Global Logistics and Strategy, 1943-1945

This volume examines how and how well the United States Army overcame the tyranny of logistics in the major operations of World War II against Germany and Japan. As in the companion work to which it is a sequel, the authors stress the interrelationship and interdependency between strategic aims and logistical means. By spring 1943 the United States and its allies had achieved clear superiority over the Axis Powers both in manpower and in war production. How to bring the weight of this superiority to bear across oceans and invasion beaches was the problem, and, as this work reveals, transport and assault shipping came very near to being the principal factor in its solution. Much more was involved than the deployment and support of American troops. The Army had also to support Allied forces, including those of the Soviet Union, in huge measure, and it had to provide minimum sustenance to civilian populations in order to maintain stability behind the fighting fronts. Writing from the point of view of the high command in Washington, the authors trace the intricacies of balancing resources in a massive two-front war, and in the process provide a unique account of the Army's logistical support of the war against Japan.