Books and Documents

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: Preinvasion 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
          Buildup 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 airdrop 
80. Captured German tractor and heavy-duty skids move materiel at Depot M-402T, Carentan, France 
81. Bargeloads of medical supplies on dockside of Medical Depot M-407 
82. Medical Depot M-409, Liége, 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 Depot M-412 
96. Processing line at Depot M-418, Mourmelon-le-petit 
97. Furth Medical Depot, Nürnberg, 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 the medical 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 the 74th 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, December 1944 
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-April 1945 
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 September 1943 
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-June 1945 
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, 29 September 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-September 1945