Bibliographical Note
Quartermaster activities in the war against Germany are reflected in at least five general categories of source material —U.S. Army Official records, semiofficial and unofficial collections of U.S. Army records, manuscript histories, reproduced reports and unit histories, and published works. Although no contemporary historical interviews with Quartermaster officers were undertaken, the successive authors of this volume have sought the testimony of a few senior QMC commanders and staff officers who were able to clarify obscure points by reason of their firsthand knowledge of events. Moreover a preliminary manuscript version of this volume was submitted to a wide selection of QMC commanders and staff officers who participated in operations in both the Mediterranean and European theaters. Their comments, both critical and helpful, have been acknowledged in the Introduction.
Among the official records of combat headquarters overseas, the main sources used in the preparation of this volume were those reflecting the activities of G-4 divisions and Quartermaster sections of the various staffs. After each of the relatively short initial campaigns, armies, corps, and divisions prepared AAR’s which included relatively complete coverage of G-4 and QM activities, including some information on the performance of QM units. During the longer campaigns which followed, those same headquarters submitted periodic reports of their activities, usually on a monthly basis. During this phase of operations, reports by QM units in the combat zone also became more common, and those maintained from earlier phases on a periodic basis became more complete. Coverage of the combat activities of organic QM companies of divisions, especially infantry divisions, is notably good, and a file of photostat copies which is believed to be complete is maintained in the Unit History Files in the Office, Quartermaster Historian.
Material from nearly all the official records of administrative and logistical headquarters in the overseas theaters concerned have been used in the preparation of this volume. As in the case of combat headquarters, those pertaining to G-4 and QM activities are the most important, but the records of G-5 (Civil Affairs), of the other technical services, especially the Engineers and the Transportation Corps, and those of the General Purchasing Agent contained much material reflecting QM activities. Correspondence with military and civilian agencies of foreign governments, conducted variously by quartermasters direct, by logistical commanders, or through U.S. embassies in the countries concerned, also provide important information used in this volume. Senior administrative headquarters in the theaters gave guidance to subordinates through cables and radio messages, bulletins, circular letters, and the like. These were normally routed through AG channels, and the significant ones for Quartermaster history, principally in
the fields of organization, personnel, and supply policy, bore appropriate numbers according to the AGO decimal-subject system. Monthly reports of the activities of base sections and of QM units within base sections were usually more complete than corresponding reports from the combat zone. After the end of hostilities some of the base sections also retired considerable bodies of their own records and those of predecessor commands. The periodic reports of QM base depots and QM Groups, which included considerable information on their subordinate QM units, were particularly useful. Copies are maintained in the QM Unit History Files, already mentioned. With a few exceptions, some of which are noted below, retained original records of overseas headquarters were located in the Army’s Kansas City Records Center, later (1960) absorbed by the General Services Administration Federal Records Center, Kansas City, Mo.
Of official materials originating in the zone of interior, those most important for this volume were records of the Office of The Quartermaster General comprising correspondence with the overseas theaters concerned, and intra-office memoranda regarding dealings with those theaters. Correspondence between the OQMG and various persons and subagencies of the Army Service Forces, especially the Director of Materiel, and with various depots and ports, especially with the Overseas Supply Division, New York Port of Embarkation, also reflect QM activities in the overseas theaters concerned. Direct correspondence between the ASF and overseas theaters, and between the NYPE and overseas theaters, also contain extremely important information for the purposes of this volume. Retained zone of interior records of Army commands and installations (including depots and ports) are in Kansas City. Permanent records of headquarters agencies of the War Department (including OQMG and ASF) are in World War II Records Division of the National Archives located at GSA, FRC, Alexandria, Va.
Observer reports constitute a special category of primary documents. The report by Capt. W. F. Pounder, Jr., on QM Operations in the North African theater 5 March-2 June 1943, is in the Quartermaster Historian’s Office, OQMG. A file of reports by OCQM ETO observers is in the same location. Reports prepared by observers sent out by the OQMG are among OQMG records regarding the overseas theater concerned, usually filed under number 319.25. Army Ground Forces records have not been consulted, but reports of AGF observers are filed among OQMG records, sometimes under 319, sometimes under numbers referring to troop units or to specific items of food, clothing, or equipment.
Most of the material actually used in the preparation of this volume consists of photostatic copies of documents which have been collected gradually over the last fifteen years successively by Dr. Alvin P. Stauffer, former chief, Historical Branch, OQMG, by Dr. William Chaikin, Dr. Irving Cheslaw, Mr. Charles Romanus, and by Mr. William Ross. Since many documents are duplicated, with copies filed in various places and collections, and since the various holdings have repeatedly been physically moved and administratively transferred, it is often extremely difficult to cite the
location of the original document. In the many doubtful cases, the location given is simply that of the photocopy.
The Littlejohn Collection is by far the most important of the unofficial collections of documents reflecting QMC activities in the war against Germany. This material was collected from 1942 by the Historical Records Branch, Military Planning Division, Office of the Chief Quartermaster, ETO. From early 1944 on, this collection virtually duplicated the records emanating from the OCQM. For many important documents there are multiple duplications, filed by subject, by addressee, and by originating suboffice. The collection also included other primary source material on QMC operations received by that headquarters as well as secondary sources. The strictly documentary portion of this collection has been dispersed. The “Summary of Documents in the General Littlejohn Collection,” a finding aid prepared by the OQMG Records Administrator in January 1956, lists four main bodies of documents at four locations, which are designated as follows:
Section I, at the QM Technical Library, Fort Lee, Va., includes approximately nine boxes of key documents of historical value; three boxes of QM unit histories; a copy of a microfilm (Job #600-93) which comprises 44 reels and reproduces the documents cited in Quartermaster Supply in the ETO in World War II by Richardson and Allan; and sundry other documents, especially the QM portions of various operational plans.
Section II, at the Federal Records Center, Kansas City, Mo., comprises approximately twenty-one boxes of factual records and photographs of QM service operations in the European theater.
Section III, at the Army War College Library, Carlisle Barracks, Pa., consists principally of the Littlejohn Reading Files (June 1942–November 1945, inclusive)—a record of General Little-john’s personal outgoing correspondence, including many signed originals of letters received, and copies of most of his intraoffice written directives to his immediate personal staff. All these constitute a complete and very useful chronological summary of most of the problems encountered and solutions proposed at the OCQM level. Some of this intraoffice material and much of the more personal correspondence is not recorded elsewhere.
Section IV, in the personal possession of General Littlejohn and to be bequeathed by him to the QM Library at Fort Lee, is a body of correspondence that is of personal or patriotic significance but of minor value for QM historical purposes.
The Sullivan Papers were also consulted in the preparation of this volume. They are a semiofficial collection of materials, assembled by Brig. Gen. Joseph P. Sullivan, the Fifth Army Quartermaster, that consist of fifteen boxes of documents reflecting QM activities in Fifth Army, and include certain personal items. They are maintained as a separate collection at the QM Library, Fort Lee, Va. Other unofficial collections of documents used include the Middleswart Papers, personal papers and copies of various documents in the possession of Maj. Gen. William H. Middleswart and the Poore Papers, personal papers that include the Poore Journal and copies of various documents collected by the late Lt. Col. James E. Poore, Jr., now in the
possession of General Middleswart.
Manuscript histories and studies utilized in the preparation of this volume include the following:
Robert W. Komer, “Civil Affairs and Military Government in the Mediterranean Theater.” Copies on file in the Quartermaster Historian’s Office, OQMG and in OCMH. “Fifth Army Quartermaster History,” a manuscript prepared by Col. (later Brig. Gen.) Joseph P. Sullivan in 1948, has been cited as the “Sullivan MS.” A photostat copy is available at the Quartermaster Historian’s Office, OQMG; the original is at the QM Library, Fort Lee, Va. “History of the QM Section, Hqrs Advance Section, COMZ, ETO, 28 December 1943–25 June 1945,” n.d.; copy in Quartermaster Historian’s Office, OQMG. Norman E. Roberts, “Designed for Combat—The Army’s Field Jackets,” Philadelphia QM Depot, 1946. This is an unpublished field historical study on file in the Office, Quartermaster Historian, OQMG. “The Administrative and Logistical History of the ETO,” a manuscript history in 11 volumes prepared under the direction of Dr. Roland G. Ruppenthal, and on file in OCMH.
Extensive use has been made of the following miscellaneous publications:
Reports of the General Board, U.S. Forces, European Theater, especially No. 108, “Service Operations of the QMC,” and No. 109, “QM Supply Operations.” These are also on file in OCMH.
TSFET OTCQM “Operational Studies,” 17 in number, were prepared by the Office of the Theater Chief Quartermaster, Theater Service Forces, European Theater, late in 1945 primarily for the use of the General Board mentioned above. They are critical evaluations of contemporary QM units and established procedures, and are on file in the Army War College Library, The Army Library, and elsewhere. They have also been incorporated as exhibits into the series “Passing in Review.”
“Passing in Review” is a miscellaneous collection of studies, reports, and personal reminiscences by General Littlejohn and former members of the staff of the OCQM, ETO. The first seventeen are brief personal comments and evaluations of the “Operational Studies” mentioned above, to each of which one of the seventeen studies has been appended as an exhibit. The rest of this series, 54 chapters in all, was prepared in the United States in the period 1945–55. These chapters bear some similarity to the Foreign Military Studies prepared for the Office, Chief of Military History, by German generals. Like those studies their value and accuracy varies, and is directly proportionate to the amount of documentary material which the author had available for use in refreshing his memory. Nevertheless, even those containing obvious errors in dates, statistics, and the like, have proved valuable to understanding and interpreting official documents. Chapter 46 of the “Passing in Review” series has been singled out for special attention, since it covers operations in the Mediterranean as well as the European theater, and has been rather widely circulated as an independent publication under the title, “QM Activities of II Corps Thru Algeria, Tunisia, and Sicily, and First Army Thru Europe,” by Brig. Gen. Andrew T. McNamara and compiled by Col. Raymond F. McNally; this was multilithed at Fort Lee, Va., 1955. This has been cited as the McNamara Memoir.
Complete sets of the entire “Passing in Review” series are available at OCMH, and at the Army War College Library. Nearly complete sets are on file at the Quartermaster Historian’s Office, OQMG, and at the Quartermaster Library, Fort Lee, Va.
“QM Service Reference Data,” (7 vols.) were repeatedly revised and reissued by the OCQM, SOS, ETOUSA. Printed versions of September 1942, July 1943, December 1943, January 1944, and many mimeographed addenda are on file in the Office, Quartermaster Historian, OQMG. Complete files are also to be found in the QM Library, Fort Lee, Va. The final postwar revisions appear as OTCQM TSFET “Operational Studies” Nos. 1-4, 6, 7. and to, and as exhibits attached to corresponding chapters of the “Passing in Review” series. They are of especial value in analyzing and interpreting statistics.
All of the following unit histories were printed or lithographed overseas by the headquarters concerned. They were derived primarily from formal periodic reports, and provide valuable contemporary information on the actual conditions of combat or direct support. Most of them include specific portions dealing with Quartermaster operations, and all provide valuable data on the utilization of QM supplies and services.
First U.S. Army Report of Operations, 20 October 1943–8 May 1945 (14 vols., n.d.)
Third Army After Action Report, August 1944–9 May 1945 (2 vols.)
Fifth Army History (9 vols., n.d.)
Seventh U.S. Army Report of Operations, 1944–45 (3 vols., Aloys Graef, Heidelberg, 1946)
Report of Operations 12th Army Group (14 vols., n.d.)
CONAD History (3 vols., Aloys Graef, Heidelberg, 1945)
Logistical History of NATOUSA—MTOUSA (G. Montanino, Naples, 1946)
History of the Quartermaster Section, Peninsular Base Section, MTO, in the Italian Campaign, ed. by Lt. Col. James P. Littlejohn, n.d.
Final Report of the Chief Engineer, ETO, 1942–45 (2 vols. Herve et Fils, Paris, n.d.)
Certain publications originating at The Quartermaster School, Camp Lee, Va., (now Fort Lee), have been distributed widely through the Quartermaster Corps, and to a lesser extent throughout the Army, but have never been formally published. The Quartermaster Training Service Journal (called the Bulletin until December 1943) appeared weekly from October 1942 to October 1945, when issue was apparently suspended. It has been cited in footnotes as QMTSJ. Originally produced in mimeograph form for the faculty of the QM School, it was expanded into a training aid to assist in the technical instruction of QM personnel throughout the world. It contained many announcements of newly developed QM items. It printed letters and formal reports regarding activities of QM units overseas, and occasional critiques of QM organization and procedures. An incomplete file is in the Office of the QM Historian, OQMG, and complete files are available at The Army Library and
at the library of The Quartermaster School.
Quartermaster Supply in the European Theater of Operations in World War II by Eudora R. Richardson and Sherman Allan (10 vols., Camp Lee, Va., 1947–48) is a very complete first narrative based on official sources, including Sections I and II of the Littlejohn Collection cited above. It has been cited in footnotes as QM Supply in ETO. It is particularly valuable for its elaborate appendices, which reproduce tables, charts, and documents of historical significance. Copies are available at service schools and in many military libraries, but at few other institutions.
Quartermaster Supply in the Fifth Army in World War II, by Eudora R. Richardson and Sherman Allan (Camp Lee, Va., 1950) is based primarily on the Sullivan Papers, including General Sullivan’s manuscript narrative already cited. It is an excellent account of army-level QM operations supported by many reproductions of original documents . Distribution was similar to that of QM Supply in ETO.
Published secondary sources are listed only in the footnote citations.