UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II Reader’s Guide Compiled and edited by Richard D. Adamczyk Morris J. MacGregor CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY UNITED STATES ARMY WASHINGTON, D.C., 1992 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 47–46404 Published volumes of the United States Army in World War II may be obtained through bookstores or by an order addressed to Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. 20402, enclosing a check or money order for the price of the volumes. CMH Pub 11–9 For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office Superintendent of Documents, Mail Stop: SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–9328 ISBN 0–16–037817–6 Foreword The United States Army in World War II series describes the organization, plans, and operations of the War Department and the Army, in the zone of interior and in all of the Army’s five theaters of operations from 1939 to 1945. Since the Army authorized the project in 1946, seventy-eight volumes have been or are being published representing an organized treasury of knowledge on the world’s greatest conflict. Behind them lies one of the largest masses of records and recollections ever produced. These documents, including those of the enemy, have been explored by professional historians, with the cooperation of a host of participants and with all the facilities and assistance that the Office of the Chief of Military History and its successor, the Center of Military History, could provide to ensure that this endeavor was as comprehensive, accurate, and objective as possible. The final result has provided commanders and staff officers, historians, and students—military and civilian alike—with an unprecedented professional guide to past experience as they seek light on the uncertain path ahead. But the volumes are large and readers who need the knowledge contained in them are often pressed for time. Although each volume contains its own analytical index, a given subject may be discussed from various points of view in a number of volumes. The present pamphlet thus attempts to furnish the seeker of information with a finding aid which will enable him to profit more readily from the great investment of resources that the Army has devoted to extending his knowledge. This work supersedes Reader’s Guide II, published in 1960. Criticisms and suggestions that look to the improvement of the present Guidewill be welcomed. Washington, D.C. HAROLD W. NELSON 26 February 1992 U.S. Army Brigadier General, Chief of Military History iii Preface This pamphlet contains a brief analytical description of each volume in the United States Army in World War II series published to date or to be published in the near future. These sketches have, in most cases, been prepared by the author at the request of the Chief Historian in his capacity as General Editor of the series. Each synopsis is followed by a list of “key topics” found in the volume and in most cases their chapter location. In addition, a pamphlet index is included which refers to both the lists of key topics and the subject matter in the descriptive sketches. With its aid, the reader should be able to find information bearing on a specific topic that may be located in several volumes, which touch on different aspects of a problem or an event. However, neither the topic lists nor the pamphlet index are exhaustive, and should be supplemented by reference to the analytical index that is contained in each published volume. The admonition which concluded the preface of Reader’s Guide Ibears repeating: “The descriptive sketches that appear in the following pages are not resumes or guts of the volumes. They do not provide pat answers but then neither does history. History is a vicarious story that cannot be experienced except through participation in the event or through reading. History’s value lies in qualifying the reader to see events and problems as conditioned by their context and their sequence in time, not in isolation. Only extensive reading can give this qualification, which is the beginning of wisdom. It is hoped this pamphlet may help to get at the heart of the matter in which the reader is chiefly interested at any particular time.” Washington, D.C. JEFFREY J. CLARKE 26 February 1992 Chief Historian Center of Military History v Contents Subseries and volume Page THE WAR DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Chief of Staff: Prewar Plans and Preparations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Washington Command Post: The Operations Division . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Strategic Planning for Coalition Warfare: 1941–1942 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Strategic Planning for Coalition Warfare: 1943–1944 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Global Logistics and Strategy: 1940–1943 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Global Logistics and Strategy: 1943–1945 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 The Army and Economic Mobilization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 The Army and Industrial Manpower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 THE ARMY GROUND FORCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 The Organization of Ground Combat Troops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 The Procurement and Training of Ground Combat Troops . . . . . . . . . 23 THE ARMY SERVICE FORCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 The Organization and Role of the Army Service Forces . . . . . . . . . . . 29 THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 The Framework of Hemisphere Defense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Guarding the United States and Its Outposts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 THE WAR IN THE PACIFIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Strategy and Command: The First Two Years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 The Fall of the Philippines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Guadalcanal: The First Offensive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Victory in Papua . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 CARTWHEEL: The Reduction of Rabaul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Seizure of the Gilberts and Marshalls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Campaign in the Marianas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 The Approach to the Philippines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Leyte: The Return to the Philippines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Triumph in the Philippines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Okinawa: The Last Battle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 THE MEDITERRANEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Northwest Africa: Seizing the Initiative in the West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 vii Subseries and volume Page Sicily and the Surrender of Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Salerno to Cassino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Cassino to the Alps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 THE EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 The Supreme Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Cross-Channel Attack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Breakout and Pursuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 The Lorraine Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 The Siegfried Line Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Riviera to the Rhine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 The Last Offensive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Logistical Support of the Armies, Volume I: May 1941–September 1944 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Logistical Support of the Armies, Volume II: September 1944–May 1945 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 THE MIDDLE EAST THEATER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 The Persian Corridor and Aid to Russia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 THE CHINA-BURMA-INDIA THEATER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Stilwell’s Mission to China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Stilwell’s Command Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Time Runs Out in CBI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 THE TECHNICAL SERVICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 The Chemical Warfare Service: Organizing for War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 The Chemical Warfare Service: From Laboratory to Field . . . . . . . . . 102 The Chemical Warfare Service: Chemicals in Combat . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 The Corps of Engineers: Troops and Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 The Corps of Engineers: Construction in the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 The Corps of Engineers: The War Against Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 The Corps of Engineers: The War Against Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 The Medical Department: Hospitalization and Evacuation, Zone of Interior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 The Medical Department: Medical Service in the Mediterranean and Minor Theaters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 The Medical Department: Medical Service in the European Theater of Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 The Medical Department: Medical Service in the War Against Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 viii Subseries and volume Page The Ordnance Department: Planning Munitions for War . . . . . . . . . . 113 The Ordnance Department: Procurement and Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 The Ordnance Department: On Beachhead and Battlefront . . . . . . . . 116 The Quartermaster Corps: Organization, Supply, and Services, Volume I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 The Quartermaster Corps: Organization, Supply, and Services, Volume II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 The Quartermaster Corps: Operations in the War Against Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 The Quartermaster Corps: Operations in the War Against Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 The Signal Corps: The Emergency (To December 1941) . . . . . . . . . . 121 The Signal Corps: The Test (December 1941 to July 1943) . . . . . . . . 121 The Signal Corps: The Outcome (Mid-1943 Through 1945) . . . . . . . 121 The Transportation Corps: Responsibilities, Organization, and Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 The Transportation Corps: Movements, Training, and Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 The Transportation Corps: Operations Overseas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 SPECIAL STUDIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Chronology: 1941–1945 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Buying Aircraft: Materiel Procurement for the Army Air Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 Civil Affairs: Soldiers Become Governors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 The Employment of Negro Troops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Military Relations Between the United States and Canada: 1939–1945 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Rearming the French . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Three Battles: Arnaville, Altuzzo, and Schmidt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 The Women’s Army Corps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Manhattan: The Army and the Atomic Bomb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 PICTORIAL RECORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 The War Against Germany and Italy: Mediterranean and Adjacent Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 The War Against Germany: Europe and Adjacent Areas . . . . . . . . . . . 147 The War Against Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 WORLD WAR II SOURCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 ix