Under Secretary of War

Warfare Service, for comment and recommendation. Porter s reply concurred in the views and apprehensions expressed by Mr. McCloy and summarized certain specific steps considered necessary by way of preparation for gas warfare by the United Nations. Some of these measures were already under study by WPD. Porter now advanced a proposal that the chemical warfare needs of all the United Nations be surveyed to determine what assistance the United States should and could provide. "In most of our military preparations, he said, "we shall, for some time to come, be forced to follow a pacemaker. With the vast chemical industry of the United States and the highly trained scientific and technical men connected with it, we should be able to be ready for all-out gas warfare, if required, in a relatively short time, and in this particular do the pacemaking ourselves. As a result of the McCloy memorandum and General Porter s recommendations, the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-4, and the Assistant Chief of Staff, WPD, were directed to determine the requirements in chemical weapons and ammunition adequate to meet the needs of the United Nations in the event of gas warfare. In addition, the Under Secretary of War, Mr. Robert P. Patterson, was requested to investigate current British and American production plans to learn what increase should be provided to meet the possible needs of the United Nations. ... 

On 6 May 1942 General Porter recommended to the Secretary of War that another CWS arsenal be erected near Denver, Colorado. Within a week Under Secretary of War Patterson issued a memorandum of approval for construction of the new arsenal. This memorandum stated that the new installation would be used for producing certain gases and for loading operations and that the necessary funds, except for the purchase of land, would be made available to the CWS by the Army Air Forces. 

In June 1943, it was disclosed, General Somervell had promised General Marshall that he would reduce the number of ASF operating personnel by 105,000 and that Under Secretary of War Patterson and James Mitchell, director of ASF personnel, had assured Congress there would be a cut of at least 100,000 in civilian personnel in the ASF. After the ASF apportioned this figure among its various elements, the Chemical Warfare Service was cut back 2,424 employees in July 1943. ... 

Later the duties were shifted to the Office of the Under Secretary. For a discussion of this office and its activities see Troyer S. Anderson, History of the Office of the Under Secretary of War (1919-1941). MS reproduced in OCMH, January 1951. 

Still another problem of expanding procurement activities was plant protection. The Federal Bureau of Investigation inspected all War Department and contractors facilities until the spring of 1941, when the function was transferred to the War Department itself On 12 May the Under Secretary of War notified the Chief, CWS, of the change and outlined the activities to be carried out. He "stressed the safety features of plant protection as well as the need for guarding against sabotage and directed that plant protection units be set up in the Office of the Chief and in the procurement districts. In conformity with this directive, the Chief, CWS, activated a plant protection unit in his office in May 1S>41 and instruaed the chiefs of the districts to do likewise. ... 

Minutes of Meeting Staff Conference ASF, 22 Feb 44, p. 5. ASF Hist Files, National Archives. (2) Under Secretary of War Patterson later remarked "Prompt and equitable settlement of terminated contracts aids production by removing impediments to the maximum utilization of production facilities, thereby enabling contractors to meet new demands for war production promptly and otherwise expedite the carrying on of war work. See Memo, USW fof CG AAF and CG ASF, 12 Jan 45, sub Relation of Ptt uction to Readjustment Activities. CWS 400.12. 

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. 

No mention whatever was made in the withholding orders of any company other than the Erie Basin Metal company. Mr. Royall, after he had become Under Secretary of War, said he had never even heard of the Batavia Metals company until May 1946 when he was informed of the following developments. On 13 September 1945 the Settlement Advisory Board of the Chemical Warfare Procurement District, acting on what they considered reliable data, made a partial payment to the Batavia Metal Products company of 3,846,700 of which amount 3,231,649.60 went to liquidate the outstanding balance of the government s advance payment account and the remainder was paid to the contractor. Subsequently, an audit of this company s account disclosed some rather unusual accounting... 

Ltr, C CWS to Robert P, Patterson, Under Secretary of War, 7 Sep 45, sub Justification for an Independent Chemical Warfare Service. CWS 321 file marked Secretary of War 1945. 

In his testimony before the Patch board. Porter, in answer ro specific questions, went into more details on certain items, especially the biological warfare activities of the CWS. But essentially his arguments were rhose embodied in his letter ro the Under Secretary of War. 

These same files, supplemented by other source material, were consulted for the emergency and war periods. The author found valuable information on the Chemical Advisory Committee to the Army-Navy Munitions Board in the files of the Chlorine Institute and the Manufacturing Chemists Association. He also searched the retired files of the Army-Navy Munitions Board, some of which were in the National Archives and others in the Pentagon. He obtained data on various aspects of CWS procurement and distribution from retired files of the Assistant Secretary of War (ASW), the Under Secretary of War (USW), the Army Service Forces (ASF), the Operations Division (OPD) of the War Department General Staff, the War Production Board (WPD), and the War Department Manpower Board (WDMB), all in the National Archives. 

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