Maintenance Echelons

[Rschiller3]

So, as I sit here thinking about the tools in my fair attempt at building a GMKT to go with my MB, I wonder if there's a good thread with more information about the various maintenance echelons for wheeled vehicles, and how they were equipped, etc.? I don't recall ever seeing a vehicle maintence van (in the same vein as the Signal Corps, Small arms, and Machine shop trucks for instance) but I'm probably wrong?
I'm guessing there's an opportunity for more learning, and collecting some pretty big tools in there somewhere? Although my wife would shoot me where I sit if she heard me say that.
I know it's probably a huge subject....

[mudbox]

The WC-41 was an 'emergency repair' truck. Pretty well equipped with a Bonney Master Mechanics tool set onboard. Loads of hand tools.
There's a couple of threads around here.
Try THIS one and also THIS. DaveUS6 hasn't given us an update on his WC-41 in a while, but maybe this thread will prompt him to show us more of his collection!
A complete list of the SNL for the tool set was posted in another thread HERE.
-Jason

[Rschiller3]

Awesome thread on the WC-41. I'm working on an armorers kit too, so very informative! Thanks!

[Wingnutt]

The upper echelon sets and their trucks come up from time to time in various threads, but there's no one thread dedicated to the subject as far as I know.

The quickest way to familiarize yourself with the various upper echelon tool-sets at a big picture level - to understand what they were called, their stock number, which echelon they were assigned to (and where the GMTK fits in with all that...), is to review the table of contents in one of the ORD 6 SNL G-27 manuals. April 1945 is a good one. Linked here.

The best way to really understand the upper echelon tool-sets, by contents, how they were distributed, how they were carried, how many and which types of mechanics used them, and how many trucks they could service, is to go to TM-WW2.com. They have the entire July 1945 version of the ORD 6 SNL G-27 scanned and digitized as a PDF. It's going to cost you. But it's amazing. I am not shilling for them. It is simply the only way to get a copy unless you own an original, which very few people have.

If you check back later I'll try to find a summary chart I made for myself and post that.

[Rschiller3]

Lol, 16 Euros later....can't wait to see that manual!

[Wingnutt]

Found it. Might be hard to read. I did this mainly for myself.

[gpw_42]

Wingnutt, is this arrangement of the echelons correct:

1st Echelon = Operator
2nd Echelon = Company/Battery/Troop Mechanics
3rd Echelon = Battalion/Division Mechanics
4th Echelon = Corps
5th Echelon = Depot/Zone of the Interior

In my mind, the line blurs between 3d and 4th Echelon, so that they're quite intermingled, especially when "Third Shop" gets in the fray. Further, I'm NOT clear on how much I'm muddling modern and WW2 Army echelonment.

But remember that the larger support areas (division and corps) wouldn't move daily to stay fairly close to the front. That's why they could have multiple trucks with large trailers.

Steve

[Wingnutt]

Wingnutt, is this arrangement of the echelons correct...

Essentially, yes, and if you're muddling a little it's because it has not changed much since WWII, although our terminology has. The Ordnance Dept defined the 5-echelon system during the war after they assumed control from QMC.

Anyone interested in reading about vehicle maintenance during WWII as a backdrop for our hobby should have this book in their library:
"UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II, The Technical Services, THE ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT: PROCUREMENT AND SUPPLY" by
Harry C. Thomson and Linda Mayo, CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY, UNITED STATES ARMY, WASHINGTON, D.C., 1960

It is available as a download PDF from several sources on-line.

Here are some salient sections for this subject:

"Sometime in the 1930's the term echelon
came into use to describe these levels of
maintenance. The work performed by the
line organization was first echelon; that
done by the Ordnance maintenance companies
was second echelon; and that in the
rear was third echelon. A study of
maintenance problems in 1941 suggested
the possibility that more echelons might
be needed. The Motor Transport Service,
before it was transferred from the Quartermaster
Corps to Ordnance in midsummer
of 1942, had four echelons: the first
performed by the drivers; the second by
company, battalion, and regimental mechanics,
who made inspections and the
necessary mechanical adjustments in
time to prevent failures; the third by units
trained to make minor repairs, replace engines,
and supply parts; and the fourth
by mobile or fixed shops that took care
of major repairs, general overhaul, reclamation,
and supply."
p.448

"Ordnance maintenance planners devised
a 5-echelon system. The two types of simple maintenance performed by the
using organization—the individual or the
regiment, battalion, company, or detachment—
were labeled first and second echelon.
That accomplished by Ordnance
troops was now divided into two categories,
third echelon and fourth echelon. Third
echelon, sometimes called medium maintenance,
was done in mobile shops, in close
support of using troops. Soldier mechanics
at this level took care of the overflow from
lower echelons, replaced assemblies such as
recoil mechanisms, engines, and transmissions,
and supplied parts to the lower
echelons. Fourth echelon, commonly referred
to as heavy maintenance when armament
work was meant, was done in fixed
and semifixed shops serving a specific geographic
area. Its major function was the
rebuilding of major items by using serviceable
assemblies and subassemblies that
were in stock or could be obtained by
cannibalization. Fifth echelon maintenance,
performed at an arsenal or base
shop, was the highest level and consisted
of completely reconditioning or rebuilding
materiel, and, to a limited extent, manufacturing
parts and assemblies. The work
in the first and second echelon class was
known as organization maintenance; that
of the third, fourth, and fifth echelons
was service maintenance."
p.448-9

"The echelon system required that the
various repair operations be definitely allocated
to certain persons in preestablished
places; the guiding principle
was that repair would be performed in the
lowest echelon of maintenance consistent
with the availability of suitable tools and
necessary parts, the capabilities of personnel,
the time available, and the tactical
situation. Constant supervision was necessary
to be sure that the work was done
at the right echelon.
Every energetic shop commander of
whatever echelon wanted to undertake all
work employing existing skills of his men.
This meant demands for tools, parts, and
supplies beyond their tables of equipment
and the capability of Field Service to
supply. Sometimes a third echelon company,
well dug-in at a permanent post,
forgot that it would some day have to
take the field and, consequently, accumulated
more heavy items than it could transport.
Deviations from the echelon levels
were permitted, but only in emergencies.
A third echelon Ordnance company, for
example, might perform first and second
echelon work for exhausted combat troops
or might provide fourth echelon maintenance
for a new division whose station
shop facilities were not ready for operation."
p.449

[Wingnutt]

Rschiller: Back on the J.M.B. topic...

I am backing off my earlier assessment ever so slightly. I'm not totally convinced that a large operation like the depot at Jeffersonville wouldn't have called their motorpool area a "motor base" back in the day, rather than a "motor reception park", or a "motor supply", but it wasn't officially known as one.

Check it out...

"When the Ordnance Department in
midsummer of 1942 received from the
Quartermaster Corps the responsibility for
motor transport vehicles, the storage
facilities that came with the new mission
included six War Aid depots, eight motor
bases, four motor supply depots, eleven
motor supply sections at Quartermaster
depots, and one motor reception park."
p.383

(Page 384 is a map)

"The motor facilities that came with the
Motor Transport Service were scattered
throughout the country. The eight motor
bases were at Atlanta, Georgia; Fort
Crook, Nebraska; Fort Devens, Massachusetts;
Holabird (near Baltimore), Maryland;
Fort Lewis, Washington; San Antonio,
Texas (called Normoyle) ; and
Pomona and Stockton in California. The
four motor supply depots were mostly in
the central area: Little Rock, Arkansas;
St. Louis, Missouri; Fort Wayne, near
Detroit, Michigan; and Candler, at Atlanta,
Georgia. There was one motor reception
park, at Carteret, New Jersey, and
there was space for motor supplies at
eleven Quartermaster depots, more than
half of them in the east."
p.385

[gpw_42]

Today I discovered this depiction of the maintenance echelons in PS Magazine, June 1951:

The bottom of the cartoon sketch:

If you have trouble viewing the cartoon sketches, open them in a new window or tab, and they're quite legible. Sharing here because I thought the visual depiction may help to understand the arrangement of echelons. Apparently AR 750-5 had a detailed description of the echelons, but finding a wartime copy of that Reg? Not yet.

I've recently developed a much more detailed interest in (Preventive Service) PS Magazine; published monthly by the Army from June, 1951 through today (though it's been digital only since July, 2017). The magazine has undergone some changes over the years(!), but it has always been intended to be the equivalent of the WW2 vintage Army Motors - "...the magazine of maintenance for trucks and tanks, the nuts-and-bolts digest for anything on wheels or tracks..." (Issue 1, Pg. 2). Here's my source: https://www.nsncenter.com/Library/PSMAG ... geNumber=3

[Rustman]

gpw_42 that's great stuff! I might have to print out a copy for illustration to the public with Iffy-Lube.

Matt