PROCUREMENT OF OFFENSIVE MATERIEL

Among the offensive munitions which the CWS procured in World War II were incendiaries of various types, 4.2 inch mortars and shells, flame throwers, smoke, and smoke munitions. 

On the very day that Pearl Harbor was attacked The Adjutant General telephoned General Porter s office and advised that over sixty-nine 

These production and manpower experiences foreshadowed the more pronounced snarls of the later war period both in private industry and in government installations. 

The CWS awarded separate contracts for the final assembly and loading of the bomb. The service aimed at confining this type of contract to peacetime manufacturers of fireworks, powder, and explosives. This objective was not always possible, and CWS loading contractors included a wallpaper manufacturer in Chicago and a stove manufacturer on the west coast. 

Immediately after the Pearl Harbor attack, the Under Secretary of War directed the Chief of the Chemical Warfare Service to take all measures necessary to expedite so far as possible the delivery of incendiary bombs. In January 1942 the OC CWS, after hearing from the War Production Board that magnesium would be available by May or June, notified each of five procurement district offices to arrange for the purchase of components of the M50 bomb. The district offices began immediately to negotiate contracts for components and for casting magnesium bomb bodies. 

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This volume, the second in a series of three devoted to the Chemical Warfare Service (CWS) in World War II, now the Chemical Corps, covers research, development, procurement, and distribution of chemical warfare materiel. It traces the history of these activities from the World War I period, when the CWS was activated to supervise the offensive and defensive aspects of gas warfare throughout the Army, until the end of World War II. The first volume in the series, Organizing for War, discusses the development of the CWS organization and mission as well as personnel management and military training. The third volume, entitled Chemicals in Combat, will deal with chemical warfare activities in the theaters of operations. 

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