| Show war goods from brushes to bombs are stored in huge warehouses of utah Ord ordnance nane depot munitions are made in nearby factory at salt lake city by john elbridge jones released by western newspaper union the military axiom that an army travels on its belly is is true but a modern army needs many other necessary supplies shoes for instance and trucks and tanks tractors munitions and guns 1 to furnish these supplies when and where needed and in the proper amount the U S army has built up separate organizations with the army headed by general brehon B somervell called service commands there is a service command for each military area not only within the U S but wherever the army goes for the first 12 months or more of this war all information regarding army operation and placement was a military secret now in driving for final victory the army wants you to know how it operates how it takes care of your son or your husband what it feeds him how it clothes him what it gives him to fight with and how it cares for him when sick or wounded with that in mind maj gen kenyon A joyce commanding general of the ninth service command with headquarters in salt lake city utah recently invited a group of newspaper men to visit all of the army service forces these newspaper men were shown everything and told everything but they were restricted not to reveal military information helpful to the enemy non combat goods all of the thousands of articles called non combat equipment meaning in general everything the army uses except actual weapons and fighting machines are procured by purchase or are made to order canned vegetables blankets safety pins uniforms of all sorts road machinery and stoves are samples of these things not used in actual fighting but most necessary just the same the ninth service command procures and stores this non combat equipment in utah army service forces depot at ogden under the direct command of brig gen ralph talbot jr here are tremendous warehouses and storage spaces much of it in the open with seemingly miles of rows of equipment such as trailers trench diggers harrows carry alls scrapers water tanks plows portable generators barb wire and bridge building material the depot is roughly a mile wide by three miles long there are 15 permanent type warehouses of concrete and steel and nine temporary warehouses of wooden construction they house everything the army needs and uses outside of munitions and implements of war several are used for food others other S for clothing kitchen equipment for automobiles for drainage tiles for pipe for everything on display were box lockers 12 kinds of hats or caps shirts and underwear carrying bags gloves coats mess kits sleeping bags uniforms for army and for and for nurses musical instruments shoes sox tool sets helmets plastic Z this young war worker miss louise anderson is exhibiting belts of machine gun fun cartridges tor for airplanes she operates a machine that fills the belts which lare I 1 are made of i A inspectors at the tooele thoele ordnance depot examine a batch ot of empty empt y cartridge cases returned to be melted into brass scrap they must see that no live ammunition has got mixed with the shells since it would explode in the furnace and possibly cause an accident foot tubs flags tents tent stoves and mountain tents among thousands of other articles were pack kits gasoline lanterns emergency rations G I 1 thread and needles compasses pliers sunburn cream chap stick towels and rubber pants unique here was the fact that a part of the guard for daylight service is made up of women women trained to do guard duty to carry a gun and use it police dogs aid the guards at night making cartridges guns cartridges bombs and similar munitions as well as war machines like tanks and armored trucks are made at the ardys own ordnance factories or by private manufacturers under government contract one of these latter is the utah ordnance plant in salt lake city the plant area is about acres with more than buildings 10 miles of heavy track railroad and 17 miles of surfaced road inner and outer fences extend a distance of about 21 miles most of which is under 24 hour surveillance by auxiliary military guard under direction of the army this plant is the last word in a modern line production system for manufacturing small arms ammunition such as 30 and 50 caliber ar mor piercing tracer incendiary and ball shells here the principal operations erat ions are making the shell the bullet and the primer bringing them all together and then filling them with powder the finished ammunition is put into belts or clips and then packed in metal lined cases for shipment outstanding in the plant is the he continuous rigid testing and checking for on the efficient operation of these munitions may depend the life of your son or husband finally a certain percentage of each batch is sent to the ballistics department where shells are actually fired in guns used by the army and are checked for accuracy fire power and penetration tooele thoele ordnance depot during war the various ordnance manufacturing plants may ship direct to the field of action but a large part of the material must of necessity be held in reserve in storage for this purpose the government has built huge storage depots in in strategic locations these basic supply depots are removed from the seacoast for protection yet so located that war goods may be transported swiftly by rail highway or plane to the points of embarkation the army has built the tooele thoele or ordnance nan e depot at tooele utah about 40 miles southwest of salt lake city the depot comprising an area of some acres is served by two transcontinental railroads giving quick access to the northwest the san francisco bay area an and d the southwest all important ports for the pacific theater of war within the depot are miles of hard surfaced highway and 77 miles of railway track five diesel switch engines handle freight cars the ordnance depot performs three main functions first it is the reserve storage for all munitions including rifle and machine gun ammunition shells and bombs of all sizes and weights it stores reserves of ordnance equipment such as pistols rifles machine guns cannon trench mortars and mobile fighting equipment such as tanks jeeps trucks and tractors repair and salvage second the ordnance depot is a service organization it puts equipment together gets it ready tor for shipment and ships it it takes care of the repair and rebuilding of damaged and badly worn equipment in the depot area are huge buildings one of them feet wide by feet long used wholly for making repairs that cannot be taken care of at the front duplicate parts of all equipment are kept on hand either for use in the depot or for shipment the third function of the tooele thoele ordnance depot is one of salvage back to this depot are sent train loads of used shells large and small the undamaged are shipped to the munitions factories for refilling and the unusable are sent to the smelters shelters sm elters the army expects to get back approximately 90 per cent of the shells packing cases ammunition belts clips etc bissu issued ed women by far outnumber the men in the warehouses girls trained for the job operate motor driven fork lift trucks which pick up huge cases and stack them 8 10 and 12 feet high the depot is manned mostly by civilians most interesting of all the features of the depot is the storage of the actual munitions small caliber ammunition is stored in above the ground warehouses heavy ammunition and bombs are stored in igloos there are about 1000 of these igloos joos ranging in size from 40 feet to 80 feet long in the shape of m t V I 1 A 1 1 e women and machines have displaced husky men in the tooele thoele ordnance depot warehouses miss katherine boswell runs a forklift fork lift shop truck that can move and pile ten cases a trip the work done by one truck would cost 40 an hour if done by hand half of a barrel the walls and ceiling are made of reinforced cement bement nine inches thick covered with two to three feet of gravel and soil one of the igloos visited was about half full containing several hundred 1000 pound semi block buster bombs all ready for shipment to hirohito for p protection the depot is watched over by a corps of auxiliary military guard under the direction of the army who patrol in cars not far distant from the tooele thoele ordnance plant but entirely separate is another depot here the army stores and experiments with gas for the kind of warfare the united nations hope to avoid but as proof of what president roosevelt and mr churchill say about being ready for it it is there it may never be used but its there waiting and ready if needed |
