UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II
The Army Service Forces
THE ORGANIZATION AND ROLE OF
THE ARMY SERVICE FORCES
by
John D. Millet
CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY
UNITED STATES ARMY
WASHINGTON, D. C., 1998
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number : 53-617
First Printed 1954-CMH Pub 3-1
. . . to Those Who Served
Foreword
If a reader expects to find a uniform pattern of treatment in the similarly upholstered volumes of this series, he will soon discover his-error on reading this one. The author has chosen to relate the story of the Army Service Forces by concentrating on the activities of its organizer and commander, Lt. Gen. Brehon B. Somervell. As a staff officer to General Somervell during the war and one who was personally acquainted with his views, particularly on matters of organization, Professor Millett is exceptionally well qualified to deal with his subject in the manner he has chosen.
Some may complain that the biographical approach, with all the advantages it has in enabling an author to bring life and action into a narrative, has serious limitations when used in dealing with the history of an institution, such as the Army Service Forces. Others, familiar with the atmosphere in which the agency operated, may differ with the emphasis on this or that episode or problem that resulted from seeing its history mainly through the eyes of its wartime chief. Yet it must be recognized that the huge conglomeration of activities that constituted Army Service Forces had its chief element of unity, its one common denominator, in the driving energy and aggressive personality of its commander. This infused his organization with a sense of common purpose that many a smaller and functionally better integrated organization lacked. Necessarily General Somervell's impact on the various components of the Army Service Forces was uneven and certain problems received more of his attention than others. This was particularly true of organizational matters which General Somervell considered the key to operational success. The changes he sought to introduce were many and basic. As was to be expected, they often met with opposition, especially from some of the technical services which resisted the bridle the more because of their traditional freedom of action.
The perspective of the author is that of the "top side" rather than of the official at the operational level. Little attempt has been made to go into detail on the many activities and responsibilities of the Army Service Forces. For more complete information concerning them, the reader can look to other volumes of United States Army in World War II.
Washington, D. C.
15 January 1953
ORLANDO WARD
Maj. Gen., U.S.A.
Chief of Military History
vii
The Author
John David Millett, Ph.D., LL.D., President of Miami University, earned his doctorate in political science at Columbia University where for a number of years he also served on the faculty. His experience as an adviser and administrator in government agencies and in the field of higher education has been extensive. Among these may be mentioned service on the National Resources Planning Board, the Committee on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government, The President's Committee on Administrative Management, and the Commission on Financing Higher Education. For the last-named organization, he served as Executive Director. During World War II he was commissioned and brought to Washington to serve on General Somervell's staff as an expert adviser on organizing the newly created Army Service Forces. He also acted as the wartime historian for that command. Through both training and personal experience he was the logical person to prepare this particular volume.
Washington, D. C.
15 April 1953
LEO J. MEYER
Colonel, Reserve Corps
Deputy Chief Historian
viii
Preface
This account of the Army Service Forces in World War II had its origin in the general effort of the Federal Government to record wartime administrative experiences. On 4 March 1942 President Roosevelt wrote to the director of the Bureau of the Budget expressing his interest in the steps taken to keep a "current record of war administration" and urged their extension wherever possible.
The War Department in turn issued instructions on 15 July 1942 for the commanding general of the Army Service Forces to appoint an historical officer and to arrange for an historical program. This communication was addressed also to the commanding generals of the Army Ground Forces and of the Army Air Forces. I was initially appointed historical officer of the Army Service Forces by General Somervell. As a member of the Administrative Management Branch in the Control Division of Army Service Forces headquarters, I participated actively in many organizational studies and in time, assumed other current staff responsibilities within the Army Service Forces. Thus, from the beginning, I had an opportunity to observe organizational experiences at close range.
In the two months preceding my departure from the Army in January 1946, I dictated a draft account of the major organizational events in the history of the Army Service Forces from 9 March 1942 to the end of 1945. This account was deposited in an historical file along with various historical records prepared within the Army Service Forces during the war. Subsequently, the Office of the Chief of Military History invited me to revise and extend the original draft, and this volume for the series United States Army in World War II is the result.
The present volume is based on the earlier draft and on other materials which were not then readily available. In addition, it relies heavily on the complete personal files of General Somervell which have been preserved intact and which for the first time are here used as the basis for a published work. But this account has not been prepared solely from official documents and other papers. I was present at meetings and conferences of which no records were ever kept, and have tried to convey the impression left by these discussions in various generalizations and observations. In such instances the reader will of course find no footnote references.
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In addition, I have had the active assistance of General Somervell, the commanding general of the Army Service Forces in World War II. I first became acquainted with General Somervell in New York City in September 1936. It was my privilege to be associated in a small way with his work as head of the Army Service Forces in World War II. His aid in providing me with his personal recollections of persons and events is gratefully acknowledged. The assistance of a personal friend, Maj. Gen. Clinton F. Robinson (USA retired), has been equally invaluable.
In my conversations with the chief historian of the Office of the Chief of Military History, it was agreed that any organizational account of the Army Service Forces would be inadequate which did not give proper emphasis to the personality of its commanding general. This story of the Army Service Forces, then, has been told from the point of view of its commanding general. At the same time, this is not meant to obscure the fact that the work of the Army Service Forces was accomplished by thousands of persons in and out of uniform scattered throughout the world. I would not belittle the contribution of any one of them.
The focus of attention throughout this volume has been the organizational experience of the Army Service Forces. It was impossible here to tell the full story of the many vital problems of the ASE These accounts will be found in other volumes dealing with the production, supply, and administrative activities of the Army.
I have been conscious of the very different audiences who might be interested in this record. This is not a "popular" history. Its primary purpose is to provide a record of events which would be available to and could be used by others who, in subsequent years, might have related responsibilities. In other words, the primary audience would be future administrative officers, plus a few others interested in comparable administration experiences. This concept has provided me with a general frame of reference.
Yet in endeavoring to tell a complete story about the Army Service Forces' organizational experience, it was necessary to discuss many of the substantive problems and major issues confronting agencies of the War Department. These are matters which are probably of much more general interest than administrative history. For example, the three chapters dealing with the relations of the Army Service Forces to the War Production Board are in many ways a separate episode which may be of more extensive interest than other chapters dealing with the internal organization of the Army Service Forces. But in thus weaving together many different events and circumstances, the effort was made to retain a central thread of unity. It was simply this: what was the Army Service Forces, how did it come to be, what was it supposed to do, and how did it do it?
It was perhaps inevitable in writing this account to tell primarily the story of controversies. The Army Service Forces was a controversial administrative experiment. There are some in the Army and elsewhere today who would ban all discussion of the Army Service Forces and who wish never again to see anything resembling an offspring. This attitude may disappear with time, but it has been one of my chief aims to explore the many controversies and differences of
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opinion which arose so that others may more accurately assess the basis of the hostile reactions. General Somervell too was a controversial figure. If he is to be known solely by what his critics have said about him, then a most distorted picture of an able officer and administrator will be perpetuated. I have endeavored to place this picture back in proper focus. I cannot satisfy the partisans of General Somervell, and there are many. Nor can I expect to soothe the ruffled feelings of all those who think they were harshly treated by General Somervell. This account is friendly but at the same time, it is hoped, balanced.
It has not been my purpose here to chronicle all the activities and achievements of the Army Service Forces. Any such attempt of necessity would have been an almost endless one. Nor has it been my purpose, as easy as such an effort would have been, to stress only the accomplishments, the satisfactory relationships of so many individuals in the Army Service Forces, both with one another and with members of other military and civilian agencies. My purpose rather has been to help clarify the misunderstanding that now exists, and that otherwise might well continue to exist, with regard to the real nature of the Army Service Forces.
After completion of the original draft of this volume, other responsibilities prevented me from giving full personal attention to revision of the manuscript. The Office of the Chief of Military History made available the services of Dr. Jonathan Grossman who checked references, investigated other sources of materials, and edited sections of the manuscript. His assistance was both thorough and sympathetic. Much of whatever merit the present volume may have belongs to Dr. Grossman's generous assistance. I have also had the help of many other persons in reviewing the manuscript and checking its facts. These are too numerous to mention in full, but I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to Dr. Kent Roberts Greenfield, Chief Historian; Lt. Col. Leo J. Meyer, Deputy Chief Historian; Dr. Richard M. Leighton, Chief of the Logistics Section; and Dr. Stetson Conn, Chief of the Western Hemisphere Section. In addition, I appreciate greatly the careful reading of the entire manuscript by Lt. Gen. LeRoy Lutes, who succeeded General Somervell in command of the Army Service Forces. Mr. David Jaffé was editor of the volume, Miss Nancy L. Easterling did the copy editing, Mrs. Pauline Dodd prepared the index, and Miss Margaret E. Tackley was the photographic editor.
It should be remembered that I alone stand responsible for the statements of fact and opinion expressed. The Office of the Chief of Military History has not censored my observations in any way, even though it has been critical of certain points of view contained in the manuscript. Despite what the term "official history" may imply to many, this volume represents personal judgments, which, it is hoped, few will consider unreasonable on the basis of the evidence presented.
Columbia University
15 April 1953
JOHN D. MILLETT
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Chapter |
Page |
1 |
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2 |
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6 |
PART ONE
The Creation of the Army Service Forces
I THE WAR DEPARTMENT AND ARMY ORGANIZATION AT THE BEGINNING OF WORLD WAR II |
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PART TWO
The Role of the ASF in the War Department
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Police Activities, Internal Security, and Custody of Military Prisoners |
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IX THE SOMERVELL PROPOSALS FOR WAR DEPARTMENT REORGANIZATION |
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X THE TRANSFER OF ASF ACTIVITIES TO THE WAR DEPARTMENT STAFF |
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National Guard and Executive for Reserve and Reserve Officers' Training Corps A, fairs |
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The Relations of the ASF and the AAF to the Technical Services |
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PART THREE
The Role of the ASF in Industrial Mobilization
XIII THE ASF AND THE WPB: EARLY ATTEMPTS TO DEFINE RESPONSIBILITIES |
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XVI THE ASF AND OTHER CIVILIAN AGENCIES CONTROLLING PROCUREMENT RESOURCES |
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XVII THE ASF AND CIVILIAN AGENCIES CONCERNED WITH MILITARY SUPPLY AND DEFENSE |
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PART FOUR
Internal Organization of the ASF
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Appendix
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B DOCUMENTS ON THE RELATIONS WITH THE AAF: POSITION OF ASF IN THE WAR DEPARTMENT |
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C DOCUMENTS ON THE RELATIONS WITH THE AAF: RELATION OF SUPPLY AND SERVICE AGENCIES TO COMBAT FORCES |
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Tables
Charts
1 Organization of Service Command Headquarters, 8 December 1943 |
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7 Postwar Logistic Organization Within the War Department, Proposed to Patch Board, September 1944 |
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Illustrations
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The illustrations are from the files of the Department of Defense
page created 8 July 2002