Bibliographical Note
The Transportation Corps: Operations Overseas is based largely on records collections now in the custody of the Department of the Army. Principal sources used in the preparation of this volume were the records of The Adjutant General; the Army Service Forces; the Office of the Chief of Transportation; the Operations Division of the War Department General Staff; overseas headquarters; and the minutes and papers of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Combined Chiefs of Staff. The locations of the various records groups are given in the Guide to Footnotes.
A valuable foundation for further research was provided by the records collection of the Historical Branch, Office of the Chief of Transportation (OCT HB), begun informally in 1942 in order to make possible the eventual preparation of a history of the Transportation Corps. The most useful of the OCT HB files in the preparation of this volume are those listed under the heading Overseas Theaters. These files are arranged by overseas command and contain correspondence, periodic reports and histories, reports of visits and inspections, newspaper and magazine articles, maps, and technical and miscellaneous information. Although the collection is uneven and contains large gaps, it proved an excellent starting point. Other pertinent OCT HB files are:
Transportation Corps General
Office of the Chief of Transportation (by divisions)
Topical files General Gross’s files (including his day file or staybacks)
General Wylie’s files (including his day file or staybacks)
Army Service Forces Monthly Progress Report, Section 3
Historical Branch Monographs
Photographs
All but two of the Historical Branch Monographs were prepared by members of the Historical Branch, Office of the Chief of Transportation, during the years 1943–46, as part of the wartime historical program of the Army Service Forces. Since the sources of information were inadequate, they are in the nature of interim reports based on materials then available. Nevertheless, they present much useful data. The following of thirty numbered wartime monographs were consulted in preparing this volume:
5. Harold Larson, Water Transportation for the United States Army, 1939–1942
7. Harold Larson, Army Hospital Ships in World War II
9. H. H. Dunham, U.S. Army Transportation and the Conquest of North Africa, 1942–43
11. H. H. Dunham, Transportation and the Greenland Bases, 1941–1944
12. Harold Larson, Troop Transports in World War II
13. H. H. Dunham, U.S. Army Transportation and the Conquest of Sicily, 1943
14. H. H. Dunham, Transportation of the U.S. Forces in the Occupation of Iceland, 1941–1944
17. H. H. Dunham, U.S. Army Transportation and the Italian Campaign.
18. Harold Larson, The Army’s Cargo Fleet in World War II
19. Harold Larson, Handling Army Cargo in the Second World War
25. H. H. Dunham, U.S. Army Transportation in the Persian Corridor, 1941–1945
27. Harold Larson, Role of the Transportation Corps in Overseas Supply
29. H. H. Dunham, U.S. Army Transportation in the European Theater of Operations, 1942–1945
30. Harold Larson, The Army’s Over-sea Passenger Traffic in World War II
Two other numbered monographs, No. 31, U.S. Army Transportation in the Southwest Pacific Area, 1941–1947, by Dr. James R. Masterson, and No. 32, History of Transportation Service in China, Burma, and India in World War II, by Joseph Bykofsky, were written in 1949 and 1950 respectively, and are based on more complete records than the wartime monographs.
An unusual set of records is to be found in the files collected by Dr. T H. Vail Motter in the course of preparing his volume, The Persian Corridor and Aid to Russia (Washington, 1952), one of the volumes in the series, UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II. This collection, cited as the Persian Gulf File (PGF), contains much material pertaining to U.S. Army transportation activities in the Persian Corridor and has been used in the preparation of the chapter dealing with that area.
The authors have also made extensive use of manuscript histories prepared in the overseas commands, most of which are in the custody of the Office of the Chief of Military History (OCMH). These histories vary greatly in quality and coverage, but provide voluminous information on strategic, tactical, logistical, and organizational developments in the various theaters, and often contain much valuable data on transportation. Most of the histories are multivolumed, and many of them include appended transportation section or service histories. A listing of relevant histories prepared in the overseas commands during or shortly after World War II is given below:
History of Allied Force Headquarters and Headquarters NATOUSA
History of United States Army Forces, Central Canada
History of U.S. Army Forces in the South Atlantic
The Official History of the South Atlantic Division, AAF, ATC
Fifth Army History
Logistical History of NATOUSA-MTOUSA: 11 August 1942 to 30 November 1945
Administrative and Logistical History of the European Theater of Operations
History of G-4 Communications Zone, ETO
General Board Reports, U.S. Forces, ETO
History of U.S. Army Forces in the South Pacific Area From 20 March 1942 to 1 August 1944
History of U.S. Army Forces in the Middle Pacific and Predecessor Commands During World War II, 8 December 1941–2 September 1945
History of the Central Pacific Base Command During World War II, 1 July 1944–2 September 1945
History of the Army Port and Service Command, USAFMIDPAC
History of the Western Pacific Base Command
History of the South Pacific Base Command
History of the Persian Gulf Command
History of the China–Burma–India Theater (Stilwell Report), 21 May 1942–25 October 1944
History of Services of Supply, China, India, Burma Theater, 28 February 1942–24 October 1944
History of Services of Supply, India–Burma Theater, 25 October 1944–20 May 1945
History of India–Burma Theater, 24 October 1944–23 June 1945
History of India–Burma Theater, 24 June 1945–31 May 1946
History of China Theater
Official History of the Alaskan Department
History of the Western Defense Command
Manuscripts prepared in the Office of the Chief of Military History and in other Army agencies also proved valuable. Among them were:
Drummond, Capt. Nelson L., Jr., The Attu Operation
Frierson, Maj. William C., Preparations for Torch
Leighton, Richard M., The Problem of Troop and Cargo Flow in Preparing the European Invasion, 1943–44
Sparrow, Maj. John C., History of Personnel Demobilization in the U.S. Army
Thatcher, Harold W., The Packaging and Packing of Subsistence for the Army. (OQMG Historical Study 10)
Whitcomb, Col. Richard S., One War
ASF Control Division Report No. 175, The Alaska Highway
The Canol Project, report prepared by committee representing ASF Control Division, Office of the Chief Engineers, Office of the Quartermaster General, and Commanding General, Northwest Service Command
ASF Planning Division History, prepared by Planning Division, Office of Director of Plans and Operations, Army Service Forces, WD, Vols. 1 and 2
Historical Monograph, U.S. Army Bases, Greenland, ASF, Corps of Engineers, March 1946
Historical Monographs, U.S. Army Bases, Churchill (January 1946), Frobisher Bay (March 1946), and Fort Chimo (March 1946), prepared by North Atlantic Division, Corps of Engineers
Historical Monograph, Prisoner of War Operations Division, Provost Marshal General’s Office
Historical Monograph, Motor Transport Vehicles, 1 July 1942 to 31 August 1945, prepared by the Historical Section, Special Planning Branch, Office of the Chief of Ordnance, ASF, 31 December 1945
Other useful unpublished works include the study entitled Shipping in Naval Logistics, prepared in the Office of Naval Operations, and the history entitled Commander in Chief, Service Force, Pacific Fleet, prepared by the Historical Section, COMSERVPAC. Both are part of the series, U.S. Naval Administration in World War II, and are available in the Naval Records and History Division, Navy Department. The Office of Naval Intelligence Combat Narrative, The Aleutians Campaign, June 1942–August 1943, was also consulted.
Published books, periodicals, and newspapers have been used chiefly to document statements on general aspects of
transportation and on activities other than those of the Transportation Corps that did not appear to require more extensive research. A notable exception is Dr. Motter’s The Persian Corridor and Aid to Russia. Since the work deals with a command devoted primarily to a transportation mission, the chapter on the Persian Corridor in this volume inevitably duplicates much of the material presented in the Motter book. This chapter is intended mainly to round out the account of transportation operations in the overseas commands rather than to contribute strikingly original material on U.S. Army activities in the Persian Corridor.
Secondary works particularly useful in providing a general background for the accounts of transportation activities in the overseas commands fall into the following main groups:
(1) UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II series, published by Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C.
Appleman, Roy E., James M. Burns, Russell A. Gugeler, and John Stevens, Okinawa: The Last Battle (1948)
Cannon, M. Hamlin, Leyte: The Return to the Philippines (1954)
Cannon, M. Hamlin and Robert Ross Smith, Triumph in the Philippines
Cline, Ray S., Washington Command Post: The Operations Division (1951)
Conn, Stetson and Byron Fairchild, The Western Hemisphere, Vol. II
Crowl, Philip A., Campaign in the Marianas
Crowl, Philip A. and Edmund G. Love, Seizure of the Gilberts and Marshalls (1955)
Harrison, Gordon A., Cross-Channel Attack (1951)
Howe, George F., Operations in Northwest Africa: 1942–1943
Leighton, Richard M. and Robert W. Coakley, Global Logistics and Strategy: 1940–1943 (1956)
Matloff, Maurice and Edwin M. Snell, Strategic Planning for Coalition Warfare: 1941–1942 (1953)
Miller, John, Jr., Guadalcanal: The First Offensive (1949)
Millet, John D., The Organization and Role of the Army Service Forces (1954)
Milner, Samuel, Victory in Papua
Morton, Louis, The Fall of the Philippines (1953)
Palmer, Robert R., Bell I. Wiley, and William R. Keast, The Procurement and Training of Ground Combat Troops (1948)
Risch, Erna, The Quartermaster Corps: Organization, Supply, and Services, Vol. I (1953)
Risch, Erna L. and Chester L. Kieffer, The Quartermaster Corps: Organization, Supply, and Services, Vol. II (1955)
Romanus, Charles F. and Riley Sunderland, Stilwell’s Command Problems (1955)
————, Stilwell’s Mission to China (1953) Ruppenthal, Roland G., Logistical Support of the Armies, Vol. I (1953), and Vol. II
Smith, Clarence M., The Medical Department: Hospitalization and Evacuation, Zone of Interior (1955)
Smith, Robert Ross, The Approach to the Philippines (1953)
Smyth, Howard M., Sicily: The Surrender of Italy
Wardlow, Chester, The Transportation Corps: Movements, Training, and Supply (1956)
————, The Transportation Corps: Responsibilities, Organization, and Operations (1951)
Watson, Mark Skinner, Chief of Staff. Prewar Plans and Preparations (1950)
(2) Other U.S. Army Histories
In the War Department’s AMERICAN FORCES IN ACTION SERIES, published in Washington, D. C., are the following: Papuan Campaign: The Buna–Sanananda Operation, 16 November 1942–23 January 1943 (1944); To Bizerte With the II Corps. 23 April 1943–13 May 1943 (1943); Salerno, American Operations from the Beaches to the Volturno (9 September–6 October 1943) (1944); Anzio Beachhead (22 January–25 May 1944) (1947); Fifth Army at the Winter Line (15 November 1943–15 January 1944) (1945); Omaha Beachhead (6 June–13 June 1944) (1945); and Utah Beach to Cherbourg (6 June–27 June 1944) (1948). The Capture of Attu, As Told by the Men Who Fought There, published as part of the War Department’s “Fighting Forces Series” (Washington: The Infantry Journal Press, 1944), also proved useful.
(3) Other Official Histories
Volumes in the series, The Army Air Forces in World War II, edited by Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate, and published by the University of Chicago Press, Chicago, have been consulted. Similar reference has been made to works in the series, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, written by Dr. Samuel Eliot Morison, and published by Little, Brown, and Company, Boston, for information regarding related Navy activities. Building the Navy’s Bases in World War II (Washington, 1947), prepared by the Bureau of Yards and Docks of the Navy Department, includes information pertinent to U.S. Army transportation activities and port development. Among the combat accounts put out by the U.S. Marine Corps Historical Division, The Iwo Jima Operation, by Capt. Clifford P. Morehouse, proved of assistance, particularly with regard to DUKW operations during the assault phase. The American Merchant Marine at the Normandy Landings (awaiting publication), prepared by John Worth under the supervision of the historian of the U.S. Maritime Commission, deals with the activities of the War Shipping Administration in connection with the invasion of northern France.
On the Allied side, Paiforce: The Official Story of the Persia and Iraq Command, 1941–1946 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1948), includes sections on British transportation activities in the Persian Corridor, while Brigadier R. Micklem’s Transportation, (“History of the Second World War, 1939–1945, Army”) (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1950), gives an official account of British military transportation operations in the United Kingdom and overseas areas, including Iran, Iraq, North Africa, India, Burma, and the European continent. The U.S. Department of State’s Peace and War; U.S. Foreign Policy, 1931–1941 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1943), was valuable in filling in the big picture in the account of the Atlantic bases.
(4) Published Reports
Biennial Report of the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, July 1, 1941 to June 30, 1943, to the Secretary of War.
Biennial Report of the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, July 1, 1943 to June 30, 1945, to the Secretary of War.
Report by the Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean, to the Combined Chiefs of Staff on the Operations in Southern France, August
1944. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1946.
Report to the Combined Chiefs of Staff by the Supreme Allied Commander, South-East Asia: 1943–1945. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1951.
(5) Unofficial Histories and Memoirs
Ballantine, Duncan Smith. U.S. .Naval Logistics in the Second World War. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1947.
Chennault, Maj. Gen. Claire L. Way of a Fighter; The Memoirs of Claire Lee Chennault. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1949.
Cronin, Francis D. Under the Southern Cross; The Saga of the Americal Division. Washington: Combat Forces Press, 1951.
Gregory, Andrew Grant. The Saga of the 708th Railway Grand Division. Baltimore, 1947.
Hancock, William K. and M. M.
Gowing, British War Economy. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1949.
Heavey, Brig. Gen. William Francis, Down Ramp! The Story of the Army Amphibian Engineers. Washington: The Infantry Journal Press, 1947.
Padelford, Norman J. The Panama Canal in Peace and War. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1942.
The 727th Railway Operating Battalion in World War II. New York: Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corp [1948].
Walker, Edward Ronald. The Australian Economy in War and Reconstruction. New York: Oxford University Press, 1947.
To supplement and interpret the record, the authors have interviewed or corresponded with Army officers and other personnel who participated in operations. Records of these interviews and correspondence are on file in OCT HB.