CHAPTER XI
Redeployment and Occupation
REDEPLOYMENT PLANNING
Redeployment planning, initiated by War Department directivesin 1944 when it seemed that victory in Europe might be a reality by November orDecember of that year, lost some of its vigor as winter approached, and itbecame obvious that the war would be prolonged. The plan of Maj. Gen. Paul R.Hawley, Chief Surgeon, ETOUSA (European Theater of Operations, U.S. Army), forclosing and redeploying medical units of the theater was reviewed in January1945, and a new plan was submitted in March. War Department "TroopBasis" manifested the types of units that would be relocated, but selectionof the specific medical units was accomplished by the Chief Surgeon.1
After V-E Day, 8 May 1945, the plan for redeployment-dividingArmy units into occupation troops (category I), transferring troops to anothertheater (category II), or demobilizing troops in the United States (categoryIII)-presented a new set of supply problems. Before V-E Day, all attention hadbeen focused upon the requisitioning, receipt, storage, and issue of supplies.Redeployment reversed this flow. The changes of function dictated thedevelopment of detailed plans and their execution in a relatively short span oftime. A conference with all medical depot commanding officers in ETOUSA was heldon 6 April 1945. Headquarters, Communications Zone, had promulgated three plans,as follows:
1. The "Basic Plan for Redeployment," covering thegeneral procedures to be followed in redeployment of troops and equipment.
2. POM-RED (Preparation for Oversea Movement-Redeployment),SOP (Standing Operating Procedure) No. 61, comprising detailed instructions forunit commanders whose units were scheduled for redeployment.
3. SPOR (Supplies Preparation for Oversea Redeployment), SOPNo. 63, consisting of instructions concerning the movement of supplies andbeing designed for use by Supply Services headquarters and depots.
Each document underwent several changes.
The basic plan provided that units going directly to thePacific area would pass through the Assembly Area Command near Reims, France,where
1(1) Letter, Maj. Gen. Paul R. Hawley, Chief Surgeon, Headquarters, European Theater of Operations, U.S. Army, to The Surgeon General, 6 Sept. 1944, subject: Movement of Hospital Units and Equipment From the European Theater of Operations to the Pacific Theaters After Cessation of Hostilities. (2) Period Report, Operations Division (Planning Branch), Office of the Chief Surgeon, European Theater of Operations, U.S. Army, 1 Jan.-30 June 1945.
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they would draw supplies to eliminate shortages, and pack, mark, document,and ship their own equipment. The first units were scheduled, however, to bypassthe Assembly Area Command and were to proceed directly to the staging area atMarseille, France, where the prescribed processing would be performed. Unitssent to the Pacific area indirectly and to the United States for strategicreserve were directed to turn in all equipment-except that designated minimalessential equipment-to collecting points stipulated by Supply Services chiefs.This equipment was then shipped to the Pacific area and to the United States,but it was not marked for any specific unit.2
MEDICAL SUPPLY ACTIONS
United Kingdom and Northern France
The Supply Division set forth plans to insure that fixed hospitals includedthe equipment of other services and that all hospital assemblies were stowed inone hold of a single ship. The Chief Surgeon, ETOUSA, sought and was chargedwith the responsibility of packing, marking, documenting, and shipping hospitalsand similar assemblies upon port call.
It was decided to confine, insofar as possible, the packing of general andstation hospital assemblies to the United Kingdom because (1) the existinghospitals could be closed out in the United Kingdom more rapidly, and (2) thecomparatively short distances permitted the designation of one depot to receiveturned-in equipment for reassembling hospitals against the forecast.
General and station hospitals on the Continent were directed to turn in theirequipment to the nearest depot.
Each field and each evacuation hospital scheduled for direct shipment wouldpack its own equipment with the help of the medical supply service. MedicalDepots M-409 and M-414, located at Li?ge, Belgium, and Foug, France,respectively, were designated as collecting points for all field and evacuationhospital assemblies and were responsible for assembling such hospitals destinedfor direct or reserve shipments.
The units would be directed to turn in all other medical equipment to thedesignated collecting point, Medical Depot M-418 at Mourmelon-le-Petit, France,where the equipment would be inspected, disassembled, and then completelyreprocessed into minor assemblies. Units going directly to the Pacific areawould turn in their equipment and draw completely processed assemblies. Unitsgoing indirectly would turn in their equipment, except for minimal essentialequipment.
While many aspects of the redeployment program followed the precharteredcourse, a few conditions militated against effective and full execution. Theequipment turned in was generally in somewhat better condition than had beenanticipated. Approximately 90 percent of the hospital-type equipment
2Semiannual Report, Supply Division, Office of the Chief Surgeon, Headquarters, European Theater of Operations, U.S. Army, 1 Jan.-30 June 1945.
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and 75 percent of the field-type equipment received by depotswas either serviceable or repairable. Considerable confusion attended theinitial efforts in the U.K. hospital program while a heavy flow of fieldequipment was processed as planned at Depot M-418 with relative ease. Common toboth hospital equipment and field equipment were the factor of urgency, thegeneral shortage of packing and crating materials, and the difficulties ofvarious kinds with marking and documenting shipments (fig. 96).
Although requisitions for packing and crating materials hadbeen submitted to the Zone of Interior in January, supplies were notsufficiently plentiful until after 1 July for the full-fledged program. In theinterim, it was necessary to proceed with the small quantities of packingmaterial on hand and, consequently, hospitals assembled during May and June wereinadequately packaged and protected.
The varied destinations involved in redeployment made itessential that marking instructions be explicitly carried out and that oldmarking be obliterated. Unexpected difficulty was encountered because of aconsiderable shifting of, and loss of, depot personnel incident to their owndeployment. These same factors occasioned difficulties in the processing ofassemblies and the preparation of accurate documentation. The introduction of anewly designed shipping document for redeployment (modeled after the existingWar Department shipping document) compounded the problem.
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Finally, and fortunately, Japan's surrender on 14 August1945 instantly altered redeployment activities in ETOUSA, and energies weredirected toward intercepting the movements of materiel that was destined for thePacific area. Most of the medical units and the equipment which was on the way,or had reached the Philippines and the United States by V-J Day, 2 September1945, had been processed in accordance with the opening phase of the planthrough the huge redeployment processing center at Marseille. Perspectiveschanged also-no one seemed particularly disturbed that the cherished stocksbrought into ETOUSA, many as emergency supplies, would not be shipped againstthe elaborate plans, but would be disposed of as surplus property.3
Southern France
A complete readjustment in supply handling in southern Francecame about with redeployment. Requisitioning supplies from the Zone of Interiorwas adjusted to meet the change. The forward flow to CONAD (Continental AdvanceSection) receded and then, with redeployment, reversed its direction. Stocks inwarehouses reached their peak at this time and then began to decrease assupplies were poured out to redeploying units.
Packing and processing of supplies for the Far East had firstpriority. Thus, in April 1945, two officers were sent from the medical depot inMarseille to Paris to attend a course in special procedures for tropical packingand preservation of supplies to be shipped to the Pacific area. Anticipating theend of the war in Europe, base section shipping procedures were modified, andonly those materials were sent to the fronts in Europe that would not standreshipment to the East. Also, the conservation of packing cases and materialsbegan before the German surrender. Delta Base Section established a centralboxmaking activity, where various standard-sized boxes and crates were made foruse by all technical services. When shipments started, various port battalionsentered into loading competitions which reached their peak when V-J Day divertedthe flow of materiel.
The Delta Base Section personnel-staging program was rapidlydeveloped to provide facilities to accommodate 200,000 troops at one time inthree large areas in southern France-Calais, Saint-Victoret, and Arles. It wasa monumental achievement accomplished on a tight schedule.
In June 1945, the 231st Medical Composite Battalion,Headquarters, Delta Base Section, was charged with the gigantic task ofprocessing and assembling complete sets of tropically packed T/E (tables ofequipment) medical equipment for issue to category II medical units redeployedthrough the staging areas. Storage and operational space became critical ashospital assemblies and Medical Department kits and chests were processed andheld pending shipment of units. Depot strength rose to more than 500 personnelin June 1945, while it operated at peak capacity-processing requisitions forstaging
3(1) See footnote 2, p. 380. (2) Report of Operations, SupplyDivision, Office of the Theater Chief Surgeon, Headquarters, Theater ServiceForces, European Theater, 8 May-30 Sept. 1945.
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units, filling optical prescriptions, receiving and storingunit assemblies shipped from the north of France, marrying-up assemblycomponents shipped separately from the parent shipment, and concurrently, movingmajor and minor assemblies to shipside for loading. During July, the deluge ofsupplies and equipment from the north continued. The major activity consisted ofreceiving carloads of hospital assemblies while continuing to move processedassemblies from the depot when called for by the port commander. Depot storagespace reached the saturation point in July forcing acquisitions of additionalspace including a large lot, not too distant from the depot, which had been usedas a baseball diamond. Supply points were established in each of the stagingareas to service deploying units and the areas more directly.
During the first 6 months of 1945, the 231st MedicalComposite Battalion received 12,336 tons and distributed 6,116 tons. Inaddition, it processed or assembled 11 general hospitals, 10 station hospitals,3 evacuation hospitals, 4 infirmaries, 6 general dispensaries, and 2 medicallaboratories. After V-J Day, redeployment continued except that thedestination became the United States.4
SUPPLY ACTIVITIES IN THE OCCUPATION
Depot Activities
At the end of the war in Europe, the medical depotssupporting the combat armies were located deep in the heartland of Germany, somein areas soon to be occupied by the forces of other Allied Nations. This led toconsiderable confusion during May and June of 1945, with the transfer of medicaldepot sites to the French, British, and Russian forces and a concurrentrelocation of United States forces into the area designated as the U.S. OccupiedZone of Germany. During this period, U.S. Army medical depot companies performedcommendably, transferring not only U.S. Army stocks, but also the bulk ofcritical captured medical materiel into dumps in the U.S. Zone (map 27). Thesecaptured supplies were destined to be invaluable in providing medical care tovast numbers of displaced persons and prisoners of war who were under U.S.control. By 1 July 1945, transfers of area responsibilities were largelycompleted, and the medical supply structure to support the occupation wasoperational, consisting of a medical depot to support each of the separate majorcommands, which included Berlin, Bremen, the subdivisions of the U.S. Zone(Eastern and Western Military Districts of Germany) and U.S. forces in Austria.
The Weinheim Medical Depot was in operation as a key fillerdepot in the Western Military District of Germany, Seventh U.S. Army area.Operated by the 30th Medical Depot Company, the depot had originally beenestablished on 1 May 1945 as Medical Depot M-416T with a mission to supply the6th Army Group and Continental Advance Section. However, 1 July 1945 found
4(1) See footnotes 2, p. 380; and 3(2), p. 382. (2) Semiannual Report, Headquarters, 231st Medical Composite Battalion, EuropeanTheater of Operations, U.S. Army, 1 Jan.-30 June 1945.
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MAP 27.-Occupation zones and medical depots in postwarGermany and Austria, 1945.
the company still in the process of getting established andfaced with an enormous task of expansion. After V-E Day, units redeploying forthe Pacific theater and the United States were turning in their medicalequipment and supplies. Again, after V-J Day, the speeding up of redeploymentto the United States brought in an ever-increasing amount of excess equipmentthat had to be checked, repacked, and stored. Designation of the 30th MedicalDepot Company as a category I occupation force unit meant that many additionalproblems of supply and storage would have to be met. Other medical depots, notdesignated as occupational units, began the process of moving a great portion oftheir stocks to Weinheim. Thus, the entire activity of the Weinheim MedicalDepot for the final 6 months of 1945 was one of constant expansion, always withthe cry for space and more space.
The original warehousing facilities at the Weinheim MedicalDepot were unsatisfactory and had to be reconstructed to accommodate the storageof
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6,000 tons anticipated under the occupation. All constructionrequired at the depot was accomplished by medical troops, German civilians, andprisoners of war, with supervisory personnel and heavy construction equipmentfurnished by other services.
The Furth Medical Depot, in operation as the key filler depotin the Eastern Military District of Germany, Third U.S. Army area, wasestablished by the 33d Medical Depot Company on 26 April 1945 in the waning daysof combat in what was a former German Medical Sanitats Parke (Medical Point).Although the structure at this site was not particularly desirable from an issueviewpoint, it did afford adequate covered storage space for approximately 4,000tons and an abundance of open storage space. The structure consisted of afour-story, triple-winged building with 10-foot ceilings which made forkliftoperations impracticable. Elevators available in the building made storage moreaccessible and easier to handle. Road and rail communications leading to thisdepot were excellent, and necessary docking and ramping facilities madeshipping, unloading, and handling a minor problem. As a consequence, the depotwas established as a key depot for certain items of medical supply necessary inthe maintenance of U.S. forces in the occupied zone. By 31 December 1945, totalstocks at the Furth Medical Depot had reached a level of approximately 7,015tons. Ultimately, in 1946, the Furth Medical Depot was to become the onlymedical depot supporting the U.S. occupation forces in Germany (fig. 97).
The Bremen Medical Depot, operated by the 70th Medical BaseDepot Company at a site near the port of Bremerhaven, served not only as afiller
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depot for the Bremen Enclave but also as a base depot forinshipments from both the United Kingdom and the Zone of Interior. Although thedepot was small, the troop strength supported directly by it was also small.Moreover, access routes into the depot were excellent. It was decided that, byaugmenting the depot's ramp facilities to expedite off and on loading, thedepot could continue to serve as a base depot to handle the receiving andshipping functions in support of the occupation forces.
The Berlin Medical Depot, operated by a detachment of the15th Medical Depot Company, was established in the Berlin Enclave to initiallysupport approximately 50,000 troops. Its site was near the grounds of the 279thStation Hospital located in a small enclosed tennis court. Due to the reducedstrength of the Enclave, the depot was shortly inactivated and became an issuepoint under the 279th Station Hospital.
United States forces in Austria received their medical supplysupport from the 226th Medical Supply Detachment located in Glasenbach, Austria.This detachment, in turn, requisitioned its requirements from the Furth MedicalDepot in the U.S. Occupied Zone of Germany.5
Medical Supply Division, Theater Chief Surgeon's Office
Although the medical depot system in the U.S. Occupied Zoneof Germany and Austria was under major subordinate commanders, it wastechnically supervised by the Supply Division, Theater Chief Surgeon's Office,TSFET (Theater Service Forces, European Theater). From the cessation ofhostilities through 31 December 1945, there was a progressive transfer ofresponsibilities from the TSFET (REAR) office located in Versailles, France, tothe TSFET (MAIN) office in Frankfurt, Germany. As of 1 October 1945, Col. RobertL. Black, MSC, was chief of the Supply Division with station in Versailles, andLt. Col. Louis F. Hubener, MC, Deputy Chief, Supply Division, was acting chiefof the Supply Division in Frankfurt. The move of the Supply Division from TSFET(REAR) in Versailles to TSFET (MAIN) in Frankfurt was completed by 7 November1945.
During the last 3 months of 1945, the Supply Division effortswere directed toward the buildup of (1) a minimum 60-day maintenance level inall medical depots in Germany and (2) a reserve stockpile in Germany sufficientto maintain the occupation forces until 30 June 1949. To accomplish thisobjective, a comprehensive study was made first of issues in Germany, and then,replacement factors were revised upward on all items on which issues in Germanywere higher per 1,000 men per month than the overall theater issues. Likewise,downward revisions were made where indicated. Based upon the revised replacementfactors, 60-day maintenance levels and 30 June 1949 levels
5(1) See footnotes 2, p. 380; and 3(2), p. 382. (2)Semiannual Report, Headquarters, 30th Medical Depot Company, European Theater of Operations, U.S.Army, 1 Jan.-30 July 1945. (3) Annual Report, Headquarters, 33d Medical Depot Company, 1Jan.-31 Dec. 1945. (4) Annual Report, Headquarters, 70th Medical Base Depot Company, 1945. (5)Annual Report, 15th Medical Depot Company, 1 Jan.-31 Dec. 1945. (6) Annual Report, Office ofthe Surgeon, Headquarters, U.S. Forces in Austria, 1945. (7) Annual Report, 226th MedicalSupply Detachment, U.S. Forces in Austria, 1945.
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were computed by using the factors in combination withestimated troop strength for the periods involved.
To maintain a minimum 60-day supply of each item stocked inthe theater, monthly maintenance requisitions were placed on the Zone ofInterior. Requisitions were based on a 180-day reorder point to allow for a120-day shipping time. Incoming shipments on such requisitions were receivedthrough the port of Bremerhaven by the Bremen Medical Depot, and from thisdepot, supplies were transferred as needed to other filler depots in Germany.
Each medical depot in Germany was authorized a proportionatepart of the 60-day maintenance level, computed on the percentage of total troopsserved. Based upon information contained in the theater's consolidated stockstatus report, transfers among the various depots were effected to insure aminimum 60-day stock of each item, except key depot items, in each filler depot.Key depot items were books and blank forms, stocked only by the Furth MedicalDepot, and teeth, stocked only by the Weinheim Medical Depot.
The buildup of the 30 June 1949 level from stocks already inthe theater was stressed during the last 3 months of 1945. Approximately 10,000long tons of medical supplies from depots in liberated countries and the UnitedKingdom were moved into Germany. Arrangements were made also to bring to Germanythe so-called luxury items for installation in the larger, permanent medicalinstallations in Germany. Many of these items-for example, large fixed X-raymachines-had been brought to the Continent only in small numbers during combatoperations because of the special handling required. The hospitals establishedon a semi-Zone-of-Interior standard to support occupation forces in Germanybrought about a heavy demand for these items.
During the latter part of 1945, the International BusinessMachines Section of the Stock Control Branch was moved from Paris to Frankfurt.As a result of the damage incurred to the equipment in transit and thedifficulties encountered in installing it at the new location, the firstconsolidated stock status report was not prepared until the middle of December1945. Among the problems encountered was the understandable unwillingness ofFrench personnel to move to occupied Germany. It was, therefore, necessary torecruit German nationals with electrical accounting machine experience to staffthe new section in Frankfurt.6
Medical Maintenance and Repair
With the reduction of medical maintenance and rebuildrequirements in liberated areas, transfer was made of necessary equipment andrepair parts to the Furth and Weinheim Medical Depots in the. occupied zone. Thelarge maintenance shop, located at Medical Depot M-407 in Paris, discontinuedoperations at the end of November and moved to Germany. At both Weinheim and
6(1) See footnotes 2, p. 380; and 3(2), p. 382. (2) Report ofOperations, Supply Division, Office of the Theater Chief Surgeon, Headquarters,Theater Service Forces, European Theater, 1 Oct.-31 Dec. 1945. (3) WarDepartment Technical Manual (TM) 38-420, Disposition of Excess and SurplusProperty in Oversea Commands, September 1945.
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Furth, the maintenance shops were staffed not only with U.S. military andcivilian personnel, but also with German civilians and prisoners of war.7
Optical Program
The Base Optical Shop in Paris, with small portable units operated atvarious medical depots, continued in operation during the entire period. Bifocalcorrections were accomplished by French contract and proved very satisfactory.To accomplish optical requirements in the occupied zone, small units wereestablished at the Furth and Weinheim Medical Depots as well as a portable unitin Berlin to care for emergency cases.8
CIVIL AFFAIRS
In addition to the task of establishing a medical supply system to supportthe U.S. forces in occupied Germany, the Theater Chief Surgeon was faced with anequally difficult task of providing essential medical supplies to displacedpersons camps, prisoner-of-war enclosures, and the German civilian economy. ACivil Affairs Section in the Supply Division had the mission of coordinating andsupervising the execution of this mission.
Medical supplies for the U.S. Military Government mission in Germany camefrom two sources: (1) Civil Affairs stocks brought from the Zone of Interior andthe United Kingdom, and (2) captured enemy medical materiel. In the beginning,all civil affairs stock was stored in Medical Depot M-412 at Reims. This stockincluded approximately 175 basic medical items, including British obstetrickits, British CAD (Civil Affairs Drug) units, and antityphus supplies. Militarygovernment authorities decided that 50 of the basic medical items should betransferred to the occupied zone and stocked in occupation depots for militarygovernment use in that area. These supplies were issued only upon approvedrequest of military government authorities.
Over 30,000 tons of captured medical supplies and equipment were consolidatedin the U.S. Occupied Zone of Germany into nine major supply dumps with locationsat Heilbronn, Gauting, Ihringshausen, Neuhof, Straubing, Furth, Heidingsfeld,Treuen, and Bad Mergentheim. This number was reduced to the first six namedlocations to provide three dumps in each of the two military districts. Aminimum of U.S. military personnel operated each dump, and former Germancivilian supply personnel were utilized as the main source of labor (fig. 98).
Col. Earle D. Quinnell, MC, Director, Medical Department EquipmentLaboratory, Carlisle Barracks, Pa., made a special trip to France in early 1945to inspect captured German field equipment and to arrange to have it sent backto the Zone of Interior for further study.
7(1) Period Reports, Medical Depot M-407, October, November, and December1945. (2) See footnotes 5(2) and 5(3), p. 386.
8See footnote 6(2), p. 387.
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FIGURE 98.-Sorting and stacking captured German medicalsupplies and equipment.
During this period, a medical supply catalog for capturedmateriel with a cross-reference in English was prepared, printed, anddistributed by the Theater Chief Surgeon to facilitate supply operations. Thiscatalog was compiled from nomenclatures received from a physical inventory ofthe dumps, from nomenclature manuals printed by German manufacturers, and fromall commercial German medical supply catalogs that could be located. The medicalsupply catalog for captured materiel contained approximately 9,000 items, mostof which were in supply at the beginning of the occupation period. This catalogreceived wide distribution to using agencies to include prisoner-of-warenclosures and hospitals, displaced persons camps, military government supplyofficers, and German civilian users.
Numerous requests were received through technical channelsrequesting emergency shipments of medical supplies to military governmentdetachments, particularly in Berlin and Austria, for German civilian use. Thebreakdown of normal German trade channels had created critical shortages inthese remote areas with the result that the Theater Chief Surgeon's Officefound itself serving as a retail agent for German civilian demands. To assurebest possible
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utilization of retail merchandise available in capturedstocks to support the German economy, a recommendation was made for the transferof the dumps and operating personnel, exclusive of military personnel, to thejurisdiction of U.S. military government authorities. This recommendation wasultimately approved and implemented.9
SUMMARY
The transition from a dynamic wartime medical supply systemto a relatively static peacetime structure to support the occupation forces wasaccomplished rather expeditiously with minimum waste and confusion. Consideringthe vast quantities of medical materiel in liberated areas which had to bedisposed of, either as excess for return to the Zone of Interior, surplus sale,or forwarded to Germany for retention purposes, the task was accomplished in acomparatively short time. The achievement is even more remarkable when oneconsiders that the period witnessed not only the redeployment of numerousmedical depot units, but also the wholesale return of key, experienced depotpersonnel to the United States. As may be expected, pilferage, stock imbalances,and shortages of sensitive items resulted from a lack of supervision in depth.Yet, the end of the year 1945 in occupied Germany saw the emergence of areasonably efficient medical supply system, utilizing modern business machinemethods and Zone of Interior station and depot supply and accounting procedures.The U.S. Army medical supply system and its personnel once again had met andeffectively dealt with a challenging logistical situation.
9See footnotes 2, p. 380; 3(2), p. 382; and 6(2), p. 387.
