed some deficiencies. Plywood boxes, used for field ranges and other bulky articles, frequently broke. The original method of shipping massive items composed of many parts also proved faulty. Stoves, for example, were shipped with six sets of bases, tops, and rings in one crate and all the other parts—shakers, pokers, grates, shovels, and pipe sections—in separate boxes, each of which contained scores of parts of the same type. If a box containing grates, pipe sections, or some other vital part did not come with the rest of the shipment or was misplaced on arrival, the stoves could not be used until the missing parts had been received or located. To insure the delivery of complete units a crate containing all the parts for five complete stoves was developed. This improved method was applied also to other pieces of equipment consisting of many parts. Another weakness in the shipment of general supplies was lack of precautions against rusting of fire-unit burners, pressing surfaces of ironers, and typewriter springs. Eventually, employment of rust preventatives solved this problem.
Many items of clothing and general utility were shipped in V-cases, usually of the V3 type. As some of these items could not be solidly packed, the comparatively weak containers often collapsed under pressure. Boxes containing shoes were especially
subject to this mishap. So were those which held helmets, for these articles, because of their irregular shape, could not be fitted snugly into a case and were so heavy they gradually broke down their containers. If cartons holding soap became wet, they disintegrated because the soap dissolved and weakened the interior of the boxes. In the Philippines in 1944 and 1945 rain damaged socks, uniforms, stationery, and toilet paper, if they were not strongly packaged.95 Such losses brought about various suggestions for dealing with the problem. One observer recommended that the sides of V3-boxes be strengthened sufficiently to prevent collapse under heavy loads. Another observer proposed that V-containers be utilized only for food and nailed or metal-strapped wooden cases for Class II and IV supplies. But the most common recommendation was that V3-boxes be utilized solely for articles so shaped as to strengthen resistance to stacking pressures.96
Packing and Packaging Locally Procured Supplies
The new packaging and packing methods were applied insofar as was feasible to commodities purchased in Australia and New Zealand. But technical inexperience and shortages of raw materials retarded the introduction of American innovations. At the start inner containers for subsistence were comparable to and as unsatisfactory as those employed in early shipments from the United States, but by the close of 1943 better ones had been introduced. Lacquered tin cans were extensively employed. Square, four-gallon cans, employed for flour and dry cereals and occasionally for dehydrated vegetables, frequently admitted moisture. Since package sizes and shapes were not rigidly standardized, it was hard to pack containers snugly, and considerable uncertainty often prevailed as to the number of packages in a container.97
Outer packs proved even less satisfactory than inner containers, being larger and more unwieldy than those from the United States. Steel drums, weighing 250 pounds, were occasionally used for flour. As late as May 1945 an observer from the Chicago Quartermaster Depot found many New Zealand products packed in unmanageable 150-pound containers or 100-pound wooden cases.98 The wooden boxes, generally employed in the Southwest Pacific to pack supplies consigned to advance areas, proved unsuitable because the softwood required to make superior cases was unobtainable, and the brittle lumber employed as a substitute broke easily. Late in 1943 lumber for packing purposes became so scarce in Queensland that the crates necessary for the delivery of fresh vegetables in edible condition could not be provided. In contrast to Australia, New Zealand had a relatively plentiful supply of softwoods appropriate for the production of wood containers. That country indeed had a surplus for exportation to its large neighbor.99 Both New Zealand and Australia suffered from recurrent shortages
of wire, nails, and straps for bracing wooden boxes. USASOS and SOS SPA therefore imported these indispensable materials from the United States but never received all they wanted. From home sources, too, came “shooks,” that is, sets of box parts, ready to be assembled, and small quantities of V-board.100 The Southwest Pacific Area tried to interest Australian manufacturers in the production of V-containers; its efforts, however, came to naught.101 Considerable quantities of burlap and other baling materials were procurable below the equator, but lack of compression machines prevented their extensive use, and balable supplies were necessarily packed in three-ply wooden boxes.102
Since the new and better packaging and packing methods developed in the zone of interior could not be widely applied to items obtained in Australia and New Zealand, supplies from these countries in general could not resist rough handling as well as those from the United States. Furthermore, since they were less compactly packed, they occupied more cargo space. Despite these drawbacks Quartermaster packaging and packing constituted one of the brighter aspects of QMC distribution activities. The improved methods appreciably alleviated handling problems, prolonged the storage life of most supplies, saved cargo space, and pointed the way for still further betterment.
Some tentative conclusions can be drawn with regard to the problems treated in this chapter. Few of them were susceptible of ready solution; indeed, under the unfavorable conditions encountered in advance areas a large number were almost if not quite insoluble. Building materials and skilled labor for constructing storage facilities at island supply centers were almost totally absent, and Quartermaster construction at best had only low priorities. Had more ocean-going vessels been available, more building materials could have been imported, and had procurement of refrigerated facilities and small prefabricated warehouses been conducted with greater vigor, more of these desirable means of storage could have been obtained. But even if these conditions had all been met, they could have ended storage perplexities only in part. Manpower shortages and low priorities would have precluded immediate assembling of prefabricated buildings, and the normal necessity for prompt discharge of vessels would have forced resort to open storage. The possibility of relief was further complicated by the repeated shifting of the center of supply activity to the newer bases, whose undeveloped state made open storage virtually obligatory for many months.
With the comparatively limited number of cargo vessels, supply troubles would have been considerably eased could air transportation have been employed more freely. What was most needed was more cargo planes, more cargo parachutes, and better delivery technique. There was not enough time during the war to fill these requirements in more than small part, but the QMC did learn how valuable planes might be as supply carriers when other means of transportation had become unavailable or unusable. That knowledge was to be
applied in the postwar years to the development of better air cargo methods.
The potential packaging and packing problems of overseas areas had not been fully comprehended before Pearl Harbor, but early wartime experience quickly revealed the wastefulness of flimsy packaging and packing. Actions then taken to correct defects proved their value and served as guides to still greater improvements in the postwar era. The development of sturdier V-containers in particular pointed the way to much better fiberboard cartons. From its trials the QMC had indeed learned much.