Huntsville Arsenal

The centralization of personnel functions at the Chemical Warfare Center has already been referred to. Huntsville Arsenal also experienced the need for a centralized personnel organization, for at that installation, where all activities were highly decentralized, personnel fimctions were no exception to the rule. Each operating division at the arsenal had its Own personnel officers who were invariably officers of company grade subject to the command of the respective division chiefs. Although there was a personnel division at headquarters, it was lacking in effective authority. 

Three of the CWS depots. Eastern, Midwest, and Gulf, were closely associated with Edgewood, Pine Bluff, and Huntsville Arsenals, respectively, and were faced with identical problems of personnel procurement. The outstanding need at depots, as at arsenals, was for skilled labor. Skilled workers were just not available, and it was necessary to train apprentices on the jobs. It took some time before a satisfactory staff of foremen was functioning at most of the depots. As at arsenals, many women were hired and trained to do jobs formerly handled by men, and many Negro workers were also brought in. 

There was no standard organization for administering personnel activities in the depots. Certain depots had no personnel units. The personnel activities of the Gulf Depot, for example, were administered by Huntsville Arsenal. The Eastern Depot had a personnel division until September 1942, when its functions were taken over by the personnel division of the Chemical Warfare Center. The other CWS depots each had personnel units. 

Huntsville Arsenal had a very high rate of absenteeism. See page 19 of report cited in Note... 

Replacement Training Center Post Bakery Unit Training Center Huntsville Arsenal, Ala. 

Improvement of the Edgewood plant began in 1942 when the Technical Division carried out experiments that increased the efficiency of the process at an annual savings of 65,000. In 1944 the division established a pilot plant for further improvement of the process. The plant at Edge-wood served as model for a plant of thirty tons capacity a day that the CWS erected at the Huntsville Arsenal and began operating in... 

History of Huntsville Arsenal, pp. 436-55. (2) Pine Bluff Arsenal, Preliminary History, Sec. VII. 

The tear gas grenade was one of the first munitions developed by the CWS after World War I. The body was a small tin can having six holes to let out smoke. The filling contained CN and a powder that provided the heat to volatilize the CN. During World War II, the CWS filled 689,610 M7 grenades, each containing about six-tenths of a pound of tear gas mixture, at the Edgewood and Huntsville Arsenals. ... 

Report of Activities of the Technical Division, p. 98. (2) Gaul and Finkelstein, Incendiaries, pp. 402-06. (3) Capt Roman L. Ortynsky, Tests of M69 Bombs at Huntsville Arsenal, February 4-9, 1943. TDMR 576, 17 Feb 43. 

History of Huntsville Arsenal from July 1941 to August 1945, p. 3. 

Another malpractice that plagued the CWS distribution system in the early war period was cross hauling. A cross haul took place when a load of a specific item passed another load going in the opposite direction. A flagrant instance of cross hauling in the spring of 1944 led the Supply Division to take vigorous steps to eliminate the practice. Huntsville Arsenal had requested some 4.2-inch shells filled with HE for demonstration... 

The general causes of the explosion were plain enough. The CWS had taken over a partially developed bomb from the Ordnance Department and under pressure from the War Department had put it into production without adequate lead time. In doing this the CWS did not insist that loading contractors construct explosive proof buildings and use the best safety procedures in filling the bombs. Actually no one knew exactly what the best procedures were, as is indicated by the fact that the War Department had previously classified incendiaries as pyrotechnics instead of explosives. In fact, one of the explosions had occurred at the loading plant at Huntsville Arsenal. ... 

As with other small incendiary bombs, the M 4 was loaded and clustered not only under private contract, but at certain CWS arsenals as well. Rocky Mountain and Huntsville Arsenals loaded, clustered, and packed this bomb. No serious complication arose in filling the M74, but the Ml42 fuze caused a considerable amount of trouble. The design of this fuze, which was manufactured under private contract at the Ordnance Fire-lands Plant, Marion, Ohio, was such that visual observation did not reveal whether the fuze was armed. After several accidents caused by explosion of the fuze, the CWS changed contractors. The new contractor, the Ferro Enamel Corp., initiated a number of changes to improve safety and handling procedures, which resulted in satisfactory working conditions and a satisfactory fuze. ... 

The CWS first conducted proofing of the mortar exclusively at Edge-wood Arsenal, but beginning in late 1S>42 some mortars were also proofed at Huntsville Arsenal. From mid-1943 until the spring of 1944 all mortars were fired for acceptance inspection at Huntsville. The mortars were shipped from the points of manufacture, assembled, and fired. Proofing procedures consisted of firing sand filled shells, using a heavy propellant... 

Works. The Victor company s Mount Pleasant, Tenn., plant supplied Edge-wood Arsenal with the material until December 1941. After the outbreak of war the CWS procured the bulk of its WP from Tennessee Valley Authority (Wilson Dam, Ala.) although between April 1943 and April 1946 it also obtained some from the Columbia, Tenn., plant of the Monsanto Chemical Co. Two conditions necessary for producing WP are proximity to phosphate rock deposits and a cheap source of electricity. The CWS arranged to have most of TVA s product shipped to Huntsville Arsenal, since transportation was relatively direct and inexpensive between these two points. The Monsanto plant supplied the other three CWS arsenals as well as the Ferro Enamel Co., Cleveland, Ohio, which also filled some WP munitions. 

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