Quartermaster Supply Operations - US Army Combined Arms Center ...

R-E 43-T-X-I-C -T-E-D
supply point was not longer than one day, one oompany was
considered oapa le of providing perishables to ah army of
nine divisione.9 To aocomplish this the oompany was equippd
xith 30 trucks, 4 to 5-t0n, tractors and 30 scmi-trailers, 10tw,
i: wncel, van-type, rbfrigeratfnR, on the bnsis of threa
per secticn end tne per pletoon ~~adquart~rs.5
b. 0 eration. The use of the Luartermaster Refrig-
eration hJUpani’efle) fell into three categories:
transportation of perishables, statio storage or a oonbination
of the two. rrhile the use as both static storage and
transportation of perishables was oonsidered the normal
employment, there were not always sufficient refrigerated
vans assigned to an army to permit this type of operations.
As a result, it was often necessary to transpurt the perish-
ables to a supply point and deposit the loads into any
available static storage or on the grouad, In such cases
the arrival of the refrigerated vans was tired for the late
afternoon of the day prior to isaue.8 dhen no cold storage
wa6 available at the supply point, the Fifteenth bS hrmy
adopted the system of hauling perishabies by cargo vehicles
from the fixed cold storage point to t e mobile rePrigera-
tion unit located at the supply point. 8
C. iide uac . The adequacy of this type company
Bepended i n v a r a the distance the vans were required to
move, rfhen fresh meat was dellvored to the area by Comnications
Zone facilities, the mobile company was generally
able to deliver the rations to the supply points. rghen the
companies went beyond tho army area to obtain the perishables,
it was frequently necessary to transfer supplies to ca go
trucks in the army mea for delivery to supply points.?
Additional vans oould have been utilized by each army.lo
d. Civilian Refrigeration Equf went, Wherever
possible, civilian eqapment was used to augment military
faoilities. The type operating wit available and the type
of personnel employed varied. In som lnstanoes operations
were conducted entirely by civilian personnel. Where facilities
were Bo located that a Quartermaster railhead or
truckhead could advantageously use them, huartermastor peraonnel
oparatej. then and employed prisoner of waz or civilian
Labor, if available, for augmentation. On other ocoaaions
personnel of tho i,uartermaster Refrlgeratfon Compang (Fixed)
were utilized, either for the co%plete operation of a civic -
lian installation or for the supervision of operations. Wintenan
e and repair became the responsibility of the using
unit.%
e, Discussion. Refrigeration facilities on the con-
tinent were not entirely satisractory. The lliobile refrig-
eration companies did an admirable job, but tho use of the
vane for static storage cannot be justified. The mohility
of the oompany must be utilized to the fullest extont by
hauling from static supply points to army supply points
delaying only for the maintenanoe of Yam. The orgsniza-
tion of the campany under Tables of Organization ahd Equipment
10-217 is entirely satisfactory. Such is not the case,
however, with the Refrigeration Company (Fixed), The bdtch-
ery platoon was dropped from the oom any. This left 45
mn in the company headquarters and men in a cold storage
platoon for the operation of a oold Storage plant. Suoh a
large plant failed ta materializa in northebn Lurope, but
many small plants wore locetod and utliized. It was necess-