WWII 12th Air Force Ordnance

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THE COMMAND AND GENERAL STAFF COLLEGELIBRARY

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MED ITERRANEA N THEATER OF OPERATIONSN O R T H A F R I C A \ S I C I L Y I T A L YS A R D I N I A CO R S IC A SOUTHERN FRANCE

2 3 MAR 1949


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ORDNANCE ACTIVITIESin

THE MEDITERRANEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONSNovember 1942 June 1945

From England and the United States through Africa to the Italian Alpsx. through heatP mud , snow, and cold. Ordnance Servicsuccessfully supported the Allied forces which fought and slugged their way to victory over the highly efficient German Army

To do this tremendous job has required sweat and pain and unmitigated hard work* It has meant receiving^ moving f rom dumto dump, or manhandling 12,500^000 tons of ammunition! keeping operative an average of lOOcOOO vehic les! maintenanc e to absoute accuracy of I70C artillery weapo ns! the care of delicate fire control equipment! and supplying for the Army and the ArmyAir Forces each and every Ordnance item with which they fought their battles s from four ounc8 wrist watches to monstrous 45-tank tr anspo rters. To acc omplish this hug e task has necessitate d a n average of 20j,000 highly trained US Ordnance mens. thethousands of special tools with which they work and vast depots of supplies.

Ordnance laid its initial plans to support the African invasion in Norfolk House in London in the early fall of 1942. Sinthat time this theater has staged major amphibious operations in North Africaf Sicilys Italyt Anzio^ and Southern France* Thheadaches and heartaches were many., There was the extremely difficult job of supporting the Tunisian operation against adetermined enemy over ground supply lines more than ls500 miles long. There were numerous occasions when tubes of large calunits had to be changed under artillery fire at the batter positio n. It would have been Impossible to haul the guns back tothe Ordnance repair shops % consequently combat zone Ordnance Service loaded spare tubes on transporters and did the job at tgun position. This meant haulin g over roads slippery with ice or axel deep in mud 4 over roads where maximum possible speedsrarely exceeded two miles per hour. Howevera the repair crews arrived; the tubes were changed with the aid of light given oby bursting enemy shellsj tests and checks were made and the guns were quickly back in action to pound the jerries* lines*


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This was typical of the work performed by combat zone Ordnance Service. All Ordnance maintenance companies in Army sent fo"Contact parti es" to the using arms, as regularly as the milkman at ho me, to deliver Ordnance spare parts and supplies and toon-the-spot repairs to Ordnance material in the hands of the troops.

The Luftwaffe was a n active /8apon against the forces fighting in MTCUSA. In Tuniss. Palermo5 Naples, Bizertes Cassino^ Anand manyP many other placesi work by ArmyP Air Forces and Base Ordnance units alike had to continue to turn out the completedeven though bombing raids were in progress s or they had to dig out before the work could be continued. Enemy planes often strArmy Ordnance units on the move or in their field set-up. Deadly enemy artillery greatly hampered and handicapped Ordnance otions at Anzio where heartaches were plenti ful. Here the whole tiny beach head was continually under the direct observation intense fire of every known caliber of enemy artillery. Even the well known "Anzio Annie" , a German 280 mm cannon^ with a ragreater than any weapon the Allies had at their disposal s except the Air Force , added its terrifying weight to this inferno only were mainten ance units hampered, by these raids ^ but also supply and ammunition per sonnel . The latter often became fire fas fires were started nig htly and spread from concussions or explosions in ammunition dumps. These fires were very costly inammunition whic h was difficult to obtain and required tankst. improvised as fire trucks with bulldozer b lade s; to combat conflag rations . Regardles s of the danger the ammunition had to be saved. These, the dusty tortuous roads in the mountains oSicilys. the heat of the desert in Africa^ the rain p lava dust^ and difficult terrain in Italy $ plagued Ordnance Service incesthroughout these campaigns.

Ordnance Service had fe w people to support operations in the early stages, Experience was limited and had to be gained thhard knocks. By the end of the successful Tunisian campaig ns Ordnance had brought in about 1,500 pieces of artilleryr 46 ,.00vehicles and 400,0 00 tons of ammunition. The combat troops had consumed nearly 240^000 tons of this ammunition and well over2. 000,000 tons had been physically moved or removed before the end of that one campaign.,

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'While this school of hard knocks was in session in Tuni sia, Ordna nce men at the bases in the rear areas were far f rom beon "Easy Street". Supplies of all types, as originally requisitioned for during the planning of the operations, were pourinat Casablanca^ Ora ns Algiersi and later at Bize rte. They all had to be handled^ stored^ or put into hands that could use timmediately, Adequate work and storage areas had to be located. Transportation had to be provided without delay. To suppllatterp bi gs heavy , charocoal burning civilian trucks were often used in ports and in depot areas in order to release stanvehicles for the long hauls to the front line s. The unpacking and assembly of crated trucks had to be initiated at onc e, Aexperience was limited, motor vehicle assembly companies had not arrived and the how-to-do-it had to be learned the hard wa

French Spanishs and Arab civilians were employed and trained in these operations. Language differences and racial habipresented numerous problems.

To accomplish these tasks Ordnance personnel had to be spread very thinly and used in supervisory or teaching capacitiesunskilled and semi-skilled labor. At the end of December 1942s there were only 931 Ordnance men in the Gran area s and 615 the Casablanca area. In addition there were but 3133 Ordnance men with the Task Forces and 600 with the Ordnance maintenanand depot companies of the Army Air Forces. It was nearly three months after the beginning of operations before sufficientOrdnance personnel had arrived to permit the setting up of large maintenance shops. It was eight months before truck engincould be completely overhauled right in the theater instead of having to evacuate them to the United States, One year elapbefore conditions permitted tire repair shops to operate and at no time was there sufficient maintenance personnel availablin Africa to permit proper control of supply and maintenance. The Base installations,, due to this shortage^ were forced to ate as retailers instead of wholesalers. By the end of the campaign in May in Tunisia the total troop strength in the theatapproximately 350,000. Of this total there were just 9s000 Ordnance m@n with the combat forces^ and 14,000 Ordnance men inservice areas and with the Army Air Forces, or s about ?J^fo of the total were Ordnance men with the combat forces and about


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43 #3 43 43 4V 4* 4* 4* 4$ 4S


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were Ordnance men in the service areas.Each of these percentages is almost exactly one half of what the standards for balanced operations call for. Despite the

that Ordnance was 50% understrength} over three hundred thousand tons of ammunition^ weapons t and vehicles in addition to tequipment which had bee n brought as immedia te support for the in vading forc es, had been received into the theater,- store d, afor^ and issued to II Corps and the Service troops in support.

These same conditions9 namely the Ordnance personnel shortagesp have continued throughout the campaigns in MTCUSA. Howevewas according to plan. It was originally determined that the theater would not be given sufficient Ordnance personnel and texisting Ordnance units would have to be augmented by civilians and prisoners of war. This procedure worked out fairly satirily except for two points Fir st, additional equipment and facilities were not provided with which the civilians and prisonwar were to work, second^ required officer and enlisted supervisory personnel were not provided. A striking example of this at a vehicl e assembly plant in MTOUSA. A normal assemb ly company cons ists of 178 men and has a work 'capacity of 75 vehicles

day. This capacity had to be doubled, but the only way it could be accomplishe d was by more than doubling th personnel strwith civilians. The latter could be trained to do the work readily enough, but they had to have tools and these were never able in adequate quantities to meet th needs . Similarly, the same situation was common to all maintenance shops and even textent in supply installations.

The main ports in North Africa were operated by headquarters known as Base Sections* In the beginning each handled its owincluding the job of replenishing its stocks from the ports of embarkation in the States, All operated practically independof each other,, and we fumbled along. Neverth eless^ t he material needed by II Corps and the Army Air Forces were supplied evco-ordination between Bases was almost non-existent. Distance was a great handicap. It was five hundred miles from CasablaOran and one thousand miles over tortuous roads from Cran to Bizerte. In order to provide the essential liaison,, and contro

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the entire available stocks in the theater, the Headquarters, Services of Supply, NATGUSA, was established in March 1943. Tthen, had the task of coordinating activities, balancing and distributing theater stocks and planning for replenishments

Accounting systems were centralised which gave the Base Sections more freedom for actual operations.In February 1943, almost three months before the actual completion of operations in Tunisia, plans were started for the

Sicilian campaign. The problem at this stage presented differences from the planning for the invasion of Africa in that thefacilities of the War Department and big Ordnance establishments were not available. Detailed requisitions for supplies toaccompany the assault forces as well as supplies to build the stock piles in Sicily for the first four months had to be prep

Suggestive of the enormous paper work involved is that each set of bimonthly requisitions, in six copies weighed sixty pouAs the overall plans were changed or altered, the requisitions, too, had to be changed to make allowances for the new sit

tion. However, at the last minute, this was not always possible. As an example, plans originally called for the use of M1O destroyers, with their three inch guns, but none were ever put into action in Sicily, due to last minute'tactical changes.Ordnance had provided for a number of replacement vehicles as well as 30,000 rounds of ammunition for the guns. All such ttovsupply was conserved and used to its maximum advantage in later campaigns.

During the invasion of North Africa, although the majority of Combat Ordnance troops were landed during the early stages the operations, it was learned that they were in insufficient strength to give adequate support- to the combat units. Therefothe percentage of combat Ordnance troops landed during the early stages of the Sicilian invasion was increased. Again it walearned that the increase was still not sufficient and that more Ordnance men could have been used to advantage on the beachheads. All such lessons learned were taken advantage of in future operations.

The Army Air Forces had their share of problems in the supply and maintenance of Ordnance equipment* In Africa, the OrdnaSection, Headquarters, XII Air Force Service Command - which later, in Italyx became the Ordnance Section, Headquarters Army


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Air Forces Service Command, MTO - has always had the responsibility of keeping a steady flow of Ordnance equipment peculiar Air Forces coming in from the States* Items common to the Air Forces and the Ground Forces were requisitioned from the Base

To further facilitate in bringing Ordnance Service to the Fighter and Bomber Groups f early in the African campaign Air FOrdnance Depots were establishedo These requisitioned in bulk^ rather than have each small unit make long hauls from the Bacomparatively small quantitieso The small units mentione d are Ordnance Su pply and Mainten ance Companies whose task it is tAi:r Groups, even the deliver ing of bombs right to the air craf t, In conjunctio n with the depots., mainten ance shops were estawhich were capable of handling all but the very heaviest of maintenance jobs^ It was only the latter which had to be evacuathe Base Shops for repair or for salvage. This supply and maintenance system has materially lightened the work load on the installation s and it has resulted in obtaining the maximu m use of equipment with the minimum loss of time in waiti ng for rep

Numerous problems occurred during the equipping of the French units organized in Africa, Besides the supplies their equi

had to "be maintain ed by U oS a Ordnance until French personnel could be trained. Schools were set up and operated by Ordnanceto teach the French proper use and care of American materiel, Prio"5 to the time supporting French personnel could be completrained in maintenance, French divisions were fighting m Italyx adding their service load to the already overtaxed Ordnance

Gradually^ as the war moved on, the scope of responsibiliti es of the Headquart ers, Services of Supply, wer spread to inccontrol of Bases as they were es tablished s uccessiv ely in Sicily,. Sardinia^ Corsica, Italy , and Southern Fran ce a Not only dsupplies and maintenance facilities have to be provided to support each amphibious operationy but also personnel had to be ded to operate each new installation needed to carry on the fight* The latter meant that Ordnance men in the other and olderhad to be spread thinner in order to make ends meet

Confiscated or captured enemy Ordnance Materiel in large quantities was reconditioned when practical and subsequently iss


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for use by Allied Arm ies . The many thousands of rifles and other small arms made available by these means both helped to allshortages, to conserve similar American materials and shipping space that would have been required to transport them*

In connection with all phases of all Ordnance activities in this Theater the utilization of local facilities and resourcesclearing of mines and unexploded bombs from buildings^ factories or battle fields}; the trainin g of civilians., in order to consmen,- equipment and materielp to handle part of the tremendous work load r and the cleaning up and closing out of areas and instions as they were no longer required,, have all been part and parcel with the whole program. Also the supply and maintenance has been additionally complicated in that the British, French and Brazilians have needed supplies from Base stocks and much ofequipment has had to be maintained in Ordnance shops Italian Army Service units had to be equipped and trained. Civilian ortions,, such as th e American Red Cross,., and quasi military unit ss such as the Office of Strategic Services or the Criminal Invetion Department > needed help to keep their equipment operating. All thesey and many others,,, have been continuous functionsthroughout zhe operations here^

$Q discussion of Ordnance activities would be complete without paying tribute to the Ordnance Bomb Disposal experts* Thesethe men who Refused,, or otherwise mad e nonfunctional,, enemy delayed act ion bo mbs a duds and land mines in order that further lof life arid equipment would be avoided^ They passed back intelligence on enemy ammunition as fast as it was ascertained* Thewrong twist of a nut,, a slight jar,, the wro ng pressure^, or a ne w and hitherto unknown^ * gadget** might be all that w ould be necto ser- off a booby crsp o?- cause a fatal deton ation. Many men have given their lives in this work and man y others have saved lives of countless soldiers and civilians by going about their jobs unhesitatingly and with cool courage.

In accomplishing its mission since the invasion of North Africa, the Ordnance personnel have physically handled the receiptas well as the pape r work incident to the procuring of and accounting for> a grand total of three and one half million tons ofsupplies and equipment,. Of this total 10% of the tonnage represents ammunition^ vehicles account for an additional ZWa: and t

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TONS OF ORO NANCE SUPPLIES RECEIVED IN MTOUSA

TOMS


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remaining 1 0$ consisted of weapons and general supplies, Experie nce having shown that all materi al must be handled and rehaa minimum of at least five times before it even reaches the using arms } it would be more nearly correct to say that at leastseventeen million tons of Ordnance supplies have been handled or rehandled in this theater in the past two and one half year

To help visual ise the vastness of these qu antities of supplies f let us consider them in terms of Liberty s hips. Such a can normally carry an average of eleven thousand ship tons of materials. Therefore, had all vessels been loaded one hundredwith Ord nance equipment,, a convoy of at least six hundred and eight een vessels woul d have been required to transpor t the enttonnage at one time However s just receiving materials does not solve the whole problem* Sometimes supplies must be reshipother Basesg or to other theaters of operation and depending on many circumstances, this may be accomplished by landx se as ocargo carriers. During the campaigns in MIO all three methods of shipping have been used. In fact, in the past two and oneyears it has been necessary to trans-ship a grand total of nearly three million tons of Ordnance materials to other points wthe theater or to other theaters. An estimate of the staggering maintenance load performed by the base shops only is exemplby observing that in this theater, 126^,669 vehicles have been assembled! 341,048 vehicles P ls307 9382 small arms,, 27 t242 piecartillerys and 846S863 tires have been repaired! and 249^979 rounds of artillery ammunition have been renovated.

Throughout the series of campaigns there was one major problem that complicated operations of the Theater. That was the age of vehicles to accomplish the assigned mission* This was further antagoni zed by the lack of replacements ava ilable for out equipment prior to the date the equipment was uneconomic al to repair Consequently^ a vicious circle of vehicles whichnot have been repaired^ but scrapped, were kept in service at great expense of time, labor and materia ls. It was not until

submitted by Headquar ters, MTOUSA, and finally approvedf replaced war weary equipment in the theater, Under this program, wbegan to take effect in January 1945S the totals of 2,800 tr uc ks , 2-g- to n; 3^850 tru cks , -J- ton; 2,100 tru cks , | ton; 350 trutractors, 4-5 ton; and 195 ambulances were received in advance for an equal quantity of unserviceable equipment to be writte


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In two and one halfyears of OrdnanceService in MTOUSAthe Base Shops alone

repaired 1*307,382 small arms


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off as rapidly as possible as their condition was uneconomical to keep them on the road.What the supply system amounted to is shown in that there remained an approximate total of five hundred and forty thous

cf supplies in Ordnanc e depot sxoek-s at the time of the cessation of hostilities in Italy, There were 480 different majorequipment with a weight of 54 OO 0 tonsj there were 111,00 0 different items of spare parts and general supplies which accouan additional 95CO O tons, and the .remaining 391 C C tons were made up of 300 types of ammunit ion and ammunition compo nentvalue of whe depot stocks alone is estimated at seven hundred and fifty million dollars with an additional three hundred mdollars worth ef ma.TO:* itesis of ordnance equipment in ^he hands of troops* These figures do not take into account all thewhich have been expended, the equipment w'ltt^'a off as battle lo sses , or the equipment salvaged after its useful life had

To consider &I^ such insx-anoes, the -ralue cf all Ordnance materiel that it has taken to complete the war in this theaterun in the neighborhood o f four and one half to five billion dollars . But this is not the whole picture* In addition to of materials shipped from the States, the service of civilians and of civilian industries had to be hired* Over the entir

more than twenty million dollars were spent by Ordnance Service in occupied areas of which total ninety five percent reprethe payroll for skilled^ semi-skilled and labor class employees*

STILL THERE"S WORKi

Ordnance Service has travelled a long and arduo us road thr ough NA TOUSA and MTOUSA^. from the initi al landings to vi ctory howevers has not meant the end of the road. Equipment must still be repairedj it must still be reclaimed; and it must stipacked and prepared for shipment for use elsewhere,, Ordnance troops mus-, Co all c'y those things :. d at the same ti me holdin readiness t o move to other tasks in other places as oalied for by -che War Depar tment*

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After V-J day has been reached, and after the tasks of redeployment have been accomplished, then, and only then, will Ordnance men in MTOIJSA be able to relax their efforts and say "the job is done".

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Two views of the beachhead at S alerno, Italy.


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Supplies are "delivered" right to Everything rolls in at once andthe beach by Navy. must be given temporary 3pace onthe beach*


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2 - ton amphibious trucks have provenSALSHNO, but it oould iwll have been any beach head. their worth on every beach head.


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A GM3 comes ash ore "bone dr y" . What Noiri


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Losses urere sustained at SalernoStacks of aninunition in open storage at Salerra


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A typical view of the terrain in Italy over which Installing a nevr "ml lop" on a medium ;ank asthe Arsiy fought, and on frhich Ordnance dumps or rocket launchers are added*maintenance sites had to be established.


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Two views of a medium tank with rocket launcherattachment.


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HTest firing a 105mm Iiovritzer on theIn the field a maintenance company does not salt flats near ORAN.have the advantage of fancy buildings andconcrete floors.


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The use and functioning of a new pieceof Ordnance equipment is explained. k tank destroyer comes ashore.


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This is how a 2j ton truck is receivedin case you didn*t know A GMC begins to take shape.


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As the body goes onto the chasis, and after Repairing 37mm and 75ram howitzers in theit has had a test run, another truck will artillery section of a maintenance cornpany.be ready for issue to the using arms.


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Work on all types of pistols, rifles and "Eye3 of the army" get a thorough overhaulmachine guns in the 3raall arms section of in the instrument repair section of thea maintenance company. company.


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G. I.fs and Poilus Ordnance men37nm shells in storage at the train ^rench soldier3 in the useammunition dump, Casablanca* and maintenance of 22*M- iaedium tanks.


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Jnserviee&bl engirds awaiting repair1 in the yard of an engine rebuild shop,


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4H-PSI

iI

3H-I

9Pw


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Peboring the cylinders in an engine block.


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In an engine rebuild shop all like parts are handled in separate sections.


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Test -run s on engines r eb ui lt at the 623rd Orel. Bain Ba tta lio n ir. Oran,


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Nothing Trtfiich may have further life or use after it is reclaimed is discarded*


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Care of veiiic les and equipment axicl prev entiv e m aintenance are re sp on si bi li ti es ot* the u sing arms*


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INSPECTION TEAM AT WORK THOROUCHNESS

EVERY VEHICLE OF THEU N I T IS INSPECTED WIT H EVETHE UNIT MOTOR SER VEHICCEANT . AN INSPECTION CHECKFORM IS FILLED OUT ON EXPER

NEEDNANCE

EACH VEHICLE.

A very iiopo rtant ph ase of th s Ordnance mission.


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A factory in the wake of war. An Ordnance maintenance shop set up and operatingin what was an Italian factory at one time.


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ounk? - N o, the engine, the axles, the transmissionand the transfer case are still good and will bereclaimed for use in other vehicles.The engine from the "junk" after overhaul, beinginstalled in another vehicle at an Ordnancemaintenance shop.


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Special jigs, tools, and spare parts manufacturedin Base Shops to lighten the work load and to "keep'em rolling".School for Italian officers in Ordnance ammunitionand ammunition components. These officers m i l inturn instruct Italian soldiers how to renovateAmerican ammunition.


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Instruction board of Ammunition of alloalibsrs from the smallest for the carbine Spray painting cartridge cases at an ammunitionto 105nm sheila. renovating plant by Italian civilians.


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Reloading a renovated cartridge case with powder Renovated ammunition is being returned to depotby soldiers from an Italian Service Unit. stocks for normal issue.


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Damaged and worn tires delivered to a Tire RepairCompany awaiting processing. Aerial view of the same stack of tires.


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LODI recapping molds at a Tire Repair CompanyVulcanizing a damaged section of a tire


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Retreading tire3. This vulcanizing process requiresone hour and forty five minutes per tire#Removing the 100,OOOth tire to be repaired bythe 2|9th Tire Repair Company from the molcU


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ORDNANCE TANK and VEHICLE Storage & Issue Park, Leghorn, Italy. Bulk storage area of the ORDNANCE BASE DEPOT, LEGHORN,


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Lieutenant General Campbell, Chief of Ordnance,Senator Tunnell and Senator Burton inspect visits the IBS Ordnance Base Depot in Leghorn,activities at a PBS small arms repair shop. Italy.

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DATE DUE (DA Pam 28-30)

COMMAND AND GENERAL STAFF SCHOOLFort Leavenworth, Kansas

LIBRARY REGULATIONS1. Books, pamphlets, and periodicals must becharged at the loan desk (signature on book-loancard ' before being taken from the Library.2. Any item drawn from the Library must bereturned within one month.

Exceptions to this regulation are as follows:(1) Material issued to classes as a whole.(2) Material issued to instructors for professional use.(3) New books which are in demand mus t bereturned within one week.(4) Books required for faculty use are subject to recall at any time.(5) All persons having library material intheir possession will return same beforeleaving the post permanently.(6) Books loaned outside the School must bereturned within two weeks.

3. Reference books and current periodicals willnot be removed from the library.LIBRARY BUREAU CAT. NO. 1169.6


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WWII 12th Air Force Ordnance

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