Evening star., 1945-10-21
VAST SUPPLY JOB m EUROPE REVEALED
By J. Frank Traeie

r.
BY j. Frank Traeie
From the short viewpoint. al
most nothing went according to
schedule" -.
It's D day, June 6, 1914. i
Across the English Channel moves
the greatest armada in. history.
Giant plane trains roared eastward.
On the Gifted Normandy coast
knowing and able enemy waits be-
hind concealed guns. His commando
ing general, Field Marshal Erwin
Rommel, has ordered:
1--WE must stop the enemy in the
water, not only delaying but de-
stroying all enemy equipment while
it is still afloat.''
The story of the gallant combat
troops who Cancelled Rommel's or
ders has been told. Now comes the
first official account of the brave
feats of the man behind the man
with the gun"-the soldier OF the
service of supply.
Errors and Heroics.
American enterprise in Europe"
is the title of book written by
Lit. Col. Randolph Leigh and dis
tributed to 100000 members OF
the Army Service Forces in Europe.
Frank to the point OF admitting
that almost nothing went accord
ing to schedule" on D day, the book
tells of errors and heroics, Of mis-
cry and glory, Of the commonplace
and the spectacular.
D day, June 6. 1914.
The tide has reached its low mark
and is rushing back. 1t will climb
l8 feet in three hours.
Army-Navy demolition units are
scheduled to land at H-hour plus
minutes and to complete their
work in half an hour. Failure to
identify land. marks causes them to
miss their landing points. Yet they
60 ashore.
In the face of enemy fire they lay
their charges. But assault troops
have taken shelter behind many
of the obstacles they are ordered
| W OcoIlOy.
To blow them up would NEAR
killing American troops. AS result
only six unmarked lanes are cleared
for the onrushing thousands tum.
bling from the invasion craft.
Air Force Plans Changed.
At the last moment air force plans
to bomb the beaches are altered
The overcast might cause the planes
to bomb their own men. Instead
the missiles are dropped half mile
or more inland.
The naval bombardment Is effec.
/ tive against inland strong points but
does not silence the hidden hillside
guns. Nine thousand rockets f1ree
from Let's miss their mark, fallin,
beyond the bluffs or into the water.
OF the amphibious tanks, designed
as surprise weapons, IS are LANDED
without launching, n sink and 3.
get ashore from LISTS. Surprise i
, lost.
The tide continues to climb
Equipment Is swamped. Som
wounded drown. Unloading of artil
lery and assault machinery is de
layed. In the confusion a numbe
of units are being landed in tn,
wrong places.
Engineer brigades have to abandon
their job of erecting signs to guild
incoming craft, building acces
roads from the beach and develop
ing equipment and ammunition
dumps. Instead they help assault
troops build a firing line.
Omaha Beach Is jungle O
blasted tanks. trucks, tractors, bull
dozers and flaming vehicles. S
i. confused is the situation that tn
beachmaster halts landings tempo
rarily.
Plans Are Readjusted.
And then comes change. Amer
leans, trained to think and act O
their own, demonstrate their re
sourcefulness. Boats, unable to fin
cleared lanes, crash through oh
! stacles and reach the beach. Assault
S troops filter to the base of the bluff.
pull themselves up the steep side,
scurry over the top. Slowly. dogged
ly, they work their way inward.
On Utah Beach the landings ar
less difficult because of weaker shor
defenses. Mines are cleared, bull
dozers shove obstacles into piles, as
sault troops move forward.
Onto the beaches and beyon
move the men OF SOS-the Service
of Supplies.
AS D day ends, l,127 America
Army and Navy officers and men Ii
dead, 3,67l are wounded or injured
"a are captured. 2,674 are missin,
But on the soil of France are IS, ,l8
ground troops landed from ship!
20,339 airborne troops who hav
descended from the skies-and tn
first of 47,641, 1892 tons of supple
; that will be used in the creates
military machine operation i
history.
Col. Leigh's book discloses for tn
first time much that heretofore wa
classified as secret.
1t tells, for example, that durin
the storm which began June 10, tn
SOC, ,000-ton artificial harbor, whic
had been towed from England t
Omaha Beach by 158 seagoing tug
was completely wrecked. Fiftee
thousand tons of shipping were los
. greater material losses than ha
been suffered as a result of German