American Armies and Battlefields in Europe
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Chapter IX THE SERVICES OF SUPPLY N rear of the area actually occupied by The building up of this organization the fighting elements of a modern was one of the most diffi.cult problems I army, a great organization is required which faced the Commander-in-Chief of to keep the combat units constantly sup- the A.E.F. upon his arriva! in France. It plied with the men and means necessary was imperative that the essential supply for operations against the enemy. Re- services be ready to operate when the placements of men and animals, great first combat troops arrived and that their quantities of rations, ammunition, weap- facilities be expanded progressively to ons, equipment and supplies of all kinds supply the needs of the vast forces soon must be obtained and delivered to to corne. In spite of the handicaps of Locomotive Repair Shop at Nevers Under Construction by American Engineers Nevers was an important railroad and srorage center the front. To accomplish this, complete emergency pressure, the great distance transportation facilities must be provided, from America, a foreign language and and these must not only be adequate to foreign customs, and an already over- handle the enormous volumes of freight burdened railroad system in France, the but also to move organizations from one organization was developed steadily so point to another and to evacuate the that when the crisis came at the time of wounded to the rear. In the A.E.F. the Meuse-Argonne offensive it was able these and other tasks, which involved the to handle with great success the enormous construction and operation of transporta- demands made by the First Army upon it. tion systems, telephone and telegraph The "Line of Communications" was lines, hospitals, depots, docks, mills, re- formed on July 5, 1917, shortly after pair shops and factories of various kinds, General Pershing arrived in France. At were performed by an organization known that time it was given no definite bound- successively as the "Line of Communica- aries but consisted mainly of the port of tions", the "Service of the Rear" and the St. Nazaire and the city of Nevers, the lat- "Services of Supply" or briefly "S.O.S." ter being the Headquarters of the Advance (437) 438 THE SER VICES OF SUPPLY Section. Its active area was gradually communication began within the United extended, however, and on February States and extended across the sea to 16, 1918, the "Line of Communications" France. They entered France mainly was reorganized and called the "Service of at ports along its western coast from Brest the Rear". This designation was changed southward, as those farther north were Services of Supply of the American Expeditionary Forces 3 G L N SPAIN 0 100 200 Miles General Headquarters A. E. F. Headquarters S. O. S. Port used by S. O. S. o Important Town Une of Jan . 1918 Railroad ------- Section Boundary Numbers indicate base sections on March 13, 1918, and throughout the already heavily burdened with British remainder of its existence the organiza- and French traffic. The railway lines tion was known as the "Services of Sup- which ran northeastward from these ply" or more generally as the "S.O.S." southern ports to the main areas of Ameri- The American lines of supply and can operations were selected for the use THE SERVICES OF SUPPLY 439 of the A.E.F., thus avoiding the con- Board, was created to supervise and gested region near Paris w here the greater coordinate such purchases. The effi- part of the French war factories and large ciency of this agency as well as its great supply depots were located. value is illustrated by the fact that from For purposes of administration the June 1917 to December 1918 approxi- S.O.S. was divided into several base sec- mately 10,193,000 ship tons of material tions, located around the ports of debarka- were acquired in Europe for the use of the tion, and one intermediate and one ad- American Arrny, while shipments from vance section located the United States to progressively ne are r the A.E.F. during that the front lines. Even- same period amounted tually there were nine to a p p r o x i m a t e 1 y base sections, including 7,675,000 ship tons. one in England, one in A further saving in Italy and one compris- tonnage was made by ing Antwerp and Rot- the fo r m a t i o n of a terdam. The extent of salvage service, which the S.O.S. and its terri- collected, repaired and torial organization at reissued discarded the time of the Armi- shoes,hats, clothing and stice are shown on the other articles of equip- preceding sketch. ment. This service, The Commanding besides saving much General of the S.O.S. raw material, reclaimed was responsible directly for use supplies valued to the Commander-in- at $126,367,322. Chief of the A.E.F. The construction of He was in charge of all the many establish- activities of the Serv- ments and facilities ices of Supply and of all necessary to the proper personnel and matériel functioning of the sup- from the moment they ply service was per- arrived at the ports fo r m e d ch i e fi y by until they reached American en gin eer points in the forward troops. Nearly 1,000 areas designated by miles of standard-gauge G.H.Q. He coordinated railway tracks; 4 docks, the work of the differ- with 23 berths, includ- ent supply branches, ing the necessary equip- such as the quarter- Major General James G. Harbord ment for un 1o ad in g m aster, engineer, Commanding General of the Services of ships; about 25,000,000 ordnance, signal, trans- Supply from July 29, 1918, square feet of covered portation, aviation, to May 26, 1919 storage space; 16,000 chemical warfare and barracks, which, if medical, and so planned that, as far as placed end to end, would have reached possible, there would be on band at all 303 miles, or from Washington, D. C., to times sufficient supplies to meet every Albany, New York; bakeries; several requirement of the forces at the front. enormous hospitals; refrigeration plants; The scarcity of vessels made it im- and many other structures were built by perative that as rnany articles as possible the American Army in France. The base be purchased in Europe, so an agency of hospital center at Mars consisted of 700 the S.O.S., called the General Purchasing buildings, with a fioor space of 33 acres. 440 THE SERVICES OF SUPPLY One of the refrigerating plants could motives and 56,000 cars for the Allies. store 6,500 tons of meat and produce 500 The supplies collected were stored at tons of ice per day; and one of the me- different points between the base ports chanical bakeries had a daily capacity of and the combat zone. It was inadvisable 800,000 pounds of bread, enough to fill to place large quantities too close to the about 50 standard American freight cars. front because of the enormous losses and Forestry operations, which produced more consequent scarcity of supplies which than 200,000,000 feet of lumber and about would result if the Germans made a sub- 4,000,000 railway ties, were carried on to stantial advance. On the other hand, if assist in providing the materials needed stored near the base ports they would be in the construction program, the size of too far from the battle front and an inter- American Lumber Mill Nea r Eclaron At the rime of the Armistice 81 of these mills were in operation which is indicated by the examples that ruption of the lines of communication have just been given in this paragraph. would interfere with sending them for- The transportation of supplies required ward and thus seriously embarrass the a great amount of rolling stock. As only troops in contact with the enemy. De- a part of this could be procured from the pots were therefore established in the base, French, assembly plants were erected in intermediate and advance sections, those which more than 1,500 locomotives and in the advance section containing rela- 18,000 cars were constructed from parts tively small reserves and being located as received from the United States. Amer- near to the combat areas as practicable. ican railroad repair shops in France also It was originally planned that sufficient reconditioned approximately 2,000 loco- reserve stocks should be kept in France View of Y ar<ls at La Rochelle Shows 80 cars, representing one day's assembling at this American plant to supply the army for three months, thus reached a strength of 644,540 men, not providing an ample factor of safety in including 23, 772 civilian employees car- case ocean traffic were interrupted. In ried on its rolls, and comprised about one August 1918, however, it was considered third of the American soldiers in Europe. safe to reduce this reserve requirement to The vital importance of the S.O.S. and 45 days. From the advance depots sup- its value to the fighting troops are indi- plies were distributed regularly to the cated by the following telegram which troops through great combination depots was sent on September 23, 1918, after the and railway yards known as regulating successful attack of the American First stations, which operated directly under Army in the St. Mihiel region, to the General Headquarters, A.E.F.