Toxic agents procurement

Among the duties of the Assistant Secretary of War was the approval of "shopping lists for the various supply arms and services. On 9 December 1921 the Assistant Secretary approved such a list for the CWS. Included were toxic agents, smoke materials, cloud gas materials, and chemical engineering equipment. Several reviews of the "List of Supplies to be Procured by the Chemical Warfare Service were made in the various categories in the 1920 s and 1930 s, but no substantial changes were effected. The Army supply list served a double purpose—it was a partial list of materials required by CWS for manufacture of its requirements and it was also the authorized procurement list of CWS for procurement planning purposes. ... 

The CWS was also responsible for procurement in appreciable quantities of 374 chemicals in World War II. A few of these, such as toxic agents, decontaminating agents, and napalm, were end items. The others... 

In addition to large quantities of service equipment, toxic agents, and raw chemicals the CWS in World War II procured a variety of defensive and offensive munitions. Included among the defensive items were the gas masks, impregnite, impregnating plants, protective ointment, detector kits, decontaminating apparatus and such miscellaneous items as shoe impregnite and dust respirators. 

The CWS procured over 40,000 M4 vapor detector kits for detection of toxic agents in 1942 through contracts in the New York and Chicago procurement districts. No unusual problems arose in the procurement of this relatively simple item. In mid-1943, as indicated elsewhere, the M4... 

The duties of the Chief, CWS, as defined in the National Defense Act included not only the development, procurement, and issue of smoke and incendiary materials and toxic agents, but also the organization, equipment, training, and operations of special gas troops, and such other duties as the President might from time to time prescribe. This list of duties indicates that the CWS was not only a service branch of the Army but also a fighting branch or arm in that it was responsible for the training of special troops and for their employment in battle. 

In addition to toxic, incendiary, and smoke ammunition and bombs, as well as chemical warfare offensive weapons and equipment, the CWS was responsible for the procurement of a variety of service equipment. The latter included a truck mounted with a swinging boom crane, a chemical service truck, a chemical service trailer, a unit for mixing toxic and incendiary agents in the field, and a set for maintaining and repairing chemical warfare equipment in the field. Several of these items presented unusual problems of development and procurement. Table 8)... 

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