Chemical service units

Nitrosamine standards were obtained from Thermo Electron Corp. (Waltham, MA) and diluted to appropriate concentrations with DCM. N-Nitrosobis(2-hydroxypropyl)amine (BHP) and NDELA were prepared by the Eppley Institute Chemical Services Unit. 

Refs l)Anon, "Chemical Corps Reference Handbook , FM 3 8(1955) 2)Glossary of Qrd (1959), 67 3)Anon, "Chemical Service Units , FM 3 85(1960)... 

By the end of 1943 the build-up in the ETO had reached a furious pace. All the CWS ETO supply installations and sections in the United Kingdom were firmly established and supplies, even the long-awaited toxic munitions, were coming in. In the SOS the base sections, the ports of debarkation, and selected general depots had working-strength chemical sections, and scarce chemical service units or detachments... 

The chemical service manpower requirement was greater than the theater had ever experienced. There were not enough service units available in the theater, and repeated pleas to the United States resulted in the scheduling of two chemical service units on redeployment from the European theater and one unit from the United States. But these units could not arrive before the operation was well under way, so Unmacht activated two service companies and a provisional chemical detachment in Hawaii. He also secured the assignment of a quartermaster service company to chemical work pending the arrival of other units in the target area. ... 

An impregnating company was not provided at this time because mobile impregnating apparatus was not yet standardized. With this exception, the 1940 activations provided opportunities to test out the organizational and training requirements of the several types of chemical service units, inasmuch as one depot company had previously been activated. 

The looming importance of aerial warfare necessitated consideration of air as well as of ground organizations for chemical service functions. This matter had already been studied by the GHQ Air Force and T/O s had been prepared for organizations believed best suited for air needs. The general scheme for chemical service units within the Air Corps was... 

At the outset of the war, field manuals covering tactical and logistical aspects of chemical warfare had already been published. The only wartime addition to this series was the publication of six manuals covering field operations of chemical service units. 

The demand for company officers for chemical mortar battalions had the effect of pointing up the whole CWS officer procurement program. More junior officers were needed for chemical service units than for chemical combat units yet the ideal toward which the officer candidate aimed was the platoon leader of a chemical mortar company. If he could measure up to this job, he was assumed to be capable of filling any CWS assignment in the grade of second lieutenant. 

The prewar scheme for organization of chemical units with the Army Air Corps was geared to a defensive rather than to a positive and global strategy. Under the 1939 plan, the principal air chemical service units were assigned to airdromes. Under the 1942 plan, they were assigned to bomber formations. 

Three principal types of air chemical service organizations were determined upon in 1942 as necessary to support chemical operations of the Army Air Forces. These were chemical companies, air operations depot companies, aviation and maintenance companies, aviation. The air operations company was the principal air chemical service unit. Its function was to handle, under operational and combat conditions, liquid toxic or smoke agents used by the type of bombardment aviation which it served. The company included 4 officers and 130 enlisted men. It consisted of a distributing point section and four operating platoons, the latter capable of operating independently on the basis of one platoon per squadron. The companies were distinctively designated to indicate the type of air unit that served (M H) for medium or heavy bombardment, (L) for light bombardment, and (D) for dive bombardment. The air operations company was not trained to handle arsenal-filled gas bombs or incendiaries. ... 

The composition of the section was an index to the technical specialization involved in chemical warfare operations. The availability at UTC headquarters of groups specializing as experts in each of the fields for which chemical service units were being trained provided a partial solution to the recurrent problem of general versus specialized training of the individual. 

The original eight-week program was followed in the training of chemical service units activated at Edgewood Arsenal and elsewhere during the early stages of hostilities. ... 

No justification is needed for the staflF policy of initiating the chemical service units program in 1942. To have delayed further the activation of chemical troops would have been dangerous in that it could easily have encouraged the Axis powers, especially Germany, to initiate gas warfare. The only postwar question that might be raised is whether there was actual need of so many units. "... 

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