The McLeod Reorganisation of Army Logistics was a major reorganisation of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

in the 1960s, principally affecting the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

(RE),

Royal Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and dom ...

(RASC) and

Royal Army Ordnance Corps The Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) was a corps of the British Army. At its renaming as a Royal Corps in 1918 it was both a supply and repair corps. In the supply area it had responsibility for weapons, armoured vehicles and other military equip ...

(RAOC). Its principal outcome was the disbandment of the RASC and the creation of the

Royal Corps of Transport The Royal Corps of Transport (RCT) was a British Army Corps established to manage all matters in relation to the transport of men and material for the Army and the wider Defence community. It was formed in 1965 and disbanded in 1993; its units and ...

(RCT). The committee was established at the direction of the Army Council in March 1963 and it was led by General Sir Roderick McLeod. The Committee worked quickly and its recommendations, with few exceptions, were officially notified to Parliament on 22 April 1964. The principal outcomes of the committee were to rationalise transport to a newly formed RCT and rationalise many supply activities and ancillary logistic services to the RAOC.

Background to reform

The logistic services of the Army had evolved over a long period as need arose and circumstances dictated. Up to the early 1960s there had been no major organisational change (excepting the creation of REME in 1942) since the closing years of the nineteenth century. Also the Army of the sixties was changing fast, national service had ended and the Army overall was becoming smaller, more mobile, technically complex and savings had to be found. Meeting these challenges was difficult where there was an overlap of functions. Transport and supply were two areas where reform was pressing.

Transport

Transport related activity was divided between the

Royal Engineer (Transportation Branch) The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

(RE(Tn)) that operated movement control, port operation, inshore craft, pipelines and railways and the RASC that operated road vehicles, fixed wing liaison aircraft and seagoing vessels. It was agreed that the entire RE (Tn) organisation, less fuel farms (that went to RAOC) and railway and pipeline construction and maintenance (that remained RE responsibilities), should transfer to a newly formed RCT.

Supply and ancillary services

Supply activity was principally divided between the RAOC (ammunition, vehicles, weapons and other equipment with their associated spares as well as clothing and general stores) and the RASC (fuels, rations and barrack stores). It was agreed that all the RASC ranges should be transferred to the RAOC. There were four other supply systems that were left unchanged: * The delivery of tanks and other crewed armoured vehicles on the battlefield (but not in peacetime where RAOC vehicle depots were used) - that remained the responsibility of the

Royal Armoured Corps The Royal Armoured Corps is the component of the British Army, that together with the Household Cavalry provides its armour capability, with vehicles such as the Challenger 2 Tank and the Scimitar Reconnaissance Vehicle. It includes most of the A ...

. * A range of specialist equipment and associated spares (principally plant), defence stores and construction stores that remained the responsibility of

Royal Engineers (Engineer Services) The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

(RE (Engr Svcs). * A range of specialist communications items that remained the responsibility of

Royal Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS or R SIGS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communi ...

(R SIGNALS). * A range of specialist items principally apothecary items and specialist hospital equipment that remained the responsibility of the

Director General Army Medical Services Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

(DGAMS). In addition a range of other non-transport functions were transferred from RASC to RAOC. These were: control of the staff clerks, who provided clerical support in headquarters, the sponsorship of

Navy Army and Air Force Institute (Expeditionary Force Institute) A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It inc ...

(NAAFI (EFI)), barrack services, including accommodation stores, and sponsorship of the

Army Fire Service The Army Fire Service (AFS), later called the Army Department Fire Service, was the fire service which performed firefighting duties on British Army camps. Its personnel were largely soldiers until 1959, when the fire service was civilianised. Un ...

(AFS).

Implementation

The report was implemented in three phases: Phase I: RAOC took over RASC functions allocated (achieved 1 July 1964). Phase II: RCT formed, RASC and RE(Tn) elements transferred (15 July 1964). Phase III: Existing depots absorbed and rationalised by RAOC (no set date but wide-ranging changes made) Overall this substantial change went very smoothly and amicably.Major General LTH Phelps 'A History of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps 1945-1982' RAOC, Blackdown 1991. p205 notes that 345 officers and 2300 men transferred from the RASC to RAOC An early recommendation was that staff clerks should be transferred to R SIGNALS but this was set aside as it was recognised that the staff clerks traditionally provided the principal cadre for commissioned barracks officers of the RASC that were being transferred to RAOC.

A retrospective view

The McLeod report produced wideranging and sensible changes that were swiftly and efficiently implemented. However, by dividing supply and transport it created new interface problems in operations. The division of responsibility for combat supplies (ammunition, fuels and rations) on operations so that RAOC was responsible rear of the divisional rear boundary, with RCT responsible forward, began to become a major constraint as the predicted pace of battle quickened (especially in Central Europe) and systems such as the

Demountable Rack Offload and Pickup System The Demountable Rack Offload and Pickup System (DROPS) is a family of logistics vehicles operated by the British Army, which consists of two vehicle types: * Leyland DAF medium mobility load carrier (MMLC) * Foden improved medium mobility load ca ...

were introduced to reflect this new imperative. Also leaving minor supply systems outside the RAOC probably delayed the introduction of an integrated supply system with its attendant efficiencies. The creation of the

Royal Logistic Corps The Royal Logistic Corps provides logistic support functions to the British Army. It is the largest Corps in the Army. History The Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) was formed on 5 April 1993, by the union of five British Army corps: * Royal Engine ...

in 1993 and the

Defence Logistics Organisation The Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO) was a key element of the UK Ministry of Defence, responsible for supporting the armed forces throughout the various stages of an operation or exercise; from training, deployment, in-theatre training and ...

in 2000 largely addressed these issues.

References

{{reflist 20th-century history of the British Army Military logistics of the United Kingdom