Contents
FOREWORD
PREFACE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Chapter
I. The Medical Supply System
Medical Supply Between Wars
Transition to War, 1939-42
Medical Supply for Global War
Logistical Support of Combat Areas
Part I
PROCUREMENT AND DISTRIBUTION OF MEDICAL
SUPPLIES IN THE ZONE OF INTERIOR
II. Central Procurement of Medical Supplies
Medical Supply Under the Army Program
Placing Purchase Orders
Aid to Manufacturers
Allocation of Materials
Manpower Problems
Inspection of Medical Supplies
Contract Termination
III. Procurement of Problem Items
Surgical Dressings
Blood Plasma
Surgical Instruments
Penicillin
Atabrine
Spectacles
Artificial Eye Program
Hearing Aids
Orthopedic Equipment and Supplies
Books and Journals
Property Exchange Items
IV. Maintenance and Repair Parts
Evolution of Maintenance Requirements
Technical Training
Support of Using Organizations
Maintenance Shop Operations
Catalogs and Technical Manuals
Maintenance Achievement
V. Storage and Distribution of Medical Supplies
Packing and Packaging Problems
Storage of Medical Supplies
Distribution of Medical Supplies to Zone of Interior Installations
Distribution of Medical Supplies to Theaters of Operations
VI. Medical Supplies Under Lend-Lease
Role of the Medical Department in Lend-Lease
Military and Civilian Lend-Lease Requirements
Reorganization and Realinement of Responsibilities
Problems of Lend-Lease Administration
Other Relief Activities
Part II
MEDICAL SUPPLY IN THE WAR AGAINST THE
EUROPEAN AXIS
VII. Outposts and Supply Routes
North Atlantic Bases
Caribbean Defense Command
South Atlantic Theater
Africa-Middle East Theater
VIII. Mediterranean Operations
Planning for the Invasion of North Africa
Assault on North Africa
Establishment of Base Section Medical Supply
Tunisia Campaign
Formation of Services of Supply
Island Campaigns
Assault on Italy
Rome-Arno Campaign
Southern France Campaign
North Apennines Operation
Po Valley Campaign
Some Supply Activities in Review
Support of Civilian Populations
Redeployment
IX. Europe: Pre invasion Buildup in the United Kingdom
Prelude
Medical Supply
Medical Supply Depots
Early Preparations for Operation OVERLORD
Mounting Concern Over Supply
Voorhees Mission
Reorganization for Invasion
Supply in Fixed Installations
Supply Points in Marshaling Areas
Items Having Special Significance
First U.S. Army Scheme of Supply in Combat
Approach of D-Day
X. Europe: Combat Operations on the Continent
Medical Supply Support on Normandy Beaches
The Burgeoning Depot System
Supply Division on the Continent
Expansion of Depot Operations on the Continent
Forward Depots
Recurring Problems of Medical Supply
Medical Maintenance and Spare Parts
Innovations in Supply Technique
Supply Activities, United Kingdom Base
Medical Depot Support of the Advance Into Germany
Supply Functions in 1945
Civil Affairs Medical Supply
XI. Redeployment and Occupation
Redeployment Planning
Medical Supply Actions
Supply Activities in the Occupation
Civil Affairs
Summary
Part III
MEDICAL SUPPLY IN THE WAR AGAINST JAPAN
XII. Pacific Medical Supply in the Period of Defense
Medical Supply in the Middle Pacific
Medical Supply in the Defense of the Philippines
Medical Supply Activities in Australia-1941-42
Build up in Australia
Medical Supply in the South Pacific
Medical Supply Activities in Alaska During the Defense Period
XIII. Offensive Operations: The Solomons to the Palaus
South Pacific Area
New Guinea Campaigns
Southwest Pacific Area
Changes in Theater Supply Procedures
New Georgia Campaign
Aleutian Islands Campaign
Alaskan Garrison, 1943-44
Bougainville Campaign
Central Pacific Area
Voorhees Mission to the Pacific
XIV. The Philippine Islands Campaign
Planning and Operation of the Leyte Campaign
Supply Operations With X Corps on Leyte
Changes in the Combat Situation
Medical Supply Support of the Luzon Operation
Medical Supply in the Southern Philippines
XV. The China-Burma-India Theater
Beginnings of Medical Supply Activities in 1942
Growth of Medical Supply
Medical Supply During 1944
Impact of the Voorhees Mission
Improvement of the Supply System and Its Procedures
Major Accomplishments of 1944
Progress in 1945
XVI. Okinawa and the Occupation of Japan and Korea
Supplying the Okinawa Operation
Planning the Assault on Japan
Reorganization of the Medical Supply System
Philippine Islands Base Sections
Occupation of Japan
Medical Supply Operations in Korea
Civilian Aid
Disposal of Excesses and Surplus Property
Unusual Problems of Medical Supply
General Considerations and Conclusions Regarding Medical Supply in World War II
APPENDIXES
A. Medical Depot Information
B. Medical Lend-Lease Statistics
C. Sample Equipment Lists (Evacuation, Station, and General Hospitals)
C. Sample Equipment Lists (Evacuation, Station, and General Hospitals)(Continued)
C. Sample Equipment Lists (Evacuation, Station, and General Hospitals)(Continued)
Illustrations
Figure
1. Col. Francis C. Tyng, MC
2. Maj. Gen. James C. Magee
3. Building No. 40, St. Louis Medical Depot
4. Col. Edward Reynolds, MAC
5. Chest, plasma, complete
6. Maj. Gen. Paul R. Hawley
7. Sternberg General Hospital
8. Steps in the production of surgical steel instruments
9. Litter, folding, aluminum
10. Manufacturing transformer components for X-ray machines
11. Woman operating forklift truck
12. Samples of surgical instruments
13. Fitting gas mask spectacles in the European theater before D-day
14. Mobile optical repair unit
15. Interior of mobile optical repair unit
16. Portable optical repair unit loaded on jeep
17. Portable optical repair unit in use at Oahu
18. Fitting a hearing aid
19. Artificial limb-fitting laboratory, Lawson General Hospital
20. Technicians make artificial limbs, Lawson General Hospital
21. Making final adjustment on prosthesis
22. Packing room and book section, Medical Section, Chicago Quartermaster Depot
23. Familiarization of students with 30-ma. Army field X-ray unit
24. Medical Department maintenance and repair tool kit
25. Fifth echelon repair shop, Arsenal Reservation, St. Louis
26. X-ray and electrical shop, Arsenal Reservation, St. Louis
27. Providing adequate protection for tubes and gages on sterilizers
28. Sample board to identify medical instruments
29. Window showing job openings at San Francisco Medical Depot
30. Use of pallets in warehouses
31. Hospital assembly, ready for overseas shipment
32. Portion of New York Port of Embarkation
33. Lend-lease medical supplies for China, unloaded at Calcutta
34. Planes at Tehran carry supplies and equipment to Russia
35. U.S. ship at Khorramshahr ready to discharge supplies
36. Panoramic view of Fort Pepperrell across Quidi Vidi Lake
37. U.S. Army Hospital, Fort Bell, St. David Island
38. Army and Navy area, Greenland Base Command, including the 188th Station Hospital
39. Placing medical supplies under tarpaulin, Langhold Dump, Iceland
40. Early, temporary, primitive dispensary in Iceland
41. Lt. Col. George E. Leone, MC
42. Brig. Gen. Crawford F. Sams
43. Loose issue room, Medical Supply Section, Khorramshahr Depot
44. Medical supply issue room, 26th Field Hospital, Khorramabad
45. (A & B) Oran Medical Depot: Supply warehouse, optical shop, and issue section
45. (C)
46. Medical maintenance unit
47. Indigenous personnel unloading supplies at Casablanca
48. Cut-down version of medical maintenance unit
49. Col. Charles F. Shook, MC
50. U.S. lend-lease supplies for the French Army, Casablanca
51. Beach medical maintenance unit
52. Box shop in Oran
53. Landing craft, infantry, unloading supplies
54. Naples Fair Grounds served as a medical depot site
55. Medical supply, 300th General Hospital, Naples
56. Mortar shell cases used at Anzio
57. 12th Medical Depot Company, Fifth U.S. Army
58. Two general hospital assemblies, stored at Oran, replaced those lost in bombing at Bari
59. Walk-in refrigerators at medical depot in Oran
60. U.S. Army Medical Depot, Leghorn
61. (A) Skate conveyors, Medical Depot M-452, Marseille
61. (B)
62. Beach medical supply dump in southern France
63. Medics of the 10th Mountain Division pull sled of medical supplies up the Apennines
64. Repair of X-ray generators at depot in Oran
65. Improvised wash sink and operating lamp
66. Italian personnel at Medical Depot 3L50 sort surplus medical supplies
67. Hospital plant at North Mimms, Hertfordshire, included the 1st General Hospital
68. Quartermaster Depot G-50, Taunton, Devonshire, England
69. Medical Department chests Nos. 1 and 2
70. Brig. Gen. John A. Rogers
71. Lt. Col. Bryan C. T. Fenton, MC
72. Breakage of medical supplies on incoming shipments
73. Brig. Gen. William E. Shambora
74. Whole blood for the "milk run to the Continent"
75. Medical care on Omaha Beach, June 1944
76. Unloading a medical assembly for the 5th General Hospital at Carentan, France
77. Advance Platoon, 32d Medical Depot Company, receiving supplies in France, September 1944
78. Tank retrievers deliver medical supplies to Depot M-407, at Paris
79. Loading prepacked medical supplies into 155-mm. shell for air drop
80. Captured German tractor and heavy-duty skids move materiel at Depot M-402T, Carentan, France
81. Barge loads of medical supplies on dockside of Medical DepotM-407
82. Medical Depot M-409, Liege, Belgium
83. Materials-handling equipment at Medical Depot M-413,Charleroi, Belgium
84. The 32d Medical Depot Company mobile optical shop at Metz, France, December 1944
85. Besieged soldiers collect airdropped supplies, Bastogne ,Belgium
86. Medical supply point at Gare St. Lazare, Paris
87. Repairing field autoclaves at the Medical Maintenance and Repair Shop, Depot M-407
88. Fabricating spectacles at the base optical shop, Paris, February 1945
89. Mobile repair teams service forward medical installations from their spare parts truck
90. Whole-blood refrigeration unit installed on a wheeled machinegun mount
91. Medics of the 4th Infantry Division, Third U.S. Army, on an assault boat loaded with medical supplies
92. Central supply of the 48th Field Hospital, Friedrichsfeld, Germany
93. Medical supplies captured at a Nazi hospital, April 1945
94. German ammunition boxes were used as packing material
95. Assembly of Panniers for Civil Affairs channels at DepotM-412
96. Processing line at Depot M-418, Mourmelon-le-petit
97. Furth Medical Depot, Nurnberg, operated by 33d Medical Depot Company
98. Sorting captured German medical supplies
99. Tripler General Hospital
100. 2d Lt. Allan W. Phelps with native workers; and themedical supply warehouse on Christmas Island
101. 9th Medical Supply Depot, Melbourne, Australia
102. Lt. Col. Alfonso M. Libasci, MC
103. Wreck of freighter SS Rufus King near Brisbane, Australia
104. Transporting supplies and equipment for a portable surgical hospital, Australia, 1942
105. Improvised medical jungle kit
106. Troops loading on Australian corvette for transfer to New Guinea
107. Interior of medical supply warehouse in Brisbane, Australia
108. U.S. Army medical supply depot in New Caledonia, 1942
109. Individual jungle kit used in the Pacific areas
110. Storage of medical supplies, 68th Medical Depot Company, Guadalcanal
111. Native-type warehouses, constructed under direction of Corps of Engineers
112. Interior of 3d Medical Supply Depot, Brisbane
113. Hospital ship Maetsuycker
114. Deterioration of medical supplies at Oro Bay, New Guinea
115. Local issue office, 29th Medical Depot Company, Finschhafen, New Guinea
116. Conveyor system used on Morotai Island
117. Supplies piled on the beach at Attu, Aleutian Islands
118. Tractor bogged down in mud at Massacre Bay, Attu
119. Arctic first aid kit
120. Surgical team arrived via SCAT plane at Bougainville
121. Medical supply dump on Saipan
122. Docks at Red Beach, Angaur
123. LST headed for invasion of Leyte
124. Discharging supplies at the docks at Tacloban
125. Japanese medical supplies captured on Leyte
126. Eighth U.S. Army headquarters near Telegrafo, Leyte
127. Lumber for building at the 34th Medical Depot Company at Tacloban
128. Issue warehouse, 49th Medical Depot Company, Manila
129. Medical supplies being packed in an 80-inch howitzer canister
130. Taking inventory of medical supplies, 41st Infantry Division, Zamboanga
131. A tent at the 74th Medical Supply Dump and setting up the74th Medical Base Depot Company, Parang, P.I.
132. Brig. Gen. Robert P. Williams
133. Col. John M. Tamraz, MC
134. Pack train fording a river near Nasin, Burma
135. Native laborers working at the Calcutta Medical Depot
136. C-47 transports lined up on the airstrip at Myitkyina, Burma
137. Men in a C-47 deliver supplies in the field in Burma
138. Distribution of medical supplies by the 14th and 25th Medical Depots
139. Col. George E. Armstrong, MC
140. Troops head for the beaches in the invasion of Okinawa
141. Medical supply dump on Okinawa
142. Transferring cargo to smaller craft for delivery to the beach
143. General view of docking and incoming ships at Base X port area, Manila
144. Receiving section and warehouse, 49th Medical Depot Company, Quezon City
145. Maintenance Section Shop, 49th Medical Depot Company
146. Optical Section Shop, 49th Medical Depot Company
147. Parachute airdrop pack
148. St. Luke`s International Hospital, Tokyo
149. Civilian relief supplies at Tacloban, Leyte Island
Maps
Number
1. Supply routes to Europe, Africa, and the Middle East
2. Medical supply installations in Newfoundland, Greenland, and Iceland
3. Medical supply depots in the Caribbean Defense Command, 1941-43
4. Medical supply depots in North Africa, 1942-43
5. Medical supply depots in Sicily, July-August 1943
6. Movement of 4th Medical Supply Depot and 12th Medical Depot Company in Italy, September-December 1943
7. Medical supply depots in Italy, January-September 1944
8. Seventh U.S. Army depots in southern France, 16-29 August 1944
9. Seventh U.S. Army depots, 5-19 September 1944
10. Medical supply depots in northern Italy, October 1944-May 1945.
11. Medical supply depots in the United Kingdom, December 1943
12. Supply points in marshaling areas, United Kingdom, May 1944
13. Medical supply depots on the Normandy Beachhead and the Cotentin Peninsula, June-July 1944
14. Medical supply depots operating in France and Belgium, August-November 1944
15. First U.S. Army medical supply depots in France and Belgium, October-December 1944
16. Third U.S. Army medical supply depots, October-December 1944
17. Seventh U.S. Army medical supply depots in northern France, October-December 1944
18. Ninth U.S. Army depot operations, September-December 1944
19. Supply depot movement in the Battle of the Bulge, December1944
20. First U.S. Army medical supply depots in Belgium and Germany, January-May 1945
21. Third U.S. Army medical supply depots in Germany, January-May 1945
22. Captured enemy supply dumps in Germany, February-April1945
23. Operations of 33d Medical Depot Company, 1945
24. Seventh U.S. Army medical supply depots in France and Germany, 1945
25. Ninth and Fifteenth U.S. Army depot operations in northern Europe, 1945
26. Rear support depots, Belgium, France, and Germany,1944-45
27. Occupation zones and medical depots in postwar Germany and Austria, 1945
28. Supply routes to the Philippine Islands, 1941-42
29. Medical supply depots and base sections in Australia, April 1942
30. Bases in Papua, New Guinea, 1942-43
31. South Pacific supply points, 1942
32. Supply points in Alaska, 1942
33. Medical supply support on Guadalcanal
34. Medical supply points, Bougainville and the South Pacific Area, 1943-44
35. Medical supply depots in Australia, 1943
36. Medical supply support for the New Guinea operations, 1944
37. Medical supply support for Operation CHRONICLE
38. Medical supply in the New Georgia campaign, 5 September1943
39. Medical supply support in the Attu campaign, 4 May 1943
40. Medical supply on Kiska
41. Medical supply support of the Bougainville campaign, 1943
42. Operations in the mid-Pacific, 1943-44
43. Medical supply depots on Leyte, 1944-45
44. Medical supply facilities on Mindoro, 15 December 1944
45. Medical support for the Luzon operation, January-June1945
46. Medical supply depots at Subic Bay and the Manila Bay area,1945
47. Medical supply depots in southern Luzon, 1945
48. Medical supply in the southern Philippines, 1945
49. Medical supply depots, CBI theater, 1942-43
50. Medical supply depots, CBI theater, 1944
51. Medical supply points on Okinawa, 1945
52. Bases supporting operations in Japan, 1945
53. Manila base depot system, 1945
54. Postwar medical supply system in Japan and Korea, 29September 1945
Tables
Number
1. Scarce materials saved by Medical Department conservation measures, 1942-43
2. Medical supplies for U.S. forces in the United Kingdom from British and American sources, 1942-44
3. Medical depots and medical depot sections in the United Kingdom, 31 December 1943
4. Key depot system, United Kingdom, 1944
5. Hospitals serviced by medical depots in the United Kingdom, December 1944
6. United Kingdom depot status report, 15 January 1945
7. Depots on the Continent, 1 November 1944
8. Tonnage: Medical supply depots in Manila, April-September1945
