Fifth Army

Coblentz and his section, plagued by continual shortages of manpower and equipment, by what he considered to be a lack of understanding of combat needs on the part of all echelons to the rear, and by the continual necessity of refurbishing or even making wanted items, found themselves hard put to keep up with Fifth Army needs. ... 

Fifth Army Peninsular Base Section earlier sprayed white pine ammunition boxes with a tar mixture so that they could more readily be camouflaged in forward positions (Coblentz Comments, 9 Jan 6t). 

Memo, CmlO Fifth Army for CmlO AFHQ, 14 Jun 43, no sub. CWS MTOUSA 400.112 Analyses, Tests, Trials, Equivalents, Experiments. 

Capua Arsenal, as the Germans Left It. mortar parts for the Fifth Army. 

The 6th spent almost a year in Italy, in the course of which it was at one time or another responsible for over thirty supply points. It had general responsibility for all chemical depot needs of Fifth Army. Company headquarters, originally in the Naples area, was shifted northward repeatedly, reaching Piombino in northern Tuscany by midsummer of 1944. In the interval the company supplied two de-... 

Technical and administrative problems of the American companies initially were handled by Colonel Barker> Fifth Army chemical oficer and later by Colonel Coblentz of the Peninsular Base Section. 

The Fifth Army landings in the Gulf of Salerno, just around the Sorrento Peninsula from Naples, represented the first foothold of American troops on the mainland of Europe. Two corps participated in the attack—the British 10 on the left and the U.S. VI on the right. The 36th Infantry Division, forming the assault element of the American corps, drew as its objective the beaches near the town of Paestum. ... 

The Salerno action is based on (i) Fifth Army Cml Sec Daily Jnl, 9, 10, 15 Sep 43, CMLHO (2) Memo, Barker for CMLHO, 4 Feb 47, sub Answers to Questions (3) Lt Hirrie A. James, USNR, Observations During Opn Avalanche, Center Task Force Southern Task Force, 24 Oct 43, CWS 314.7 Smoke Opns. 

Fifth Army History of Activities, 22 Jan 43. (2) AFHQ, History of AA and Tactical... 

Ltr, CmlO Fifth Army to CCWS, 14 Apr 44, sub Status of Cml Units in the Fifth Army. 

On 9 March the 88 th Infantry Division relieved a British unit on Fifth Army s extreme left. The sector included the area southeast of the town of Minturno where Highway No. 7 crossed the Garigliano not far from where the river emptied into the Tyrrhenian Sea. About... 

See Fifth Army at the Winter Line, AMERICAN FORCES IN ACTION SERIES (Washington, 1945), illustration, p. 66. 

Journals (a) Fifth Army Cml Sec Jnl, 25 Feb-3 Mar 45 (3) Lt. Col. Houston Joyner, CWS, They Couldn t Sec Down Into the Valley, Armed forces Chemical Journaly HI, No. 2 (October, 1948). 

The experience in Sicily prompted some of the participating CWS officers to predict the unlikelihood of mortar employment in subsequent landing operations. The Fifth Army chemical officer felt that "when one is making a landing at a distance from his base, shipping space is so precious that I doubt if it will ever be possible to mount the 4.2-inch... 

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