Assistant Chief, CWS, for Materiel

Assistant Chief, CWS, for Materiel Assistant Chief, CWS, for Field Operations... 

The CWS s first step to improve inspection procedures after the 27 May 1943 reorganization was the elimination of inspection of components. On 4 August 1943 the Assistant Chief, CWS, for Materiel, announced that henceforth all contracts would contain a clause to the effect that the contractor would be responsible for such inspection. After this policy was announced a number of former CWS inspectors were hired by the contractors to carry out the same work they had done for the government. 

A survey of the districts conducted by the branch in the fall of 1943 revealed an almost total lack of interest and initiative with regard to pricing functions. To rectify this situation General Ditto, Assistant Chief, CWS, for Materiel, wrote a letter in December 1943 to the commanding officers of the districts in which he emphasized that price analysis was primarily a district function. From then until the close of the war the procurement districts were more active in conducting pricing operations. The Purchase Policies Branch, OC CWS, continued to act in a staff capacity on all pricing matters. 

On V-J Day, 14 August 1945, Colonel Estes advised the Legal Branch, OC CWS, through the Assistant Chief, CWS, for Materiel, General... 

Under this setup there were to be two assistant chiefs, CWS, one for materiel and one for field operations. The Assistant Chief of CWS for Materiel was to "supervise and co-ordinate the functions of development, procurement, inspection, and supply. These functions were to be administered by the following divisions Technical, Industrial, Inspection, and Supply. The Assistant Chief of CWS for Field Operations was to "supervise and co-ordinate the preparation of plans for the utilization of chemical warfare materiel and troops. Under his jurisdiction were three divisions. Field Requirements, Training, and War Plans and Theaters. Other divisions, along with the executive branches, were directly under the supervision of... 

In conformity with the provisions of ASF Circular 67, the Chief, CWS, established a Materiel Planning Branch in April 1944 to compute requirements under the Supply Control System. There was a difference of opinion between the two Assistant Chiefs, CWS, over who should control the work of this branch. General Waitt, Assistant Chief for Field Operations, believed he should have the responsibility because he felt that the determination of requirements should be entirely divorced from procurement and supply activities.General Ditto, Assistant Chief for Materiel, maintained on the other hand, that the requirements function could not be separated from procurement and supply activities and that he should therefore have jurisdiction over the new branch. General Porter intervened with a compromise solution by directing that the Chief of the Materiel... 

Since Rowan planned for his deputy to hold the position of assistant chief for plans and training, there seems to have been little reason for establishment of the second position of assistant chief except the psychological factor of acknowledging the unique position of the CWS chief as tactical adviser in chemical warfare to the theater commander and to all theater forces. A subsidiary reason for establishing the second position could have been to parallel the OCCWS organization which had recently been revised to provide assistant chiefs for materiel and for field operations. In effect, the two assistant chiefs in the ETO would perform comparable functions to the two in OCCWS. Only one officer, a lieutenant colonel, to act in an executive capacity, was to be assigned directly to the assistant chief for plans and training. ... 

Compared to the amount of organization and effort involved in defensive training, that devoted to offensive chemical warfare was relatively limited. Policy in this field was frequently reviewed by the War Department General Staff. Standard procedure was that chemical weapons developed for the U.S. Army should be produced "with a view to employment by one or more of the combatant branches (that is, by Infantry, Field Artillery, Air Corps, etc.). For such materiel, the CWS was in theory a producer and supplier only. But the Chemical Warfare Service was never content merely to purvey. It took the view that the stocks of smoke, incendiary, and gas munitions were specialties, the merits of which might be overlooked if not adequately utilized. Hence an important function of CWS officers detailed to the faculties of special service schools and the Command and General Staff School was to further the introduction of chemical warfare situations into instructional problems and at the same time assist in the development of doctrine covering the employment of chemical munitions by the several combat arms. The Chief, CWS, selected instructors for assignment to those schools with the utmost care. 

The CWS and NDRC maintained liaison through one or more CWS officers from 1941 onward, reinforced by NDRC members in the Office of the Chief and at Edgewood Arsenal from 1942 onward. By August 1942 the volume of university-industrial assistance had reached the point where the CWS and NDRC had to form a joint Technical Committee to plan and allocate all research and development carried out by military and nonmilitary groups. On this committee were the chief of the Technical Division, the director of the Office of Assistant Chief for Materiel, the chairman of the NDRC, and the chairmen of Divisions 9 and 10, NDRC. The chief of the Medical Division joined the committee in August 1943-... 

Planning Branch, Lt. Col. Lyman C. Duncan, report to the Assistant Chief for Materiel, but that the Assistant Chief for Field Operations should supervise those activities of the branch for which he had final responsibility. General Porter apparently saw the need in this instance for a further application of the type of co-operative effort that had begun to develop in the Situation Room meetings. This is indicated by his action in appointing a Requirements Planning Committee, made up of representatives from the offices of the two assistant chiefs, to consider the supply and demand status of all CWS items. 

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