Building a Future: World War II Quartermaster Corps
2001; The MIT Press; Volume: 81; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0026-4148
Autores Tópico(s)Military, Security, and Education Studies
ResumoValuable innovations in the integration, coordination and attitude of service to the soldier were developed just before and during World War II by the Quartermaster Corps Military Planning Division under Brigadier General Georges F. Doriot. The division's task was to prepare soldiers for war in all possible climates. However, the only inventory on hand was leftover World War I clothing and equipment. At a symposium in 1941, Doriot described the status of the Army's equipment: Many items, which had been developed as the result of field experience in the mud and rain of northern France in 1917 and 1918, were modified in peacetime to be more suitable for the garrison life at Fort Benning, Georgia, or Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Even after the outbreak of the war, [many did not recognize] the importance of immediately improving existing equipment.1 Creative Planning In 1942 Captain Russell Davis, Doriot's executive officer, stared in amazement at a tank parked in his Washington, DC, office parking lot. Only Doriot could have had a tank delivered to the parking lot. Davis recalls Doriot's words: We have been asked to develop clothing for men who are going to be fighting in a tank. [I]f we are going to do it, we are going to have to have a tank.2 In planning, Doriot had an astounding grasp of detail and a passion for soldiers' well-being that pervaded his speeches and correspondence.3 His far-reaching thoughts encompassed human engineering before ergonomics had a name.4 Before 1942 it was unheard of to measure the width of foot space in a tank to see how much area a man's shoes might use or the size of hand controls to understand what gloves he could wear. In 1929 Quartermaster General Lieutenant General Edmund Gregory had attended one of Doriot's Harvard Business School courses. In 1941 Gregory persuaded Doriot to come into the Army. Gregory knew that Doriot's unusual personality traits included an abiding interest in the country's welfare and a pioneer's zeal in exercise physiology. Roadblocks to Planning Roadblocks to early military nilanning efforts were major. Robert Bates, who entered the Quartermaster Corps in early 1941 as an expert in cold weather and mountaineering, reported three impediments: * By regulation, new equipment could not be provided until old equipment was used. * No item could be procured in quantity until the theater commander had approved it-and overseas commanders would not approve what they had not seen. * If a new item was designed, the designer faced an extreme shortage of critical materials; metals and rubber were reserved for higher-priority planes, weapons and vehicles.5 Between World War I and World War II, under the National Defense Act of 1920, military planning was based on a defensive concept that visualized military operations occurring mainly near or within the borders of the Continental United States or in similar climatic areas. Because the large stocks of surplus World War I clothing had to be issued until exhausted, little pressure existed before 1941 to manufacture new items. Therefore, it was not surprising that in early 1942 the Military Planning Division faced a series of materiel disasters. Tents fell apart in the Southwest Pacific after two or three weeks because the fire-resistant finish had no fungicide to protect it against mildew. Troops in Alaska, preparing for a possible Japanese invasion, were largely immobilized by trench foot caused by ill-fitting and inadequately constructed footwear. An entire load of food had to be dumped into the ocean because the cans had rusted.6 Compounding the problem was some military leaders' viewpoints that rations were already the best in existence. Early in the war a highranking general told Doriot that all soldiers needed in the way of supplies were coffee, beans and blankets. He ordered Doriot not to spend any money on food research or on clothing. …
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