Chapter XIV, The Ordnance Department: On Beachhead and Battlefront


1 History 616th Ord Ammunition Co, 19 Nov 43-Jun, Oct-Nov 44.

2 (1) Ibid. (2) Ernest Hemingway, who was in one of the LCVP's that left the Dix, wrote a vivid account of the Fox Green Beach landings, "Voyage to Victory," Colliers, vol. 114, No. 4 (July 22, 1944), PP. 11-13, 56-57. (3) For the OMAHA landings see Harrison, Cross-Channel Attack, pp. 305-28. Unless otherwise indicated this chapter is based on Harrison's volume and on Ruppenthal, Logistical Support of the Armies, I. (4) Samuel Eliot Morison, "History of United States Naval Operations in World War II," The Invasion of France and Germany: 1944-1945, pp. 110-54.

3 (1) History 251st Ordnance Battalion, 11 Feb-Aug 44. (2) History 5th Engr Special Brigade, Opn Rpt NEPTUNE, 6-26 Jun 44, p. 19. (3) Monograph, Capt Reynold A. Atlas, The Operations of Ammunition Depots in Normandy from D-Day to the Battle of St. Lô, 6 June-25 July 1944, The Infantry School, 1946 (hereafter cited as Atlas Monograph), copy in OHF.

4 (1) History 6th Engr Special Brigade, 6 Jun-20 Jul 44. (2) 1st Sgt. Bernard W. Steele, ETO, Letter to Editor, Firepower, vol. II, No. 1 (June-July 1945). (3) History 100th Ord Ammunition Bn, p. 28. (4) Ord Serv ETO, Ammunition Supply, Annex 41, OHF.

5 Col. W. R. Slaughter, "Ordnancemen Are Combat Troops," Firepower, vol. I, No. 5 (February-March 1945), p. 5.

6 (1) History 100th Ammunition Bn. (2) Interv, Lt Edwin J. Best, 618th Ord Co, with Maj William E. Renner, in Renner Rpt.

7 (1) History 177th Ord Bn 1944. (2) History 526th Ord Heavy Maint Co (Tank) Jan-Dec 44. (3) History 72d Ord Group, 1944.

8 In TIGER, the 625th Company lost 12 men when their LST was sunk by a German E-boat, and shortly before the invasion 7 men were killed and 13 injured when the company's rear echelon CP at Falmouth was bombed. History 625th Ammunition Co 1 Dec 42-Jan 46.

9 (1) Opn Rpt, 1st Engr Special Brigade, NEPTUNE Opn (UTAH Beach), 6 Jun 44-24 Oct 44, Annex 4, Incl B; Annex 6, Incl F. (2) History Hq & Hq Det 101st Ord Ammunition Bn, 27 Aug 42-12 Nov 45. (3) Atlas Monograph.

10 (1) Atlas Monograph. (2) Bradley, A Soldier's Story, p. 281. (3) History 1st Engr Special Brigade, Annex 6, Incl F.

11 (1) History 2d Ord Medium Maint Co, Jan-Dec 44. (2) Capt. Fred A. Tadini, "The Ol' 2nd," Firepower, vol. II, No. 2 (August-September 1945), pp. 2-3.

12 Ltr, Maj Gen J. B. Medaris (USA Ret) to Brig Gen Hal C. Pattison, 28 Oct 63, OCMH.

13 Bradley, A Soldier's Story, p. 315.

14 Hq Ord Service First U.S. Army, Operations Orders No. 3, 22 Jun; No. 5, 28 Jun; No. 6, 9 Jul; No. 16, 17 Jul 44, OHF.

15 (1) Hq Ord Service First U.S. Army, Operations Order No. 5, 28 Jun 44; (2) History 52d Ord Group, 21 Aug 43-13 May 45.

16 (1) Martin Blumenson, Breakout and Pursuit, UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II (Washington, 1961), p. 175. (2) Pyle, Brave Men, p. 256.

17 (1) Interv, Maj Gen Floyd A. Hansen, 15 Sep 60. (2) Ord Office Jul, XIX Corps AAR, 30 Jun 44, Annex D to sec. IV. (3) Pyle, Brave Men, p. 302. (4) Ralph Ingersoll, Top Secret (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1946), p. 173. (5) Robert J. Casey, This Is Where I Came In (New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1945), p. 183.

18 (1) First Army Rpt I, Annex 13, p. 70. (2) Ltr, Ray to Ord Officer, First United States Army, APO 230, 11 Aug 44, sub: Ammunition Supply Report, France, 1-31 July 1944, Folder, Ordnance Reports First Army Misc Jun-Aug 44, OHF. (3 ) AGF Board Rpt No. 114, Ammo and Weapons for 1st Army, 14 Jul 44.

19 (1) Entry for 24 Jul 44, 12th AG Daily Jnl, Ord Sec. Mar-Jul 44. (2) Ltr, Medaris to Pattison, 28 Oct 63. (3) Hansen Interv.

20 (1) USFET Board Rpt, Ammunition Supply and Operations, European Campaign, Ordnance Section, Study Number 100, app. 4. (2) Ltr, Ray to Ordnance Officer, FUSA, APO 230, 11 Aug 44. (3) Atlas Monograph. (4) History 101st Ammunition Bn.

21 (1) Pyle, Brave Men, pp. 286-87. (2) Intervs, Capt Homer C. Doman, Maintenance Officer, 83d Ord Bn; Lt Col Howard M. Elliott, CO 25th Ord Bn; by William M. Hines, Sr., in Hines, History of the General Purpose Vehicle 1941 to 1945 (hereafter cited as Hines History), pp. 299-302, OHF. (3) Lt. Col. James D. Sams, "Ordnance Improvisation in the Combat Zone," Military Review, XXVIII, 2 (May 1948), pp. 32-36. (4) Ltr, Medaris to Pattison, 28 Oct 63. (5) First Army Rpt I, Annex 13, p. 91.

22 (1) Martin Blumenson, Breakout and Pursuit, p. 206. (2) Operations Report, Ordnance Section V Corps, 6 Jun-31 Jul 44, p. 4. (3) W. L. White, "Sergeant Culin Licks the Hedgerows," Reader's Digest, vol. 56, no. 334 (February 1950), 81-84.

23 Bradley, A Soldier's Story, pp. 330, 342.

24 (1) First Army Rpt I, Annex 13, p. 92. (2) History 177th Ord Bn 1944, Journal Entries 14-23 Jul 44. (3) Ltr, Medaris to Pattison, 28 Oct 63. (4) Col J. B. Medaris, "Field Service in the First Army," Army Ordnance, XXVIII, 148 (January-February 1945), p. 67. (5) De Guingand, Operation Victory, P. 395. (6) On the use of the tank transporters see Sgt. S. W. Dobrans, "Nellie's a Lady," Firepower (June-July 1945), p. 7.

25 (1) Col W. R. Slaughter, Report of Observations in ETOUSA [14 Jul-4 Sep], 20 Sep 44 (hereafter cited as Slaughter Rpt), p. 30. (2) Memo, Gen Barnes for General Campbell, 11 Oct 44, sub: History of Tank Guns. Both in Barnes File, OHF. (3) Bradley, A Soldier's Story, pp. 322-23. (4) First Army Rpt I, Annex 13, p. 80. (5) Green, Thomson, and Roots, Planning Munitions for War, Pp. 316-17.

26 (1) FUSA Ord Service, Operations Order 19, 30 Jul 44, OHF. (2) First Army Rpt I, Annex 13, p. 88.

27 (1) FUSA Ord Service, Operations Order 16, 17 July 44, OHF. (2) Slaughter Rpt, p. 24.

28 (1) History 974th Ord Evacuation Co (Coll) 27 (1) FUSA Ord Service, Operations Order 16, Feb 43-May 45. (2) Pyle, Brave Men, pp. 290-95. 17 Jul 44, OHF. (2) Slaughter Rpt, p. 24. (3) Slaughter Rpt, p. 4.

29 Medaris, "Field Service in the First Army," Army Ordnance, XXVIII, 148 (Jan-Feb 45), p. 67.

30 (1) Pogue, The Supreme Command, p. 204. (2) After-Action Report, Third U.S. Army, 1August 1944-9 May 1945 (hereafter cited as Third Army Rpt), Vol. II, Staff Section Reports, Command, p. 2.

31 (1) Third Army Ordnance Unit Histories, ETO Ord Sec Histories, KCRC. (2) Third Army Rpt, Vol. II, Ordnance, p. 6. For strenuous attempts to obtain welding material in France, see History 984th Depot Co, ETO Ord Sec, KCRC.

32 Third U.S. Army Outline Plan, Opn OVERLORD, Annex 2, Troop Basis, Third Army Rpt, Vol. I.

33 (1) Third Army Rpt, Vol. II, Ordnance, pp. 2-6. (2) Memo, CofS for CG AGF, 12 Jun 44, sub: Activation of Hqs and Hqs Detachment, Ordnance Group. (3) Ltr, Secy War to CG ETO, 20 Jun 44, sub: Activation of Headquarters and Headquarters Detachments, Ordnance Groups. Last two in ASF Planning Div, Theater Br. (4) Rpt of Meeting of Ordnance Officers, 19 May 44, 12th Army Group 33'7 Conference Meetings. (5) 12th U.S. Army Group (FUSAG) Daily Journal, Ordnance Section, 19 May 44.

34 (1) Intervs, Col Nixon, 25 Aug 45; Col Harry H. Gibson, CO 79th Ord Bn, 26 Jul 45, in Hines History, pp. 303, 306. (2) USFET Gen Bd Rpt No. 99. (3) Bykofsky and Larson, The Transportation Corps: Operations Overseas, p. 109. (4) 12th Army Group (FUSAG) Daily Journal, Ordnance Section, 6 May, 9 May 44.

35 (1) Third Army Rpt, vol. II, Ordnance, p. 6. (2) Interv, Gibson, in Hines History. (3) On the 2d French Armored Division, see Marcel Vigneras, Rearming the French, UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II (Washington, 1957), p. 10; and Pogue, The Supreme Command, p. 239.

36 (1) Col. T. H. Nixon, "Across the Beachheads," Army Ordnance, XXVIII, 150 (May-June 1945), p. 398. (2) 12th Army Group (FUSAG) Daily Journal, Ord Sec, 1-5 Aug 44. (3) Rpt on General Weaver's Conference of 15 Jul 44, ETO Ord Sec O.S. 334 Meetings and Conferences General, Feb 43-Jul 44, KCRC.

37 Pogue, The Supreme Command, p. 200.

38 Ibid., p. 209.


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