The Motor Transport Corps (M.T.C.) was formed out of the United States Army
Quartermaster Corps
Following is a list of Quartermaster Corps, military units, active and defunct, with logistics duties:
* Egyptian Army Quartermaster Corps - see Structure of the Egyptian Army
* Hellenic Army Quartermaster Corps (''Σώμα Φροντιστών ...
on 15 August 1918, by General Order No. 75. Men needed to staff this new corps were recruited from the skilled tradesmen working for automotive manufacturers in the US.
Organization
The first director of the M.T.C. was Brigadier General
Meriwether Lewis Walker of
Lynchburg, Virginia. Walker was chief engineer of the
Pancho Villa Expedition
The Pancho Villa Expedition—now known officially in the United States as the Mexican Expedition, but originally referred to as the "Punitive Expedition, U.S. Army"—was a military operation conducted by the United States Army against the p ...
in 1916–17. He was later governor of the
Panama Canal Zone. The deputy director was Colonel Francis Horton Pope of Kansas. The M.T.C. was headquartered in
Tours
Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...
during the duration of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
Functions
General Order No. 75 spelled out the functions of the Motor Transport Corps as:
*The technical supervision of all motor vehicles.
*The design, production, procurement, reception, storage, maintenance and replacement of all motor vehicles, and accounting for same.
*The design, production, procurement, storage and supply of Transport Corps garages, parks, depots and repair shops.
*The procurement, organization and technical training of Motor Transport Corps personnel.
*The salvage and evacuation of damaged motor vehicles.
*The homogeneous grouping of motor vehicles.
*The operation, in accordance with instruction from the proper commanding officer as to their employment, of groups of motor vehicles of "First Class".
*The preparation of plans for hauling cargo and personnel over military roads, or roads under military control will be under the control of the Motor Transport Corps.
*The procurement, supply, replacement and preliminary training before assignment to combatant organizations, of personnel for operation of motor vehicles of the "Second Class", will be made by the Motor Transport Corps.
Types of motor vehicles
General Order No. 75 also defined a "motor vehicle" as:
*Bicycles
*Motorcycles
*Automobiles
*Trailers and Trucks
Excluded from this definition were:
*
Tractors of the caterpillar type, designed primarily for traction purposes
*
Tank
A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engi ...
s
These were to be under the control of the
United States Army Ordnance Department
The United States Army Ordnance Corps, formerly the United States Army Ordnance Department, is a sustainment branch of the United States Army, headquartered at Fort Lee, Virginia. The broad mission of the Ordnance Corps is to supply Army comb ...
.
Wartime operation: 1918–1919
The
American Expeditionary Force that deployed to France during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
was in need of an organization that could log, track and maintain all needed motor transportation. A school and a network of parks were set up to accomplish this.
School
All M.T.C. and some non-M.T.C. personnel were to attend training programs to learn operation and repair of motor vehicles. Some courses offered:
*
Convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...
driving
*Rules of the road
*Oiling, greasing and cleaning
*Map reading
*Motorcycle operation and repair
*Practical shop work
*Repairs of solid and pneumatic tires
*
Oxy-acetylene welding
Principle of burn cutting
Oxy-fuel welding (commonly called oxyacetylene welding, oxy welding, or gas welding in the United States) and oxy-fuel cutting are processes that use fuel gases (or liquid fuels such as gasoline or petrol, diesel, ...
Parks
Reception Parks
Vehicles were unloaded, uncrated and assembled at these parks, then assigned a registration card and markings. Detailed records were kept on each vehicle's whereabouts and conditions. Vehicles and spare parts collected in these parks awaited assignments to specific army units as requested. With the exception of the highest-ranking officers, no officer had his own personal car during the war. A large reception park was located in
St. Nazaire.
Service parks
Designed to make repairs not requiring much time or heavy equipment, these mostly mobile workshops carried a limited stock of spare parts and were mainly assigned to combat zones. Because of their temporary and mobile nature, the service parks were often operating in the open, under canvas, or in any shelter found to be available.
Overhaul parks
These parks were to occupy permanent or semi-permanent structures for basic vehicle maintenance and repair. They were to be located behind the fighting zone (40 miles if behind a "thinly held sector"). When the cost of a repair exceeded 30% of the first cost of the vehicle, they were to be sent to a reconstruction park for salvage.
Reconstruction park
![Colonel Harry Hegeman](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Colonel_Harry_Hegeman.JPG)
A permanent facility equipped for large scale rebuilding and salvage operations. A temporary park in
Nevers
Nevers ( , ; la, Noviodunum, later ''Nevirnum'' and ''Nebirnum'') is the prefecture of the Nièvre department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in central France. It was the principal city of the former province of Nivernais. It is sou ...
was relocated in July 1918 to a permanent facility in
Verneuil, Nièvre, east of Nevers, which salvaged more than 10,000 vehicles.
The M.T.C. Reconstruction Park covered approximately and consisted of five steel shops averaging each and a large warehouse for storage of spare parts. The park was staffed by three units of approximately 1,150 men each (Units 301, 302, and 303). Some labor was also supplied by German prisoners who were housed inside the Park.
Command of the park at Verneuil was assigned to Colonel Harry A. ("Bull") Hegeman, who was awarded the
Distinguished Service Medal for his involvement in the operation, in spite of the post-war accusation of mismanagement and waste there. Hegeman was a mechanical engineer from
Sparta, Wisconsin
Sparta is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County, Wisconsin, United States, along the La Crosse River. The population was 10,025 at the 2020 census.
History
Sparta is located on former Ho-Chunk territory acquired by the United States i ...
.
Post-war: 1919–1920
According to the M.T.C. Reconstruction Park newsletter "''Let's Go''", the park was visited by General
John J. Pershing and later, General
James Harbord
Lieutenant General James Guthrie Harbord (March 21, 1866 – August 20, 1947) was a senior officer of the United States Army and president and chairman of the board of RCA.
Early life
Harbord was born in Bloomington, Illinois, the son of Geo ...
, in April 1919.
The parks in France were closed after the war, and the Motor Transport Corps subsequently conducted
Transcontinental Motor Convoy
The Transcontinental Motor Convoys were early 20th century vehicle convoys, including three US Army truck trains, that crossed the United States (one was coast-to-coast) to the west coast. The 1919 Motor Transport Corps convoy from Washington, ...
s in the United States in 1919 and 1920. The M.T.C. was dissolved in 1920.
See also
*
G-numbers
This is the Group G series List of the United States military vehicles by (Ordnance) supply catalog designation, — ''one'' of the alpha-numeric "Standard Nomenclature Lists" (SNL) that were part of the overall List of the United States Army w ...
*
M1918 light repair truck
The Dodge M1918 light repair truck (G10) was an open cab pickup used to carry tools for emergency repair of vehicles. It was used by the U.S. Army during and after World War I.
Specifications
The truck consists of a small steel body, built by In ...
*
Liberty truck
The Class-B Standardized Military Truck or "Liberty Truck" was a heavy-duty truck produced by the United States Army during World War I. It was designed by the Quartermaster Corps with help from the Society of Automotive Engineers in 1917 in an e ...
*
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
*
U.S. Army Transportation Corps
*
U.S. Army Transportation Museum
*
United States Army Quartermaster Corps
The United States Army Quartermaster Corps, formerly the Quartermaster Department, is a sustainment, formerly combat service support (CSS), branch of the United States Army. It is also one of three U.S. Army logistics branches, the others being ...
References
External links
The U.S. Army Quartermaster Museum in Fort Lee, Virginia*
*https://archive.org/details/americasmunitio01deptgoog
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Transportation Corps
Military logistics of the United States
Branches of the United States Army
Military units and formations established in 1918
Quartermasters
Military logistics
Military units and formations of the United States in World War I
Military transport
1918 establishments in the United States
de:United States Army Transportation Corps