American services and supply in the Siegfried Line campaign
American services and supply played a crucial part in the World War II Siegfried Line campaign, which ran from the end of the pursuit of the German armies from Normandy in mid-September 1944 until December 1944, when the American forces were engulfed by the German Ardennes offensive. In August 1944, the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, elected to continue the pursuit of the retreating German forces beyond the Seine instead of pausing to build up supplies and establish the line of communications as called for in the original  Operation Overlord plan. The subsequent advance to the German border stretched the American logistical system to breaking point, and the advance came to a halt in mid-September. Problems with port capacity and transportation created many shortages, but many others were the result of underestimating requirements and mismanagement. A critical shortage of winter clothing developed from a reluctance to accept new items and a failure to order adequate quantities in the mistaken belief that the war would end before it was required. The winter of 1944–1945 in Northwestern Europe was unusually cold and wet, and American soldiers were not trained  in how to avoid cold injury. The American forces suffered from trench foot and frostbite, which resulted in 71,000 casualties. Artillery ammunition shortages developed in the early days of the campaign that increased casualties, delayed operations and lengthened the war. The specific causes of the shortage of artillery ammunition in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) in 1944 varied over time: between June and November, there was insufficient discharge capacity over the beaches and through the ports; between August and October, supply lines were over-stretched and inadequate to move enough ammunition to the front lines; and finally, from November  1944 to April 1945, there was insufficient production of ammunition in the United States. Background. In the first seven weeks after the Allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day, determined German opposition exploited the defensive value of the Normandy bocage country. The Allied advance was slower than the Operation Overlord plan had anticipated. Operation Cobra, which the First Army commenced on 25 July, effected a turnaround in the operational situation by achieving a breakout from the Normandy lodgment area. The 12th Army Group became active on 1 August, under the command of Lieutenant General Omar N. Bradley. It initially consisted  of the First Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Courtney Hodges, and the Third Army, under Lieutenant General George S. Patton Jr. The Ninth Army, under Lieutenant General William H. Simpson, joined the 12th Army Group on 5 September. British General Sir Bernard Montgomery, the commander of the British 21st Army Group, remained in command of all ground forces, British and American, until 1 September, when the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, opened his Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) in France, and assumed direct command of the ground forces. This brought not just the 12th and 21st Army  Groups under Eisenhower's direct command, but also Lieutenant General John C. H. Lee's Communications Zone (COMZ). Prior to this, Bradley had exercised control over the Communications Zone as the senior American commander on the continent. As such, he had prescribed stock levels in the depots and priorities for the delivery of supplies, and apportioned service units between the armies and the Communications Zone. Bradley believed that as the senior operational commander he should exercise such authority, as was the case in the British forces, but under the American organization, COMZ headquarters also functioned as that of the European  Theater of Operations, United States Army (ETOUSA). On 24 August, Eisenhower decided to continue the pursuit of the retreating German forces beyond the Seine. This stretched the logistical system to breaking point. Between 25 August and 12 September, the Allied armies advanced from the D plus 90 phase line, the position the Operation Overlord plan expected to be reached 90 days after D-Day, to the D plus 350 one, moving through 260 phase lines in just 19 days. Although the planners had estimated that no more than twelve divisions could be maintained beyond the Seine, by September sixteen were , albeit on reduced scales. Logistical forecasts were repeatedly shown to be overly pessimistic, imbuing a sense of confidence that difficulties could be overcome. The advance came to a halt in September. This was not a result of inadequate supplies or port capacity—there were still some of supplies stockpiled in the Normandy lodgment area in November—nor solely by a shortage of fuel. Rather, the problem was the inability to deliver fuel and supplies. Railways could not be repaired and pipelines could not be constructed quickly enough. Motor transport was used as a stopgap, but there was a shortage of  suitable vehicles owing to political interference and production difficulties. Insufficient numbers of heavy trucks had been manufactured in the United States, and this compelled the use of the smaller general purpose GMC CCKW 2½-ton 6×6 trucks for long hauls, for which they were unsuited. Winter clothing. Development. American troops stationed in the UK before D-Day led the life of garrison soldiers in a friendly country. Smart appearance was a priority, and the woolen serge service uniform was worn by headquarters staff and off-duty personnel. However, the jacket was hard to keep presentable in the UK where dry cleaning  facilities were scarce, and pink trousers tended to show dirt, so many officers wore the dark olive drab ones instead. In particular, the M1941 Field Jacket came in for criticism on the grounds that it required frequent washing, but was difficult to iron, and the collar and cuffs tended to fray, resulting in a shabby appearance. American officers were impressed by the British battledress. This paired high-waisted fishtail back trousers with a short jacket that fit snugly around the waist. In addition to providing a smart military appearance, its heavy wool fabric was extremely durable, could be cleaned by  scrubbing, and did not require ironing. A shrink-resistant cotton lining meant that it could be worn with or without undergarments. It was based on the British civilian custom of wearing trousers with a waistcoat, which differed from American civilian men's fashion with its low-cut trousers supported by a belt. Some American troops arriving in 1942 were issued the British battledress, and it was well received. An American version was then developed in the UK, which became known as the ETO or Eisenhower jacket. In March 1944, Eisenhower and Lee stated a requirement for 4,259,000 ETO jackets, of  which 300,000 would be manufactured in the UK. The ETO quartermaster, Major General Robert McG, Littlejohn, met with Major General Lucius D. Clay at Army Service Forces (ASF) headquarters. The British wool used in the ETO design was unobtainable in the United States, so the serge used in the enlisted men's service coat was substituted. This defeated the purpose of a jacket that could be used as both a field and a dress uniform. However, it retained the more complicated features, making it hard to mass-produce, and Clay did not believe that more than 2.6 million could be  delivered by the end of 1944, and offered Littlejohn 479,000 M1941 jackets as substitutes. Meanwhile, in the United States the Quartermaster Corps had designed a whole new winter uniform, the M1943 Uniform, which was based on the layered clothing principle. The centerpiece of it was the olive drab, , cotton sateen M1943 field jacket. The M1943 field jacket was lighter than the M1938 field overcoat, but laboratory testing showed that it kept the skin just as warm at both . Field tests were carried out in the Battle of Anzio. Littlejohn did not like the M1943 jacket. The first troops he encountered  wearing it were part of a Women's Army Corps unit that arrived in early 1944, and he was appalled to hear them refer to it as a "maternity jacket". (The women's version of the M1943 jacket did not have the breast cargo pockets.) The M1943 field jacket was the opposite of the "neat and snappy" look he desired. He informed ASF that the ETO would not accept it, but would take the M1941 jacket until the ETO jacket was available. However, the M1941 was no longer in production, and in May 1944 shipments commenced of the M1943 jacket . He did accept the sweater that was part of the M1943 uniform, ordering 2,250,000 from the New York Port of Embarkation (NYPE), and he ordered 2,580,000 of the new woolen sleeping bags. For protection against the rain, Littlejohn ordered 250,000 ponchos. These were preferred to the raincoats, as one size fit all and they could be worn over the Mackinaw cloth overcoat. They were made from the same material as the raincoat; he would have preferred the nylon version, but these were reserved for use in the Pacific. He rejected the leather gloves of the M1943 because they hindered the  use of the trigger finger, and asked for woolen ones instead. He also asked for shoepacs, rubber boots suited to wet conditions. The shoepac saw continuous development through 1943 and 1944, and indeed would not be standardized until 1945. All were earmarked for Alaska and the North African Theater of Operations (NATOUSA), and all that ASF could offer was 330,000 pairs of shoepacs of obsolescent designs, along with 900,000 pairs of ski socks, which could be worn with the shoepacs or larger-sized boots. Issue. Troops participating in the assault phase of Operation Overlord were issued with a minimum amount  of summer clothing and equipment; winter clothing was turned in before embarkation from the UK. The only replacement clothing carried was three pairs of socks. When the pursuit ended in early September, it was apparent that the troops had lost or discarded more equipment than had been worn out or destroyed in action, but large-scale salvage efforts were only just beginning, and their outcome could not be predicted. Moreover, what was now urgent was not the replacement of summer clothing, but the provision of appropriate winter clothing. Already the army quartermasters like the Third Army's Brigadier General Everett  Busch were warning that it was starting to get cold on the front lines. Cold weather clothing had not been a major item in the Operation Overlord planning, because the focus had been on the summer campaign in Normandy, and the campaign did not envisage the armies reaching the Ardennes or the Vosges, where cold climate winter clothing would be vital, until May 1945. For the same reason, the medical annex of the Overlord plan did not mention cold injury, and the medical manual issued shortly after D-Day gave them only a brief mention, and recommended preventative measures that  were impractical for troops in the field. Almost none of the troops had training in how to take care of their feet, and few medical or military officers had experience with cold injury. Winter clothing was available, but not where it was most needed. Shipping was the main bottleneck; by the end of September, there were 75 ships commodity-loaded with quartermaster supplies awaiting discharge in the ETO, for which there were only fourteen berths. The situation hardly improved in October, at the end of which there were 80 ships and only 18 berths. Backlogs remained even after the opening  of the port of Antwerp in November and were not cleared until February 1945. Between June and August of cross-Channel cargo tonnage had been allocated to clothing and personal equipment, but only 53 percent of that had been shipped. Some remained in the UK, but its priority was so low that it could not be shipped before October. Even what had been shipped faced delays due to the overstretched and overburdened land transportation system. Of of quartermaster Class II (which included clothing and footwear) and IV classes of supply unloaded at the ports in September, only had been cleared , creating a backlog. By December, the backlog had grown to , and it was still in January 1945. It fell to in February. Of the First Army's average daily allocation of in September, only was set aside for Class II and IV supplies, and the average daily delivery was just . Littlejohn proposed that the allocation for rations and packaged fuel be reduced to allow for of class II supplies, of which would be winter clothing. Because the port of Cherbourg was so congested, he recommended that clothing for the Ninth Army in Brittany and the Communications Zone troops be brought  in through the minor ports in Landing Ships, Tank, (LSTs). He also wanted for the troops in forward areas to be flown in by air, but the Assistant Chief of Staff (G-4) at COMZ, Brigadier General James H. Stratton, was unwilling to alter existing priorities laid down by the 12th Army Group, which gave precedence to fuel and ammunition, and Bradley supported him in this. Bradley accepted blame for his part in the situation that developed, later explaining that: Littlejohn attempted to work around the low priorities. Three DUKW companies moving up from Normandy on 16 September to support a  crossing of the Rhine were dispatched loaded with 300,000 sets of warm undergarments for the First Army. An LST was made available to ship winter clothing for the Ninth Army through uncongested minor ports in Brittany. Ships carrying of rations were diverted from Cherbourg to Morlaix to free up trains for the carriage of winter clothing. Seventh Army, which was supported by the Southern Line of Communications (SOLOC) instead of COMZ, and drew its supplies from NATOUSA, received winter clothing by air on 26 September. Littlejohn managed to strike a deal with Lieutenant General Carl Spaatz, the commander of the  United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe for bombers to deliver 41 percent of the winter clothing required by the First and Third Armies to forward airstrips. When the Third Army had moved from the UK to France in July, it had brought its duffel bags with it. These had been stored in the Normandy lodgment area. On 9 September, Busch asked the Advance Section (ADSEC) to move them forward. They were located and moved by truck to the nearest railhead by 25 September. However, some had been pilfered and no longer contained their blankets or overcoats. In other cases , the contents were intact, but the owner had become a casualty. Some contained items duplicating ones that had already been re-issued. The cost of moving them forward was counted against the Third Army's rail transport allocation. In contrast, the First Army had turned in its duffel bags in the UK before embarkation. The contents should have been salvaged, with the overcoats sorted and returned to the stockpiles, but this process was still incomplete in September, as the most experienced salvage units had been sent to France. The infantry divisions were given priority for receiving winter clothing, and a  full issue was made in First and Third Armies in early October, although there were some shortages of overshoes, raincoats and leggings that took until the end of the month to remedy. The authorized number of blankets per man had been cut from four to two in the belief that the sleeping bag would replace the other two. No blankets were therefore shipped from the NYPE in August or September; but only 57,721 sleeping bags had been delivered instead of the expected two million. Littlejohn then placed an order for four million blankets. The NYPE responded by resuming shipment of  blankets in October, and by the end of the year, it had shipped two and a half million blankets and two million sleeping bags. In October, 6,000 of the new sleeping bags were issued to each of the divisions in the First Army, giving each man four blankets or a sleeping bag. The issue of winter clothing in October depleted the stocks in the UK. To rebuild them to the authorized 45 days, and to build up 60 days' reserves on the continent where the troop basis was expected to rise from 1,601,700 men and women on 20 September to  2,673,600 by 31 December, new orders were placed with the NYPE in early October. The requirements were staggering; they included 1.5 million blankets, 600,000 overcoats, 900,000 pairs of galoshes, 2 million shirts, 3 million pairs of trousers, 2,110,000 sweaters and 2,270,000 sleeping bags. The orders totaled over , of which was requested to be delivered on an emergency basis by the end of the month. To accomplish this, the NYPE had to make major adjustments to the convoy shipping schedules. Footwear. The issue of replacement factors, on which both manufacturing and reserves were based, was a complicated one. In the case  of socks, the ETO allowance was three pairs of cushion-soled socks and two pairs of light or heavy woolen socks per man, for which the War Department's replacement factors were respectively 11.1 and 25 percent per month. So a pair of cushion-soled socks would last about nine months, and a pair of woolen socks for just four. But the former were in short supply, so heavy or (more usually) light socks were issued instead. Between June and August, 5.1 percent of cushion-soled socks and 55.4 percent of light socks had to be replaced. In October, the  replacement factors for cushion-soled socks and other socks were raised to 25 and 33 percent respectively. In the meantime, Eisenhower had adopted a suggestion from the Surgeon General, Major General Norman T. Kirk, that every man be provided with a pair of clean socks each day. To provide for all the socks going to and from the laundry units, a temporary increase in the replacement factor to 33 percent was authorized. According to the ETO Chief Surgeon, Major General Paul R. Hawley, "the plain truth is that the footwear furnished US troops is, in general, lousy." Except in the  Seventh Army, almost all soldiers wore either combat boots or service shoes. The service shoe had to be worn with canvas leggings, which complicated taking them off for foot care. Their cut was such that they put pressure on the upper part of the foot, especially when heavy or extra socks were worn, and even when correctly fitted had to be laced up tightly, restricting blood circulation. Both the combat boots and service shoes fit too snugly, even when properly fitted, which was frequently not the case because there was a shortage of both in large and wide sizes. The  mix of sizes was based on World War I experience, but it seems that the next generation was larger. Additional shoes and boots were normally issued in the same size as the original pair, but feet tended to widen after intensive physical training and marching. This precluded wearing multiple pairs of socks. Most soldiers had only one pair of shoes or boots, usually the one issued to them before D-Day. Crucially, neither the service shoes nor the combat boots were waterproof or water resistant. The soles and seams leaked, and the leather was permeable. Dubbin was supplied to preserve  the leather, but it did not make the shoes and boots waterproof. The Seventh Army obtained 90,000 shoepacs through NATOUSA channels, and had them in time for the winter. The First, Third and Ninth Armies did not fare as well, and did not receive their initial issue until the second half of January. When it became clear the combat boot was not adequate for the conditions, Littlejohn placed an order on 8 December for another 500,000 pairs of shoepacs in addition to the 446,000 already shipped and those issued to the Seventh Army. The shoepacs issued to the Seventh Army  were of an old type; those issued to the other armies were even older: they were too short for wading through water or mud, lacked heels and arch supports, and the rubber soles wore out too quickly. They had inadequate ventilation, and the feet in them perspired even in quite cold weather. When it was cold, the inner soles froze, making the feet uncomfortably cold; when it warmed up they became wet. This set up a cycle of perspiration, maceration and ultimately hospitalization. A major contributing factor was insufficient training in their use. Those who learned how to wear them  correctly came to appreciate them, and preferred them to combat boots in wet and cold weather. Lacking proper footwear, soldiers in the field improvised. A favorite was to discard the service shoes or combat boots entirely and just wear the rubber galoshes with six or eight pairs of socks, or with boots made from army blankets. However, only Seventh Army was properly equipped with overshoes. In the Third Army, there was only one pair between four men in November; nine divisions were not fully equipped by December, and seven were still not fully equipped by January 1945. As with boots , large sizes were in short supply, but whereas there were ninety sizes of boots, there were only ten of overshoes. The shortage of large sizes was not remedied until March 1945. Overshoes impeded fast movement and were difficult to carry, so they were often discarded before an attack. Armored infantry units could carry them in their vehicles, but they were often lost when a vehicle was knocked out in combat. Some of the older types were manufactured when rubber was in short supply, and had canvas tops which tore easily, leaked and soon wore out; this was superseded by an  all-rubber design when more rubber became available. Medical. The winter of 1944–1945 in Northwestern Europe was usually cold and wet. In November and the first three weeks of December, the average daily temperature was around , and the daily minimum was seldom below freezing. This was accompanied by heavy rainfall that commenced in October. A cold front then blanketed the front, and the average daily temperatures remained below or slightly above freezing until the end of January. American operations had been at a low tempo in late September and October, but Eisenhower decided that logistical situation had improved sufficiently to  warrant a resumption of major offensive operations. The Third Army commenced a major offensive on 8 November, followed by Seventh Army on 13 November, and First and Ninth Armies three days later. The offensive was conducted over wet and often flooded terrain. The weather conditions were, therefore, conducive to cold injuries like trench foot, which is associated with wet conditions, in October and November, and frostbite, which is associated with cold weather, in December and January. However, the weather was only one contributing factor. Inadequate clothing and footwear, keeping troops in the front line for excessive periods of time, and  poor foot care were all important factors. Five weeks of fighting in November and early December cost the 12th Army Group about 64,000 battle casualties, but there were another 12,000 casualties from trench foot. Like the battle casualties, they fell disproportionately on the riflemen who were the army's fighting edge. Most of the trench foot casualties would never be declared fit for combat again, and many were crippled for life. In 1944–1945, there were 71,038 cold injury cases in the American forces in the ETO, of which 53,911 were trench foot, 13,134 were frostbite, 204 were chilblains and 3,789  were other ailments. In contrast, the British and Canadian armies reported only 206 cases of cold injury. On 16 December, the American forces were struck by the German Ardennes offensive, and there was particularly heavy fighting. The ADSEC hospitals around Liege started to fill up, and by 18 December thirteen hospital trains were running between Liege and the Gare Saint-Lazare in Paris. A lesser, but significant number also arrived from the Third Army at the Gare de l'Est, and in January it also started to receive patients from SOLOC when the hospitals there became overloaded by the German Nordwind  offensive. The patients included about 2,000 who had been evacuated from the First Army hospitals that were threatened by the German advance, although only the 130th General Hospital at Ciney was forced to temporarily relocate. Some of the hospitals around Liege suffered casualties of their own from V-weapons, air raids and long-range artillery fire. The worst affected was the 76th General Hospital, which was struck by a V-1 flying bomb on 8 January 1945 that killed 24 staff and patients and wounded 20 more. The Gare Saint-Lazare was bombed on 26 December; a hospital train was destroyed  and the station was put out of action for 48 hours. Three more hospital trains were temporarily put out of action when an ammunition dump in the Normandy Base Section exploded. By 28 December, the hospitals of the Seine Base section around Paris were almost full, with 14,000 patients. Where possible, patients were moved to hospitals in the Normandy and Brittany Base Sections. Evacuation to the UK by sea and air was disrupted by bad weather, and also had to be halted twice when the hospitals in the UK Base Section threatened to overflow. In all, 85,000 patients were evacuated  to the UK by the sea shuttle running between Cherbourg and Southampton in December, January and February. Starting in February, the Air Transport Command began flying 2,000 patients a month across the Atlantic. A total of 24,666 patients were moved from the UK to the United States by air and sea in January, 29,743 in February, and 30,410 in March. Ammunition. Shortages. Ammunition usage is one of the hardest items to forecast, as it is dependent on tactical and operational factors that are difficult to predict. Moreover, different tactical circumstances demand different calibers and types of ammunition. Ammunition shortages developed  in the early days of the campaign in North West Europe that increased casualties, delayed operations and lengthened the war. The principal causes of the shortage of artillery ammunition in the ETO in 1944 varied over time: The ammunition shortage had a severe effect on operations, especially in October when it ruled out major offensives. The First Army's operations were restricted to the Battle of Aachen, and the Third Army had to call off the Battle of Metz owing to ammunition shortages. The Third Army was particularly affected. The main weapon of the divisions was the 105 mm howitzer , for which 12th Army Group recommended an allocation of 65 rounds per gun per day. In the week ending 21 October, the First Army fired 30 rounds per gun per day of 105 mm ammunition for a total of 109,469 rounds, while the Third Army fired just 1.1 rounds per gun per day for a total of just 3,401 rounds. It was a similar story with the 155 mm howitzers; the First Army fired 15 rounds per gun per day, expending 24,341 rounds in total, while the Third Army fired 0.4 rounds per gun per day, expending a total of  553 rounds. Most of the First Army's expenditure was in the fighting around Aachen. Between 11 October and 7 November, the Third Army fired 76,325 rounds of all calibers, which represented barely one day's usage during the high-intensity operations in the Ardennes in December. The quantity of ammunition unloaded each day slowly crept up during October, although the target of per day was not met until 23 October, when were offloaded. The tonnage unloaded peaked at over per day on 4 and 5 November, but then fell as the backlog of ammunition ships awaiting discharge was cleared , and thereafter discharges were dependent on receipts from the United States, which averaged between 19 October and 12 November. Most of this was shipped directly to the army depots, but by the time Operation Queen commenced on 16 November, the ADSEC depots held nearly of ammunition. Workarounds. The armies worked around the shortages in several ways. The main one was through ammunition rationing. The 12th Army Group also attempted to impose limits on ammunition usage, but, unlike the armies, it was not an administrative formation, and as such had no control over the distribution or disposition of ammunition. The rationing  system tended to aggravate shortages, and encourage wasteful competition between the armies. The first army to recognize that a particular type was going to be in short supply could requisition as much of it as possible, thereby initiating the shortage and depriving the other armies of their fair share. The rationing system was not responsive to the tactical situation, and units facing a German counter-attack on the sixth day of the ration week might not know how much ammunition would be available beyond the next two days. Rationing encouraged wasteful shooting to use up the ration or, worse still , falsified expenditure reports to create secret reserves. On 11 October 1944, the 12th Army Group announced a credit system, which became operative once sufficient stocks were built up in the depots around Liege, Soissons and Verdun. Under this system, the 12th Army Group allocated stocks of ammunition in the depots to the armies on a monthly basis. Requisitions by the armies had to show the credit number. Although it required more bookkeeping, it gave the 12th Army Group a better picture of the stockpile. The credit system prevented over-requisitioning, and since ammunition was allocated to a particular army, it  discouraged waste and encouraged conservation in quiet periods. The armies regarded the credit system as less than ideal for two reasons. First, rationing remained in effect, so while they might have ammunition, they might not be able to use it. Secondly, there was still uncertainty about future deliveries. The 12th Army Group resolved the former by abolishing rationing on 5 November, and attempted to ameliorate the latter by providing 30-day forecasts, which were updated every ten days. While the credit system did not guarantee an adequate amount of ammunition, it did enable the armies to make the best use  of what they had. In some cases, shortages could be alleviated by the substitution of non-standard ammunition. While better than nothing, this decreased range, accuracy and effect. Formations could also switch weapons, employing tanks, tank destroyers and anti-aircraft guns for which ammunition was more plentiful in lieu of field artillery. Three battalions were equipped with British 25-pounders, for which ammunition could be obtained from the 21st Army Group. Another alternative source of ammunition was stocks captured from the Germans during the rapid advances in August and September. Captured dumps near Verdun and Soissons contained French 155 mm  howitzer ammunition, which was identical to that of the American 155 mm Howitzer M1. Between 26 September and 6 November 1944, the Third Army's XX Corps usage of this caliber was entirely drawn from captured stocks, and the First Army M12 Gun Motor Carriages fired 7,000 rounds of captured ammunition, mostly against concrete emplacements in the Siegfried Line. French Canon de 75 modèle 1897 ammunition was compatible with the 75mmgunM2–M6 used in the Sherman tank, and in the Battle of Fort Driant a tank battalion used French ammunition exclusively. German 8 cm Granatwerfer 34 ammunition was found to  be compatible with the American 81 mm M1 mortar, and the First Army fired 300,000 rounds. Some artillery battalions were equipped with captured weapons, and the XX Corps attack on Maizières-lès-Metz on 10 October was supported by captured German 88 mm guns and 105 mm howitzers, Soviet 76.2 mm guns and French 155 mm howitzers. It was reported that German ammunition contained a higher proportion of dud rounds than American ammunition. Sorting. It was much easier to identify stocks of artillery ammunition than spare parts. For camouflage purposes, shells were painted olive drab, except for chemical rounds, which  were gray. The filler was indicated by colored bands: yellow for high explosive, purple for incendiary on olive; green for poison, red for tear gas and yellow for smoke on gray. The packaging gave the standard nomenclature and the lot number, which consisted of the manufacturer's initials and a serial number. Maximum accuracy required that the ballistic properties of the ammunition be absolutely identical, but this was difficult to achieve under wartime mass-production conditions with the technology of the time. The best assurance of identical ballistic properties was therefore to fire ammunition from the same lot. Ideally, ammunition  would be delivered to a battalion in lots of at least 500 rounds, but there were many places between the factory and the field battery where lots could be broken up. Frequently small, mixed lots were received from the ports, and until November the pressure to unload ammunition over the beaches and move it forward as quickly as possible militated against preserving lot integrity. A survey of the ammunition drawn by five field artillery battalions between 27 and 30 September from the same ammunition supply point indicated that the average number of rounds per lot varied from 8.2 to 29.9 . An examination of the stocks of 105 mm howitzer rounds at one Third Army ammunition supply point revealed that there were 7,445 rounds from 308 lots. By 3 November 1944, the First Army had spent 25,000 man-hours segregating lots by hand. The NYPE attempted to ensure that ships were loaded with the largest number of rounds per lot and the fewest number of lots, and that lots were stowed together. Starting in November, all US ammunition entered the ETO through just three ports, where unloading was supervised by an ordnance detachment who ensured that the lots were not broken  up. Railroad cars were loaded with ammunition from only one lot, and all the ammunition unloaded from a particular ship was dispatched to a single ammunition depot. In turn, the armies attempted to draw lots from the depots to a single ammunition supply point. Production. The United States was not as fully mobilized as its Allies or opponents, and American production, while great, was not outstanding, considering its large population, well-developed pre-war industrial and technological base, and access to raw materials. Munitions production peaked in the last quarter of 1943, after a War Department Procurement Review Board headed  by Major General Frank R. McCoy had recommended cuts in production on the grounds that excessive stocks had been built up in the United States and overseas theaters. The Ordnance Department strongly objected to this on the grounds that stocks were not excessive, and that the expenditure rates in the North African campaign might not be indicative of those of the campaign in Northwestern Europe, but to no avail. To avoid overproduction, the Army Service Forces directed that war production in 1944 would be strictly limited to what was listed under the Army Supply Program. As a result, many ammunition  plants were closed or converted to the production of other goods. This particularly affected the larger calibers, from the 155 mm gun and 155 howitzer through to the 8 inch howitzer, 8 inch gun and 240 mm howitzer, because US Army thinking in 1942 was that medium and heavy artillery was not sufficiently mobile for operations in Europe, and that aircraft could replace heavy artillery. On that assumption, medium and heavy artillery pieces and their ammunition were given a low priority for production, and were repeatedly cut back in the Army Supply Program, thereby saving steel and shipping space. This  decision began to be reversed in March 1944, when orders went out to increase production of 240 mm artillery ammunition to 40,000 rounds per month. This was followed in April by orders for increased production of 8 inch gun, 8 inch howitzer, 155 mm gun, 155 mm howitzer and 4.5 inch gun ammunition; the authorized increase in production for 155 mm howitzer ammunition was particularly large: an increase of 1,303,000 rounds per month. Around $203 million (equivalent to $ in ) was spent on new facilities to replace the ones that had been closed just months before. By November 1944 , shell shortages had led to rounds being shipped directly from the factories as soon as the TNT filler had cooled. Between January 1944 and February 1945, the percentage of rounds shipped directly from the plants rose from 28.6 to 50.12 percent. Direct shipment saved about ten days' travel time and about $1,000 () per railroad car in dunnage and haulage costs. On 1 December, the Ordnance Department was directed to step up production of light and medium artillery and 60 mm and 81 mm mortars, with production of 155 mm gun ammunition to be increased from 400,000 to 600,000 rounds  per month. Manpower was the most critical limitation. Large numbers of women were hired for jobs that were formerly done by men, and in some plants half the employees were women. To provide more skilled machinists, tool makers and machine operators, the commander of ASF, General Brehon B. Somervell, released servicemen to work in foundries, and furloughed up to 2,500 men for 90-days at a time to help manufacture 105 mm artillery ammunition. In December 1944, the Office of War Mobilization asked the War Department to draft men under the age of 38 who voluntarily left essential industrial employment . Some 71,000 men fell into this category, of whom 12,000 were declared fit for service and drafted. Tanks. Before D-Day, ETOUSA expressed concerns that the loss rate for tanks would be higher than the War Department's 7 percent per month replacement factor, but the War Department was reluctant to authorize an increase without data based on actual combat experience. Actual losses were considerably higher. Tank losses in August and September respectively had been 25.3 percent and 16.5 percent of establishment. Reserves became depleted, and it became impossible to keep tank battalions at full strength. To share the available  tanks more equitably, the First Army adopted temporary tables of organization and equipment (TO&E) that cut the number of medium tanks in the 2nd and 3rd Armored Divisions from 232 to 200, in the rest from 168 to 150, and in separate tank battalions from 54 to 50. The Ninth Army soon adopted the same temporary tables. By November, the 12th Army Group had only 3,344 tanks against a TO&E requirement of 3,409 and an authorized reserve of 937; two tank battalions had fewer than ten serviceable tanks, and most had between 75 and 90 percent of their TO&E. In  December, ETOUSA asked the War Department for an additional 1,010 tanks to be shipped in addition to the 250 scheduled to arrive in January 1945. At this point, the First Army was engulfed in the fighting in the Ardennes, and it lost nearly 400 tanks in December. ETOUSA asked for a loan of 75 tanks designated for the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, United States Army, (MTOUSA), but that had been unloaded in Marseille, on the understanding that they would be replaced from the tanks being shipped in January. The MTOUSA Theater commander, General Joseph T. McNarney, agreed to release 150  tanks. An approach was then made to Montgomery, who agreed to release 351 Sherman tanks from British stocks. He could afford to do this because the British Army had amassed a reserve of 1,900 Shermans in the UK that had been acquired under Lend-Lease. It was decided to allocate the entire American production to the US forces until they built up a reserve of 2,000 tanks, but under the circumstances, this was not expected to occur before mid-1945. A casualty of the tank shortage was plans to improve the quality of the American armored forces. Under the circumstances, ETOUSA  had no choice but to continue to accept deliveries of the obsolescent Shermans armed with the 75 mm gun, although the NYPE gave priority to shipping the 76 mm gun version. Deliveries of the latter fell behind schedule, partly because of the change to the horizontal volute spring suspension necessitated by the heavier gun, and partly due to retooling for the new 90 mm gun tank. Not until January 1945 did the theater feel able to request that no more 75 mm gun Shermans be shipped. Plans to upgrade 300 Shermans with the British 17-pounder like the 21st Army  Group was doing had to be shelved because there were no spare tanks to upgrade. Improved ammunition in the form of high velocity armor piercing rounds became available for the 76 mm gun, but less than two rounds per gun per month was received before March 1945. Shermans armed with the 105 mm howitzer met the need for a tank with a more powerful high explosive armament, and were available in sufficient numbers, but they proved a disappointment due to the lack of a powered turret traverse. This was remedied, but Shermans so equipped were not received by the NYPE  until April 1945. Meanwhile, it began shipping the replacement for the Sherman, the M26 Pershing, to the ETO in January 1945. Rations. In the wake of the pursuit to the German border, stocks of rations fell to their lowest level on 9 September, when the First Army reported that it had only one and a half days of rations on hand, and the Third Army reported that it had less than one. This was primarily due to transportation difficulties, with deliveries falling short of requirements. Only 260,000 rations were delivered to the First Army on 11 September, which was 100,000  less than its actual strength, and average daily issues in the Third Army for the period from 8 to 13 September were 153,000 rations, which was about 60,000 less than its actual strength. In addition, the number of prisoners of war that ADSEC had to feed jumped from 150,000 to 1,500,000. Rations were supplemented with captured German stocks. The Third Army seized of frozen beef and of canned meat at Homécourt on 9 September, and the First Army captured of fresh beef at Namur on 13 September. Captured stocks also provided some relief from monotonous diets. During the pursuit, transportation  difficulties and tactical considerations had led to the widespread consumption of operational rations, the C ration, K ration and 10-in-1 ration, especially in the combat zone, and they represented 48 percent of the ration consumption instead of the planned 18 percent. For a while it looked like the stocks of operational rations would soon be exhausted. This prompted a 7 September order from Littlejohn that combat units in the combat zone would be issued with 38 percent B rations and those in the communications zone with 95 percent B rations. The A ration was the standard garrison ration; the  B ration was the same, but without its perishable components. Keeping the components of the A and B rations "balanced", that is, in the correct proportions so the cooks could follow the Army menus and avoid having to serve the same meals too often, was a frustrating task. Although commodity loaded ships came with balanced rations, some components might have been substituted for others by the originating depots or the NYPE. On arrival in the theater, there was ample opportunity for the shiploads to become mixed up when they were unloaded onto trains, or for the trains to become mixed  up during shunting. Pilferage was also a problem at every stage. By September there were of unbalanced supplies. Since the armies had almost no reserves, if they were issued unbalanced rations then that is what they ate. Stock levels eventually bounced back, and by the start of the November offensive the First Army had 13.4 days of supply, the Third Army had 5.9, the Ninth Army had 9.8, ADSEC had 4.8, and COMZ had 10.6. COMZ continued to forward rations directly to the armies until the last week of November, when the depot system became operational, with Depot Q-179 at  Liege serving the First and Ninth Armies, and Depot Q-178 at Verdun supplying the Third Army. During the German Ardennes offensive, the First Army drew rations from the ADSEC depots around Liege while its forward depots were hastily evacuated. The temporary suspension of deliveries caused an accumulation of rations at Depot Q-171 in Cherbourg. With the permission of the mayor, the depot commander, Colonel Chapin Weed, arranged for several streets to be blocked off so they could be used for open storage so the contents of an entire ship could be kept together, and the rations kept balanced. Although operational  rations provided the required nutrition, this was only the case when all the components were consumed. To preserve the health of the troops, Littlejohn wanted to provide fresh produce for soldiers who had been eating operational rations for over a month. Before D-Day, the British government set aside civilian-operated cold storage facilities in the UK for American needs. When the first commodity-loaded reefer ships arrived carrying perishables earmarked for American troops on the continent, they were unloaded in the UK and transferred to refrigerated coasters for the trip to France. The first of these, the coaster "Empress  of Athol" anchored off Omaha Beach with of meat and butter on 15 July, and was unloaded by DUKWs. It made two more trips at weekly intervals. On 31 July, the SS "Albangarez" arrived at Cherbourg with of perishables, which were distributed by the 3612th Transportation Corps Refrigeration Companies and the 279th and 484th Quartermaster Refrigeration Companies, which were equipped with refrigerated trailers. The ETO had a fixed allocation of five fast reefers with a capacity of and five slow ones with a capacity of . Since the number allocated to the theater was fixed, monthly shipments to the theater depended  on turnaround times. Assuming six weeks for the fast vessels and seven for the slow ones, the NYPE could deliver per month. This proved unachievable; cargoes were seldom discharged in less than three weeks. Littlejohn therefore asked the NYPE to cut shipments for October by , and November by . The NYPE did not like this idea; an idle reefer was likely to find itself on a long voyage to the South Pacific. To allow for longer turnaround times, Littlejohn suggested that shipments of processed meats such as bologna, cervelat and salami might be shipped in regular dry storage, thereby saving about  33 percent of reefer space, and permitting longer turnarounds. This proved practical, and during the winter months they were delivered with little spoilage, as were fresh eggs. The long turnaround times were the result of several factors. The delivery of perishables was a complicated task involving many components that had to work in concert, and for some time the required coordination was lacking. When a reefer arrived, extraneous deck cargo had to first be removed before the hatches could be opened. Unloading was usually performed by DUKWs since quayside berths were scarce until Antwerp was opened. Arrangements would be made  for the 2nd Military Railway Service to provide a train of reefer cars. These cars had to arrive at the port in plenty of time so the cars could be cleaned, cooled and inspected by the Veterinary Corps. A complete train was preferred, as a few cars attached to a train carrying other goods were unlikely to retain their priority and thus liable to be delayed en route. The slow turnaround of reefer cars made it harder to assemble the next train, which in turn slowed ship turnaround. By 31 December 1944, there were 509 refrigerated cars on hand, of  which 181 were American and the rest were German, French, Belgian and Italian. The number of meat meals served in the Communications Zone was cut back from twelve to seven per week in October to allow for turkey to be provided to the troops for Thanksgiving. Poultry was not normally on the military menu because it was bulkier than beef or pork; a turkey meal required three and a half times the refrigeration space of a regular meat meal. The commitment to provide a turkey dinner had been made before the implications of the rapid advance in September had been  fully understood, but it was felt that the effect on morale would be severe if the Army reneged on the promise. In November, the SS "Great Republic" arrived with a cargo that included of turkey, which was distributed by waiting refrigerated vans. Liquid fuels. In September both the armies and the Communications Zone were beset with a shortage of fuel. By the third week in September, the Third Army, which was trying to get across the Moselle River, reported that it had less than a half a day's supply on hand, while the First Army, facing the Siegfried Line , reported that it had none at all. Even the Communications Zone was reporting that it had only a day and a half on hand in the first week of October. By this time, requirements for MT80 (80 octane fuel used by motor vehicles) for forces operating beyond the Seine had risen to per day, which was . Part of the problem was the rate of consumption, which reached a record high of per division slice per day in September. It dropped back to in October, and then down to in November. In planning for its future needs, the Chief Petroleum Officer  at ETOUSA, Colonel Elmer E. Barnes recommended that a figure of per division slice. At the same time the proportion of MT80 gasoline was raised: in pre-D-Day planning it had been assumed that 79 percent of consumption would be in the form of MT80, but in practice MT80 accounted for 90 percent of consumption. ETOUSA therefore requested that 85 percent of shipments be MT80. In was uncertain as to whether this volume could be handled. In September there were only two terminals on the continent in Allied hands where bulk petroleum could be received: Cherbourg and Port-en -Bessin in Normandy. The latter was dependent on tombolas, flexible floating ship-to-shore pipelines that allowed oil tankers to discharge while anchored offshore. These were subject to disruption from rough weather, which damaged two tombola berths in the first week of October, forcing tankers to be diverted to Cherbourg. Cherbourg also had limitations. There was only one tanker berth, on the exposed Digue de Querqueville. It too was subject to disruption by bad weather; a storm on 4 October destroyed eight of the ten intake pipelines and halted discharge for eight hours, and slowed it for another twenty-four . The storage facilities at Cherbourg could hold of MT80, which was initially thought to be ample, but was soon revealed to be insufficient. A pipeline was laid to connect Cherbourg with the Minor System storage tanks around Port-en-Bessin. The Major Pipeline System had its origin at Cherbourg, but in September its construction lagged far behind the advancing armies. Of its three pipelines, the most advanced had reached Chartres, which was short of the Seine. A second pipeline reached as far as Alençon, and the third was back at Domfront. Two trains per day were devoted to hauling the  pipes and other materials for the pipelines, but progress was slow. The first pipeline did not reach Coubert, where storage tanks were available, until early October, and the other two lines did not reach it until December. Coubert remained the eastern terminal of the pipeline system until construction resumed in January 1945. Between them the Major and Minor Systems had of pipelines and a storage capacity of . An important organizational change occurred on 23 September, when the responsibility for the pipelines was taken away from base sections and placed under the Military Pipeline Service, under the command of Colonel John  L. Person, who reported to the Chief Engineer of ETOUSA. Commencing in the second week of October, US forces were authorized to draw up to per day from the British-operated terminal at Ostend. Work was also taken in hand to develop capacity at the Seine ports, which had been allocated for American use. At Le Havre, the petroleum handling and storage facilities were captured relatively intact. Tankers could discharge into barges or coastal tankers that could take the fuel up river to Petit-Couronne, or into storage tanks at Le Havre, which were connected to Port-Jérôme-sur-Seine  via a pipeline. It was estimated that Le Havre could handle per day, of which would be cleared using the pipeline. The first bulk fuel was discharged at Le Havre on 31 October, but the pipeline was not operational until December, and decanting and loading facilities at the three ports were not completed until January 1945. Antwerp promised greater capacity, and its storage facilities could hold up to , of which the US forces were allocated . The first tanker berthed at Antwerp on 3 December. Plans called for laying a pipeline for MT80 and four pipelines, of which two were for  MT80 and two for avgas. Work did not commence until 8 December, but it proceeded from multiple points at once, and reached Maastricht by the end of January 1945. The pipehead there was eventually supplying per day. Although gasoline arrived in bulk in tankers, most was issued packaged in jerricans, of which there was a serious shortage owing to wasteful practices during the Normandy campaign. By the end of November, 1,000,000 discarded or abandoned jerricans had been recovered, but 500,000 were still missing. It had been intended that decanting would be carried out by COMZ, but due to the slow  progress of pipeline construction, by mid-September the armies were receiving fuel in bulk in tank cars and tank trucks which brought it from the pipeheads at Chartres and Alençon, or directly from Cherbourg. Large shipments of packaged fuel continued to be made from Cherbourg, which totaled by truck and by rail in October, but decanting operations at Chartres were hampered by mud and rain. The Military Pipeline Service located an abandoned autodrome at Linas, where it erected storage tanks. The armies began doing their own decanting, but these efforts met with mixed success. The proper dispensing equipment was not  always available, and was often operated inefficiently. Fuel deliveries were sporadic and unpredictable. In November, ADSEC established large depots around Liege to serve First and Ninth Armies, and around Verdun to serve the Third Army. Movements of jerricans to and from Cherbourg were halted, and henceforth all forward movement of fuel was in bulk over the pipelines or by rail. With the opening of Antwerp, fuel for First and Ninth Armies was landed there or at Ostend and transported in tanker cars to Liege, where it was decanted into jerricans. Fuel for the Third Army came from Cherbourg, from whence  it went to Chartres by pipeline, and then by tanker car to Verdun, where it was decanted. By mid-December, the First Army had 7 days' supply of fuel on hand, the Third Army had 8.8, the Ninth Army had 12.8, and the Communications Zone had 12.03, when the American forces were struck by the German Ardennes offensive. German air raids hit the Third Army decanting point at Mancieulles and the COMZ pipehead at Coubert; a backup facility for Coubert was established at Grisy-Suisnes. The First Army's depots at Spa and Stavelot, which held of fuel, lay directly  in the path of the German advance, and had to be evacuated. Some fuel had to be burned to prevent its capture. The ADSEC fuel depots at Liege came under attack from V-1 flying bombs. German jets attacked Liege on 24 December, and started fires that resulted in the loss of . Shipments to Liege were halted, and trains hauling bulk fuel were halted at Charleroi, where the fuel was decanted. Once the operational situation was stabilized, the logistical situation returned to normal in February 1945. Solid fuels. Coal was required for many military purposes, including heating hospitals and barracks, cooking , roasting coffee, and providing hot water for baths and laundries, but coal-burning locomotives were by far the largest users. Coal differed from other supplies in that all of it came from the UK or was procured on the continent. In preparation for operations in northwest Europe, of coal in sacks and of bulk coal was set aside for use in the first six weeks. Thereafter coal would be supplied only in bulk. The first sacks of coal did not arrive until July, three weeks later than planned, and demand was higher than expected due to the requirement to provide  coal for public utilities in Cherbourg and later Paris. The advance beyond the Seine and the consequent rapid expansion of the railway network, early liberation of Paris, and the onset of cold weather in September greatly increased the demand for coal, but receipts fell well short of demand. Storms in the first five days of September delayed shipping from the UK and no coal was unloaded. Cherbourg was unable to handle the planned per month due to a shortage of appropriate railway cars, Granville did not open until the end of September, and a shortage of suitable coasters limited the  use of the minor ports for coal traffic. It had been anticipated that the retreating Germans would destroy the coal mines, as they had done in World War I, but the coalfields were overrun before this could occur. A September survey by the SHAEF Solid Fuels Section found in above-ground stockpiles, in loaded railroad cars, and on barges that were landlocked due to canal obstructions, but only some of this was of the type suitable for use in locomotives or coal gas generating plants. Eisenhower directed the SHAEF missions to France, Belgium and the Netherlands to negotiate for coal  supplies under Reverse Lend-Lease. The Solid Fuels sections of SHAEF's G-4 (logistics) and G-5 (civil affairs) branches were combined, and the section swelled to over 400 Allied personnel. In November, the British agreed to ship another of coal from the UK. The stoves and water heaters in the combat zone were designed to burn liquid fuel, so the major user was the Communications Zone. Nonetheless, the monthly requirement of the 12th Army Group and the Ninth Air Force in the winter of 1944–1945 was . Deliveries fell well short of this; the Third Army was allocated per month, but  received only in December. Where possible, wood was substituted for coal. The French allocated of cut wood for American use, but this proved insufficient. A procurement and woodcutting program was instituted, but in January 1945 firewood production was only against requirements for . However, this also addressed the main bottleneck in local coal production, the shortage of wooden pit props. By the end of 1945, of pit props had been produced.