Foreword
The methods of modern warfare and its wide deployment of forces make effective communications one of the vital elements of victory. In the higher levels of command in the Army this is the responsibility of the Signal Corps. Actually, war laid far greater demands on Signal troops and equipment than the War Department had anticipated, and the rapid development of electronic devices continued to multiply these demands. For this reason, rather than through any fault of its own, the Signal Corps was perhaps the least ready of the technical services for the missions assigned to it after Pearl Harbor. That the Corps managed as well as it did to meet the demands of war was a tribute to the preparations described in the preceding volume of this subseries. The Corps’ burgeoning activities during 1942 and the first half of 1943 are the theme of this second volume.
Based for the most part on War Department records, especially those of the Chief Signal Officer, the present history generally reflects his point of view. After March 1942 each of the technical services had its special problems within the fold of the Army Service Forces. Those of the Signal Corps were in some respects unique, and led to a partial decentralization of its functions from 1943 onward rather than to the centralized and autonomous control of Army communications that many Signal officers, including the Chief Signal Officer, wanted. The present volume shows how effectively, despite its organizational problems, the Corps managed in the period under review to prepare for its intricate and world-wide mission in the final war years.
Albert C. Smith
Maj. Gen., U.S.A.
Chief of Military History
Washington, D.C.
3 December 1954
The Authors
George R. Thompson has an A.B. degree from Harvard College and a Ph.D. degree from Princeton University. In 1942 he was a Carnegie Research Fellow of the Johns Hopkins University in the history of Graeco-Roman science. From 1943 to 1946 he was an officer in the office of the Chief of Naval Communications. Since 1947 he has been a member of the historical office of the Signal Corps, and since 1952 its chief.
Dixie R. Harris received an A.B. degree from Ohio State University in 1933. After studying law for four years, she was admitted to the bar of Ohio in 1938. From 1942 to 1944 she was employed by the Signal Corps Publications Agency at Wright Field, Ohio. From 1945 to 1947 she was with the historical section of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer, and in 1949 she joined the staff of the Signal Corps section of the Office of the Chief of Military History. Since 1952 she has been assistant chief of the Signal Corps historical office.
Pauline M. Oakes entered the employment of the Signal Corps during World War I. In World War II she acted as a consultant on the administration of personnel in the executive office of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer. She then joined the historical staff, from which she retired in 1952.
Dulany Terrett was chief of the Signal Corps historical office from 1946 to 1952 and was responsible for the planning of the Signal Corps subseries. He has a Ph.B. from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in English literature from Northwestern University, where he taught from 1936 to 1942. He was a historical officer of the Army Air Forces in World War II. He is the author of the first volume of the Signal Corps subseries in the UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II.