Chemical Warfare Center Edgewood Arsenal

Brig. Gen. Ray I.. Avery, Commanding General, Chemical Warfare Center, Edgewood Arsenal, Md., 1 42— 6. 

McNamara, B.P. (1960). Medical aspects of chemical warfare. US Army Chemical Research and Development Laboratories, Army Chemical Center, Edgewood Arsenal, MD, 7-28. 

May 1942 Name changed from Edgewood Arsenal to Chemical Warfare Center... 

The Chemical Warfare Center included an Arsenal Operations Department which supervised strictly arsenal activities. As the new arsenals at Huntsville and Pine Bluff and later at Rocky Mountain got into operation, the nature of arsenal activities at Edgewood changed. These new arsenals took over the bulk of the arsenal operations in the CWS, and the Edgewood plants eventually assumed the role of pilot plants, in addition to handling a number of "blitz jobs. 

The Chemical Warfare Center was officially activated in May 1942 to facilitate management of the diversity of wartime activities centering at Edgewood Arsenal. See above, Chapter VI. 

Military Branch, Federal Records Center, General Services Administration, Region No. 3, Alexandria, Virginia— Files of the Office, Chief of the Chemical Warfare Service. These jfiles are cited by using the prefix CWS in the file number. CWS 314.7 and CWS 319.1, properly a part of this collection, are temporarily in the custody of the Office of the Historian, U.S. Army Edgewood Arsenal (formerly U.S. Army Chemical Corps Historical Office), and will be transferred to official archives. 

The CWS technical reports, along with many evaluations of munitions and plans, both for the United States and its Allies, were deposited in the Technical Library, Army Chemical Center, Md., and have been identified and described in From Laboratory to Fields The best World War I source, pending the preparation of an official volume on gas warfare in World War I, is the draft History of the Chemical Warfare Service, American Expeditionary Forces. Copies of this study are available in the Technical Library and in the Office of the Historian, U.S. Army Edgewood Arsenal. Finally, as regards monographs and studies, special note should be made of the excellent Marine Corps series on operations in the Pacific. Also worthy of special note is the American Forces in Action series, which has been useful although documented and more complete accounts have in most instances appeared in the series UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II. The volumes published in this series have proved invaluable, and the following have been particularly important ... 

The facilities of the Chemical Warfare School at Edgewood Arsenal were never adequately used in the development of commissioned and enlisted instructors for RTC duty. Had the school been located at the training center during 1943, undoubtedly it would have played a more important role in this connection. As it was, the RTC had to depend upon its own resources for fitting its instructional staff to the specific work at hand. 

In conducting enlisted specialist training, little use was made of the Chemical Warfare School. Two reasons for this may be adduced. One was the distance separating Edgewood Arsenal and Camp Sibert. Another and more compelling reason was the fact that when the Unit Training Center needed such help most, the Chemical Warfare School had little assistance... 

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