North Africa Campaign: A Logistics Assessment
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The logistical efforts of the campaign are studied against the framework of modern Airland Battle doctrine. The functional areas of manning, fueling, arming, fixing, and transporting are assessed by the doctrinal imperatives of anticipation, integration, continuity, responsiveness, and improvisation.
Major Mark D. Kitchen
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North Africa Campaign - Major Mark D. Kitchen
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Text originally published in 1991 under the same title.
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THE NORTH AFRICA CAMPAIGN: A LOGISTICS ASSESSMENT
by
MARK D. KITCHEN, MAJ, USA
B.A.A.S., East Texas State University, Texarkana, Texas, 1983
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS 4
ABSTRACT 5
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 5
CHAPTER ONE—INTRODUCTION 6
THE BRITISH IN NORTH AFRICA 7
THE GENESIS OF OPERATION TORCH 11
OPERATION TORCH AND THE NORTH AFRICAN CAMPAIGN 14
DEFINITION OF TERMS 21
CHAPTER TWO — METHODOLOGY AND LITERATURE 23
LIMITATIONS AND DELIMITATIONS 23
SIGNIFICANCE 23
REVIEW OF LITERATURE 23
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 24
CHAPTER THREE — THE SUSTAINMENT STRUCTURE 25
THE ARMY SERVICE FORCES AND THE SERVICES OF SUPPLY-1942 25
BASE SECTIONS 28
CORPS AND DIVISION SUPPORT 33
CHAPTER FOUR — SUSTAINMENT ACTIVITIES 35
MANNING-MEDICAL SUPPORT 35
MEDICAL EVACUATION 38
MANNING-GRAVES REGISTRATION 40
MANNING-OTHER AREAS OF INTEREST 40
ARMING 41
FIXING 44
FUELING 47
TRANSPORTING 50
CHAPTER FIVE — CONCLUSION 54
REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 59
BIBLIOGRAPHY 60
BOOKS 60
GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS 60
GOVERNMENT REPORTS 61
ABSTRACT
This study analyzes the logistics operations of the North Africa Campaign. The thesis covers wholesale and retail level preparedness and execution of the U.S. ground force sustainment following the Allied landings in northwest Africa in November 1942. The analysis concludes with the German surrender in Tunisia in May 1943.
The logistical efforts of the campaign are studied against the framework of modern Airland Battle doctrine. The functional areas of manning, fueling, arming, fixing, and transporting are assessed by the doctrinal imperatives of anticipation, integration, continuity, responsiveness, and improvisation.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my appreciation to Major George J. Mordica, Major David T. Weaver, and Colonel Floyd H. Duncan for their expert guidance and inexhaustable patience. I would like to thank my wife and children for the encouragement and confidence to continue. Lastly, I would like to convey my heartfelt gratitude to my sister, Kay Miller. Completion of this effort would have been impossible without her eager assistance.
CHAPTER ONE—INTRODUCTION
In James Huston’s definitive history of Army logistics, The Sinews of War, he wrote that War frequently is likened to a game of chess, but chess is no strategic game, for there is no logistics.
{1} Strategic logistics dictated the when and where of America’s earliest combat involvement in World War II—Operation TORCH and the subsequent North Africa Campaign.
From this campaign emerged some of the most notable military leaders in the history of American modern warfare. Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley are names synonymous with the United States’ most important World War II successes. Much of the credit for these accomplishments must be attributed to the hard work and creativity of the military’s service and support branches. Logisticians faced the monumental task of supporting highly mechanical warfare against a formidable enemy. War would be fought in two hemispheres across vast oceans. In North Africa, Americans would encounter harsh terrain and climate coupled with a poor industrial and transportation infrastructure. The North Africa Campaign of 1942-1943 presented innumerable challenges to the U.S. logistics structure.
Logistically, the 1930’s was a critical period for the American Army. This was an Army armed and trained on the heels of the Great Depression. Research and development of new and improved weapon systems and other military equipment before June 1940 was restricted because of lack of funds. From 1925-1940, the average annual expenditure in this area was only 2.5 million dollars, the preponderance of which was given to the Ordnance Department, limiting the Medical Department and Quartermaster Corps to less than $20,000 per year. In 1937, Congress appropriated only $2,000 for the development of clothing, equipment, and motor vehicles.{2}
The fall of Poland in 1939 and France in 1940 to the Germans, coupled with the potential of war with Japan forced planners to consider potential U.S. involvement. Two years was a short time to build a highly mobile fighting force. Our first campaign—North Africa—would be a demanding first test.
The primary research question for the following study is: How effective was the logistical support of the North Africa Campaign (8 November 1942-13 May 1943)? Further, was the United States Army prepared to logistically support desert combat following the invasion of North Africa in November 1942? How could logistical shortcomings have been prevented, eased, or eliminated? How does the support provided during the campaign stand up to the scrutiny of today’s Airland Battle doctrine sustainment imperatives (by functional area)? What were the key sustainment lessons learned concerning support of intensive desert combat operations?
In order to pursue and answer the research questions, a general understanding of the strategic and tactical operations is required. What follows is a background summary which puts this study into its proper context and provides a framework for this logistics assessment.
THE BRITISH IN NORTH AFRICA
1939 saw the beginning of war in Europe. Adolph Hitler’s Wehrmacht marched almost at will throughout the continent. Poland crumbled under