Foreword
The transportation of troops and supplies to build up and maintain the force of more than five million soldiers deployed overseas by the United States Army in World War II involved operations of unprecedented magnitude and complexity, both across the oceans and within the military theaters of the war. The movement of supplies for allied forces greatly increased the Army’s transportation task. The two preceding volumes of this group have told the story of Army transportation in the continental United States. This volume deals with land and water movements in theaters of operations around the world. It surveys port, railway, highway, and water operations that constituted a major, and in some instances a controlling, factor in the prosecution of the war. Time and again the Army’s experience during the war underlined the need for clearly recognizing the importance of transportation in planning and executing tactical as well as logistical operations.
After the creation of the Transportation Corps in July 1942, transportation activities overseas became increasingly its concern and were carried out in ever-widening measure by staff officers and units provided by the Corps to overseas theaters. The focus of this volume is nevertheless on Army transportation problems and activities as a whole, since other services also had a very large hand in moving troops and supplies within the theaters. The authors have told their story from the records and the points of view both of the overseas commands and of the Transportation Corps in Washington. If it is at times a story of inadequate performance, primarily because of shortages of trained men and suitable equipment, it is also a story of over-all success in delivering the men and the goods when and where they were needed to defeat the enemy.
Albert C. Smith
Maj. Gen., U.S.A.
Chief of Military History
Washington, D.C.
15 December 1954
Introductory Note
As is indicated in the Preface, the preparation of this volume was carried out under the general supervision of my predecessor, Mr. Chester Wardlow. Its appearance marks the completion of a comprehensive account, in three volumes, of the history of the U.S. Army Transportation Corps during World War II.
Dr. Harold Larson served as Senior Historian of the Army Transportation Corps during World War II. He was Chief Historian of the XXIV Corps in Korea, 1946-47, and thereafter, to March 1952, Historian, Transportation Section, Office of the Chief of Military History. He has a Ph.D. in History from Columbia University, and is now on the staff of the Air University Historical Liaison Office in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Joseph Bykofsky received his Master of Arts degree from Columbia University, and is currently a candidate for a Ph.D. degree in History at American University. During World War II he served as an officer in India and Burma, where he was engaged in transportation activities. He has been associated with the Transportation Corps historical program since July 1949. Before that time he had participated for three years in the writing of the World War II history of the American National Red Cross.