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by Lori S. Stewart, USAICoE Command Historian
On March 31, 1943, the Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) rented space in downtown Baltimore, Maryland, to use as its supply depot. The depot provided equipment to overseas tactical CIC detachments as well as those operating in the continental United States (CONUS). The CIC Supply Depot soon found the two types of operational units had very different equipment requirements.
The first CIC detachment to deploy entered combat with the 3d Infantry Division in North Africa in November 1942. Soon CIC detachments were attached to every division and corps in North Africa and Europe. CIC detachments also operated throughout CONUS and Alaska. These detachments all needed appropriate equipment for their missions, and large amounts of that equipment arrived in increasingly frequent intervals at the Office of the Chief, CIC, located at 2327 North Charles Street in downtown Baltimore. The headquarters’ meager storage facilities were quickly overwhelmed.
On March 20, 1943, Maj. Gen. George V. Strong, the Army’s assistant chief of staff, G-2, requested authority for the CIC to establish a supply depot to receive, store, and issue CIC investigative equipment and supplies. The Army quickly approved the request and eleven days later, on March 31, 1943, the CIC Supply Depot was established in the Paca-Pratt Building about two miles from the Charles Street headquarters.
Authorized to procure high-priority items and to expedite the shipment of vital supplies to tactical units overseas, the thirty-year-old supply officer, Capt. Edwin Bennett, wondered what “high-priority” and “vital” supplies did the CIC detachments need? The units had no table of equipment, and requests for equipment varied according to the whims of individual commanders. When queried, few detachment commanders provided recommendations as to what truly was required. With little precedent to follow, Captain Bennett compiled and distributed the CIC’s first Special List of Equipment and Supplies on July 17, 1943. The list itemized not only investigative equipment (cameras, sound detectors and recorders, fingerprint kits, telephone taps, lock picks, handcuffs, etc.) available from the CIC Supply Depot, but also standard military equipment obtainable through the Army's technical services.
The CONUS CIC detachments, as well as those in the remote Base Commands, needed the special investigative equipment on Captain Bennett’s list and commonly complained about shortages. In contrast, the tactical CIC detachments, with little experience to determine what they needed, requisitioned everything on the list only to find the investigative equipment went to waste. Overseas CIC commanders complained what they really needed was transportation but the vehicle allowances—one jeep per division section of six men and one per corps section of thirteen men—“virtually immobilize CIC personnel who must be highly mobile in teams of two, regardless of the size of the sections or detachments.”
On November 29, 1943, now armed with experience and informed recommendations from the field to draw upon, Captain Bennett revised the Special List of Equipment and Supplies and added instructions that the Chief, CIC, would determine the initial issue of equipment for each detachment. As a result, tactical detachments were not burdened with stockpiles of unnecessary investigative equipment, and those detachments needing such equipment received adequate supplies from the Depot. Additionally, the new list authorized a jeep for each two-person CIC team overseas. The CIC’s first Table of Organization and Equipment published two months later clarified the right of the tactical detachments to have their own transportation. This made it easier for CIC personnel to requisition them in theater.
| Date Taken: | 03.28.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 03.28.2022 14:17 |
| Story ID: | 417317 |
| Location: | FORT HUACHUCA, ARIZONA, US |
| Web Views: | 139 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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