Chapter V


1 The term Aviation Section refers to the portion of the Signal Corps to which all avi­ation personnel were assigned. Within the Office of the Chief Signal Officer, the subdivision that dealt with aviation matters was known as the Aeronautical Division. In 1917 that entity became the Air Division; in 1918 it was redesignated as the Air Service Division.

2 There is no single source that fully discusses all the investigations into the Air Service during this period. The Shanks investigation is discussed at some length in Whitehorne, The Inspectors General of the United States Army, 1903-1939, draft Ms, pp. 319-23. Hennessy, Army Air Arm, pp. 137-38, discusses this inspection but makes no mention of the controversy that it stirred.

3 Hennessy, Army Air Arm, p. 153, indicates that the Signal Corps initiated Shanks' investigation in response to Robinson's resolution, but Whitehorne, Inspectors General, pp. 321-22, explains that it resulted from Shanks' annual inspection in 1915 and his dis­covery of Reber's suppression of the previous report.

4 Goodier was the father of a pilot at San Diego who had been badly injured in a crash in November 1914 (Hennessy, Army Air Arm, pp. 123 and 144). Clark, "Squier," discuss­es the Goodier case (p. 254). He does not, however, refer to the Garlington board by name.

5 Hennessy, Army Air Arm, p. 144. The Judge Advocate General's ruling is not men­tioned by Whitehorne. Goodier was court-martialed for his role in filing the charges and received a reprimand from President Wilson.

6 Clark, "Squier," p. 254, states that Baker added a personal censure of Scriven to the board's report. Whitehorne, Inspectors General, p. 323, indicates, however, that the board itself criticized the chief signal officer. Baker makes no mention of this case in his 1916 annual report. See extract of Baker's remarks to Congress in Frederick Palmer, Newton D. Baker: America at War, 2 vols. (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1931), 1: 283-85.

7 Maurer, comp. and ed., Air Service in World War I, 2: 91.

8 Clark, "Squier," pp. 252-53; Hennessy, Army Air Arm, p. 157.

9 While Hennessy, Army Air Arm, states on page 144 that nothing was done to correct the situation at the school, Whitehorne, Inspectors General, p. 323, explains that some steps were taken to improve the functioning of the school.

10 Clark, "Squier," ch. 9; Hennessy, Army Air Arm, p. 165; ARSW, 1916, pp. 40-42; Arthur Sweetser, The American Air Service: A Record of Its Problems, Its Difficulties, Its Failures, and Its Final Achievements (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1919), p. 39.

11 Hennessy, Army Air Arm, pp. 136-54.

12 Ibid., pp. 153-55.

13 Whitehorse, Inspectors General, pp. 324-28; Hennessy, Army Air Arm, pp. 188-91; Coffey, Hap, pp. 86-89; Arnold, Global Mission, pp. 45-46. Arnold and Dargue are involved in this imbroglio versus Lahm and Glassford, and both testify to the Army investigators. As a result, Arnold is transferred to Panama and Dargue is returned to the Coast Artillery.

14 ARSO, 1916, p. 891.

15 On America's attitude toward and preparedness for intervention in Europe in the spring of 1917, see Beaver, Baker and War Effort, ch. 2; Finnegan, Specter of Dragon, chs. 12-13; Abrahamson, America Arms, ch. 8; Edward M. Coffman, The War To End All Wars: The American Military Experience in World War I (New York: Oxford University Press, 1968), ch. 1; Robert H. Ferrell, Woodrow Wilson and World War I, 1917-1921 (New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1985), ch. 1; Ronald Spector, "'You're Not Going To Send Soldiers Over There Are You!': The American Search for an Alternative to the Western Front 1916-1917," Military Affairs 36 (Feb 1972): 1-4; Allan R. Millett, "Cantigny, 28-31 May 1918," in Charles E. Heller and William A. Stofft, eds., America's First Battles, 1776-1965 (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1986), p. 156.

16 Marvin A. Kreidberg and Merton G. Henry, History of Military Mobilization in the United States Army, 1775-1945 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1955), pp. 263, 277, and table 40, p. 309.

17 See provisions of the act published in WD Bulls 31 and 32, 23 and 24 May 1917. For discussion of the Selective Service, see Kreidberg and Henry, Military Mobilization, pp. 253-81; Weigley, History of Army, pp. 354-57; Matloff, ed., American Military History, pp. 373-74; Beaver, Baker and War Effort, pp. 25-39; Coffman, War To End All Wars, p. 29; Ferrell, Wilson and World War I, pp. 16-18; Hill, Minute Man in Peace and War, ch. 11.

18 ARSO, 1919, pp. 6 and 23. The citations for this report refer to a separately pub­lished volume. The chief signal officer's annual report for 1919 is also included in ARSW, 1919, vol. 1.; WDGO 81, 3 Jul 1917. According to GO 61, 11 Nov 1916, the six companies were stationed at Valdez, Alaska; Fort Gibbon, Alaska; Fort Wood, New York; Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; Fort Sam Houston, Texas; and Fort Mason, California. See also Historical Section, Army War College, The Signal Corps and Air Service: A Study of Their Expansion in the United States, 1917-1918, Monograph no. 16 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1922), p. 4 and table A, p. 116.

19 Tables of Organization, United States Army, 1917 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, May 1917), table 20, "Field Signal Battalion"; Matloff, ed., American Military History, p. 374; Kreidberg and Henry, Military Mobilization, p. 304. It should also be noted that the size of an American division, totaling about 28,000 men, was about twice that of a British, French, or German division. See John B. Wilson, Divisions and Separate Brigades, draft Ms, ch. 3.

20 ARSO, 1918, pp. 1085-86 in ARSW, 1918, vol. 1; ARSO, 1919, pp. 66-73; Signal Corps and Air Service, pp. 9-14; Historical Section, Army War College, Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the World War, 5 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1931-1949; reprint, Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, United States Army, 1988), vol. 3, pt. 1, pp. 478-80 and descriptions of posts in vol. 3, pt. 2 (hereafter cited as OB); Historical Sketch, pp. 62-63.

21 Paul A. C. Koistinen, "The 'Industrial-Military Complex' in Historical Perspective: World War I," Business History Review 41 (Winter 1967): 378-403.

22 Carty eventually achieved the rank of brigadier general. See Dictionary of American Biography, s.v. "Carty, John Joseph," 21: 155-56. His role in establishing a research laboratory at Bell and in the achievement of transcontinental telephone service is discussed in Leonard Reich, The Making of American Industrial Research (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1985), ch. 7. During World War II a similar pro­gram would be known as the Affiliated Plan.

23 Two telegraph battalions were assigned to each army and one to each corps. Rpt, Services of Supply, AEF, 23 Jun 1919, sub: Signal Corps Activities in United States Army in the World War, 1917-1919, 17 vols. (1948; reprint, Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, United States Army, 1988-1992), 15: 104; Lavine, Circuits of Victory, chs. 10 and 11; ARSO, 1919, p. 35.

24 The Bell System also supplied personnel for a portion of an outpost company of the 301st Field Signal Battalion, and many of its employees joined nonsignal units. According to Lavine, Circuits of Victory, 21,000 Bell System employees "served in the war emergency" and about one-fifth of them served in the Signal Corps (see pp. 88 and 108). The Bell System's contributions to military telephone and radio technology are dis­cussed in M. D. Fagen, ed., A History of Engineering and Science in the Bell System: The Early Years (1875-1925) (Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc., 1975).

25 Pershing had requested that women be employed in this capacity. See John J. Pershing, My Experiences in the World War, 2 vols. (New York: Stokes, 1931), 1: 175. These women did not become entitled to veterans' benefits until 1979 as a result of a review board study. See Roderick M. Engert, comp., Signal Corps Female Telegraph Operators in World War I (report compiled for the Advisory Panel, Civilian/Military Service Review Board, Mar 1979). According to this report, the operators' unit had no official title but was given its name by Chief Signal Officer Squier.

26 ARSO, 1919, pp. 539; Lavine, Circuits of Victory, p. 277. For details on the service of these women, see also Karen L. Hillerich, "Black Jack's Girls," Army 32 (Dec 82): 44-48; Engert, Signal Corps Operators; Michelle A. Christides, "Women Veterans of the Great War: Oral Histories Collected by Michelle A. Christides," Minerva 3 (Summer 1985): 103-27.

27 On the Naval Consulting Board, see David K. Allison, New Eye for the Navy: The Origin of Radar at the Naval Research Laboratory, NRL Report 8466 (Washington, D.C.: Naval Research Laboratory, 1981), ch. 3; Dupree, Science in Federal Government, pp. 306-07; Howeth, Communications-Electronics in Navy, pp. 302, 326; Robert D. Cuff, The War Industries Board: Business-Government Relations During World War I (Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1973), ch. 1. The Naval Research Laboratory, which opened in 1923, evolved from proposals made by Edison and the board during the war.

28 ARSO, 1919, p. 225. See also George Ellery Hale, "War Services of the National Research Council," in Robert M. Yerkes, ed., The New World of Science: Its Development During the War (1920; reprint, Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press, 1969), pp. 13-30, and Robert A. Millikan, "Contributions of Physical Science," pp. 33-48, in same volume; Robert A. Millikan, The Autobiography of Robert A. Millikan (New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1950), pp. 149-50; Irving B. Holley, Jr., Ideas and Weapons: Exploitation of the Aerial Weapon by the United States During World War I (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1953), p. 112; Dupree, Science in Federal Government, pp. 308-15; Clark, "Squier," pp. 321-23; Nathan Reingold, Science and the United States Army, pp. 105-07, undated typescript in CMH library.

29 See Rexmond C. Cochrane, Measures for Progress: A History of the National Bureau of Standards (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Commerce, 1966).

30 Engineering and research in the United States by the Signal Corps during World War I is discussed in ARSO, 1919, ch. 11. See also OB, vol. 3, pt. 1, pp. 474-75. Maj. Joseph O. Mauborgne headed the radio section of the Research and Engineering Division.

31 Camp Vail was named for Alfred E. Vail, an early associate of Samuel F. B. Morse. Sources on the early history of Camp Vail include "The Mission and Early History of the Signal Corps Engineering Laboratories" and "History Camp Alfred Vail, New Jersey 1918." Both are typescripts provided to the author by the Historical Office of the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM), Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. See also A History of Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, 1917-1945, a typescript available in the CMH library, and A Concise History of Fort Monmouth, New Jersey (Fort Monmouth, N.J.: Historical Office, U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command, 1985).

32 Dulany Terrett, The Signal Corps: The Emergency, United States Army in World War II (Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, 1956), p. 28, n. 30. During the war the Signal Corps published and distributed the pamphlet "Equipment List and Standard Nomenclature of the Signal Corps."

33 On radio developments, see ARSO, 1919, pp. 244-69; Signal Corps and Air Service, pp. 99-101; Crowell, America's Munitions, ch. 6. Vacuum tube production dur­ing World War I is discussed by Reich, Industrial Research, pp. 93 and 180-81. See also Howeth, Communications-Electronics in Navy, chs. 23 and 24; George R. Thompson, "Radio Comes of Age in World War I," in Max L. Marshall, ed., The Story of the U.S. Army Signal Corps (New York: Franklin Watts, Inc., 1965), pp. 157-66; Douglas, Inventing Broadcasting, ch. 8.

34 The developmental work of the electrical engineering section is specifically dis­cussed in ARSO, 1919, pp. 230-44.

35 See Gary Craven Gray, "Radio on the Fireline: A History of Electronic Communication in the Forest Service 1905-1975" (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 1982).

36 ARSO, 1919, pp. 115-16, 231-32; Crowell, America's Munitions, p. 569; Signal Corps and Air Service, pp. 17-19; Lavine, Circuits of Victory, pp. 400-402; A Record of the Activities of the Second Field Signal Battalion, First Division (Cologne: J. P. Bachem, 1919), p. 55.

37 The Council of National Defense is provided for in an appropriations bill approved 29 August 1916. See WD Bull 33, 9 Sep 1916, p. 44. See also Cuff, War Industries Board, pp. 34-42, 46; David M. Kennedy, Over Here: The First World War and American Society (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980), pp. 114-17; Lavine, Circuits of Victory, ch. 7; Beaver, Baker and War Effort, ch. 3; Dupree, Science in Federal Government, p. 312.

38 Hewes, Root to McNamara, p. 33, and WDGO 5, 11 Jan 1918. In February 1918 Baker reorganized the General Staff to include a Supply and Purchase Division. See WDGO 14, 9 Feb 1918 and Edward M. Coffman, "The Battle Against Red Tape: Business Methods of the War Department General Staff 1917-1918," Military Affairs 26 (Spring 1962): 3. See also Beaver, Baker and War Effort, pp. 94-96; Risch, Quartermaster Support, ch. 14; Kreidberg and Henry, Military Mobilization, pp. 318-23.

39 The War Industries Board became an independent body in May 1918 and was dis­solved in January 1919. For a detailed study of the board, see Cuff, War Industries Board. See also the entry "War Industries Board" in Handbook of Federal World War Agencies and Their Records, 1917-1921 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1943).

40 Cochrane, Measures for Progress, pp. 186-91; Crowell, America's Munitions, pp. 567-83; ARSO, 1919, pp. 110, 114; Dupree, Science in Federal Government, p. 322; Reese V. Jenkins, Images and Enterprise: Technology and the American Photographic Industry, 1839 to 1925 (Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975), pp. 313, 323; Harrison E. Howe, "Optical Glass for War Needs," in Yerkes, ed., New World of Science, pp. 103-20.

41 ARSO, 1918, p. 1084; ARSO, 1919, pp. 227-30; Historical Sketch, pp. 67-68.

42 For a brief survey of military intelligence history, see John Patrick Finnegan, Military Intelligence: A Picture History (Arlington, Va.: History Office, Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations, U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command, 1985). See also Powe, "Emergence of War Department Intelligence Agency"; Kreidberg and Henry, Military Mobilization, pp. 352-55.

43 OB, vol. 3, pt. 1, pp. 11-12; John Brooks, Telephone: The First Hundred Years (New York: Harper and Row, 1976), pp. 148-53.

44 Handbook of Federal Agencies, p. 96; Aitken, Continuous Wave, pp. 284-88; Douglas, Inventing Broadcasting, ch. 8; Howeth, Communications-Electronics in Navy, chs. 19 and 20; Kreidberg and Henry, Military Mobilization, ch. 10.

45 "Major General George Owen Squier," Signal Corps Bulletin 79 (Jul-Aug 1934): 1; OB, vol. 3, pt. 1, p. 475; Handbook of Federal Agencies, p. 309.

46 See Donald Smythe, Pershing: General of the Armies (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986), p. 11, on Pershing's criteria for choosing his staff. For details of his military career, see Cullum, Biographical Register and USMA Graduates Report (1929), pp. 302-08. Russel was graduate number 3184.

47 In addition to the Signal Corps, the Services of Supply comprised the Quartermaster Corps, Medical Corps, Corps of Engineers, Ordnance Department, Air Service, Gas Service, Transportation Service, Provost Marshal Service, and General Purchasing Board. See GO 8, Hq, AEF, 5 Jul 1917 and GO 31, Hq, AEF, 16 Feb 1918. See also Paul J. Scheips, The Line and the Staff (Some Notes on the Signal Corps as a Combatant Arm and a Technical Service), typescript [Washington, D.C.: Signal Corps Historical Division, 1960], pp. 22-26, copy in author's files. See also OB, vol. 1, pp. 31-80.

48 There were, of course, reorganizations during the course of the war. See ARSO, 1919, pp. 366-68.

49 Lawrence Lessing, Man of High Fidelity: Edwin Howard Armstrong (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1956), ch. 7.

50 The work of this division is discussed in ARSO, 1919, ch. 12; C. F. Martin, Signal Communications in World War I, typescript [Washington, D.C.: Historical Section, Army War College, Aug 1942], pp. 23-25 (copy in author's files); Lavine, Circuits of Victory, ch. 16.

51 GO 25, Hq, AEF, 23 Aug 1917. The functions of the Signal Corps, AEF, are speci­fied in GOs 8 and 25, AEF, 1917, and GOs 30, 31, 48, and 152, GHQ, AEF, 1918.

52 ARSO, 1919, pp. 185-86; Lavine, Circuits of Victory, pp. 116-19; A. E. Kennelly, "Advances in Signalling Contributed During the War," in Yerkes, ed., New World of Science, pp. 221-46.

53 Lavine, Circuits of Victory, p. 112, refers to "the famous '400-Mile Line"' and its 265-mile extension. See also ARSO, 1919, pp. 119-20, 195-96.

54 AT&T developed repeaters based on de Forest's audion (he had sold the patent rights to the company in 1913) to achieve coast-to-coast telephone service. The first transcontinental call between New York and San Francisco was made on 25 January 1915. See Reich, Industrial Research, pp. 160-70 and 207-11. Douglas, Inventing Broadcasting, p. 243, explains the repeater process. See also Brooks, Telephone, pp. 137-41; ARSO, 1919, p. 203. In conjunction with the Navy, AT&T also achieved transat­lantic wireless telephony in 1915.

55 An exact figure is difficult to determine. These mileage totals are based on statistics given in ARSO, 1919, p. 162, and Historical Branch, War Plans Division, General Staff, Organization of the Services of Supply, American Expeditionary Forces, Monograph no. 7 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1921), p. 84. The total mileage of lines leased from the French is in question due to an inconsistency in the chief signal offi­cer's report. Apparently the total should be either 15,252 (ARSO) or 15,352 (Monograph 7). If all the figures listed in the ARSO were added, the total mileage of the wire network would be approximately 50,000, yet the report states that the total is 37,944. On the basis of the monograph, it appears that only about 3,000 miles of leased French lines were both maintained and operated by the Signal Corps. Lavine, Circuits of Victory, discusses the background to and the building of this network in chapters 12-14. Its extension is cov­ered in subsequent chapters. See also Frank H. Fay, "A.E.F. Telephone and Telegraph System," Military Engineer (Jan-Feb 1926), reprinted in Scheips, ed., Military Signal Communications, vol. 1.

56 Before the war, seventeen cables had crossed the Atlantic, two of which had belonged to Germany. Eventually, with the help of the Japanese, all cables connecting the Central Powers with the Americas, Africa, and the Far East were severed. See ARSO, 1919, ch. 8 and p. 202; Rpt, Services of Supply, AEF, 23 Jun 1919, sub: Signal Corps Activities, p. 115; Lavine, Circuits of Victory, pp. 290-91 and ch. 36; Aitken, Continuous Wave, pp. 256-57; Douglas, Inventing Broadcasting, ch. 8; Tuchman, Zimmermann Telegram, p. 15. Before the United States entered the war, we had allowed the German government to use our cables for diplomatic communications. Consequently, the Germans sent the Zimmermann telegram to Mexico in code over our own wires! On the Navy's high-powered stations, see Howeth, Communications-Electronics in Navy, chs. 18 and 20. It does not appear that the Signal Corps laid any cables of its own. The Signal Corps also operated a telephone system in England. See Lavine, Circuits of Victory, pp. 394-95.

57 Rpt, Services of Supply, AEF, 23 Jun 1919, sub: Signal Corps Activities, p. 102, and ARSO, 1919, p. 129.

58 Company C, 2d Field Signal Battalion, was included in the first contingent of troops that arrived in France in late June. See ARSO, 1919, pp. 27 and 368; Pogue, Marshall, 1: chs. 9 and 10. Marshall served on the 1 st Division staff until July 1918.

59 As quoted in ARSO, 1919, p. 365.

60 Martin, Signal Communications in World War I, p. 3; Rpt, Services of Supply, AEF, 23 Jun 1919, sub: Signal Corps Activities, pp. 102-03.

61 Both the 1917 and 1918 tables of organization are published in volume 1 of United States Army in the World War, 1917-1919. The 1917 table for the field signal battalion is table 20, p. 180, while the revised 1918 tables for the outpost company and the battalion are found on pp. 362-63. See also ARSO, 1919, pp. 358-60; Historical Sketch, p. 62; Martin, Signal Communications in World War I, pp. 38, 41-42; and Thompson and Harris, Outcome, p. 14.

62 ARSO, 1918, p. 1086; ARSO, 1919, p. 30; Rpt, Services of Supply, AEF, 23 Jun 1919, sub: Signal Corps Activities, pp. 104, 107.

63 ARSO, 1919, ch. 5; Historical Sketch, pp. 89-91; Charles E. Kirkpatrick, Pershing Builds an Army: The School System of the American Expeditionary Forces, unpub­lished study [Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, United States Army, Dec 1988].

64 Society of the First Division, History of the First Division During the World War, 1917-1919 (Philadelphia: John C. Winston Co., 1922), p. 24; Record of Second Field Signal Battalion, ch. 2.

65 History of First Division, p. 28; ARSO, 1919, p. 371; Record of Second Field Signal Battalion, p. 12.

66 History of First Division, ch. 2; Weigley, History of Army, p. 375; Coffman, War To End All Wars, pp. 135f; Pershing, My Experiences, 1: 200-202.

67 On the recognition of the need for U.S. intervention, see Abrahamson, America Arms, p. 175; Beaver, Baker and War Effort, p. 111; Weigley, History of Army, p. 376.

68 For their arrival dates, see the divisional entries in OB, vol. 2. Hill, Minute Man in Peace and War, has an interesting section on General Clarence Edwards' machinations to get his 26th Division to France.

69 These extended (and confusing) negotiations resulted in the controversial London and Abbeville agreements. See Smythe, Pershing, chs. 13 and 14; Coffman, War To End All Wars, pp. 168-73; Beaver, Baker and War Effort, ch. 5; Matloff, ed., American Military History, p. 383; Weigley, History of Army, pp. 383-84.

70 Millett, "Cantigny," in Heller and Stofft, eds., First Battles; Record of Second Field Signal Battalion, ch. 6; History of First Division, ch. 4.

71 "Report of Signal School" with appended lectures-lecture 35, "Trench Wiring I and II," copy in Special Collections, USMA library.

72 Kennelly, "Advances in Signalling," in Yerkes, ed., New World of Science, p. 243.

73 Millett, "Cantigny," in Heller and Stofft, eds., First Battles, pp. 160-61; John Keegan, The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo and the Somme (New York: Vintage Books, 1977), pp. 259-60.

74 History of First Division, p. 84.

75 Record of Second Field Signal Battalion, ch. 6; ARSO, 1919, ch. 19; Millett, "Cantigny," in Heller and Stofft, eds., First Battles.

76 Hitt was also known for his cryptological abilities. Although he had written the Manual for the Solution of Military Ciphers, published in 1916, he did not participate directly in intelligence activities during the war.

77 The First Army was organized on 10 August 1918. John B. Wilson, comp., Armies, Corps, Divisions, and Separate Brigades (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, United States Army, 1987), p. 10; Matloff, ed., American Military History, p. 395. For the description of the salient, see American Battle Monuments Commission, A Guide to the American Battle Fields in Europe (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1927), p. 68.

78 ARSO, 1919, p. 445. The 55th Telegraph Battalion was redesignated in 1921 as the 51st Signal Battalion.

79 Lavine, Circuits of Victory, pp. 490-94; Engert, Signal Corps Operators, p. 6.

80 The official St. Mihiel campaign dates are 12 to 16 September 1918 according to AR 672-5-1, Military Awards, 1 October 1990. For summaries of the battle, see, for example, Matloff, ed., American Military History, pp. 396-98; Pogue, Marshall, 1: ch. 11.

81 According to Pershing, My Experiences, 2: 222, in August 1918, "The Signal Corps reported lack of many essentials of unit equipment for battle." The entire AEF suffered from shortages, as priority was given to infantry units and machine gunners. In June, July, and August 1918, shipments of Signal Corps materiel fell 52 percent short of esti­mated allotments. Comparably, shortages in other branches equaled: Medical Corps, 23 percent; Ordnance, 33 percent; Chemical, 51 percent; Motor Transport, 81 percent. Pershing, My Experiences, 2: 310. Smythe writes in Pershing, p. 230, "Only the armistice saved the AEF from a logistical disaster."

82 Martin, Signal Communications in World War I, p. 35.

83 Pershing, My Experiences, 2: 302.

84 Ibid., 2: 335.

85 ARSO, 1919, p. 491. Fortunately, the Germans did not always dismantle their lines when they fell back, thus leaving behind valuable equipment. Lavine, Circuits of Victory, p. 470.

86 On communications during the Meuse-Argonne campaign, see ARSO, 1919, ch. 27; Lavine, Circuits of Victory, ch. 45. For general discussions of the campaign, see Matloff, ed., American Military History, pp. 398-403; Coffman, War To End All Wars, ch. 10; Smythe, Pershing, chs. 23-26.

87 The 368th Infantry had been detached from the division and placed at the disposal of the French XXXVIII Corps where it acted as combat liaison. Historical Section, Army War College, The Ninety-Second Division, 1917-1918 (Washington, D.C.: 1923), p. 24. On the wartime service of the 325th Field Signal Battalion, see Samuel A. Barnes, "Signaling Souls on the Western Front," Army Communicator 5 (Winter 1980): 30-35. Barnes explains very well the various means of signaling employed. See also ARSO, 1919, pp. 485-86. The Army's other black division, the 93d, which contained infantry only, served entirely under French command. See Ferrell's comments on the 92d and 93d Divisions, Wilson and World War I, pp. 214-15. On the experiences of black troops in general during World War I, see Arthur E. Barbeau and Florette Henri, The Unknown Soldiers: Black American Troops in World War I (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1974).

88 The text of the commendation is printed in Lavine, Circuits of Victory, pp. 576-77.

89 Lavine, Circuits of Victory, pp. 564-66, 575-79; Hillerich, "Black Jack's Girls," pp. 44-48; ARSO, 1919, pp. 466-67. Grace Banker's award is announced in WDGO 70, 26 May 1919.

90 ARSO, 1919, p. 522-23, 454-55; OB, vol. 1, pp. 385-89; Terry M. Mays, "The Signal Corps in Siberia," Army Communicator 14 (Winter 1989): 26-28.

91 Paul W. Evans, "Strategic Signal Communications-A Study of Signal Communication as Applied to Large Field Forces, Based Upon the Operations of the German Signal Corps During the March on Paris in 1914," Signal Corps Bulletin 82 (Jan-Feb 1935): 33, reprinted in Scheips, ed., Military Signal Communications, vol. 2.

92 ARSO, 1919, pp. 233, 236. The British first devised an improved version of the buzzerphone, known as the Fullerphone. See also Lavine, Circuits of Victory, p. 116; Signal Corps and Air Service, p. 17.

93 Crowell, America's Munitions, p. 575; David J. Marshall, "The Signal Corps in World War I," in Marshall, ed., Story of Signal Corps, p. 146.

94 ARSO, 1919, pp. 238-39; Lavine, Circuits of Victory, pp. 470-73; Crowell, America's Munitions, p. 569. According to Martin, Signal Communications in World War I, p. 58, the telegraph unit contained equipment for six operators and a clerk and up to nine operators could be accommodated.

95 Evans, "Strategic Signal Communications," p. 34.

96 Quote from Terrett, Emergency, p. 18. See also ARSO, 1919, p. 128-29; Signal Corps and Air Service, pp. 20-22; Crowell, America's Munitions, pp. 572-74; Sweetser, American Air Service, p. 135.

97 Terrett, Emergency, p. 19; Millett, "Cantigny," in Heller and Stofft, eds., First Battles, pp. 160-61, 182. Keegan, Face of Battle, pp. 260-61, refers to the "cloud of unknowing" that descended upon a World War I battlefield.

98 ARSO, 1919, pp. 308-09. It was originally intended to have a radio section of three officers and seventy-five enlisted men assigned to each army headquarters. Because the armies varied in size, the Signal Corps eventually organized one radio section and assigned officers and men therefrom to each army.

99 An account of work at a listening post is given in Peter Lambert Schauble, The First Battalion: The Story of the 406th Telegraph Battalion, Signal Corps, U.S. Army (Philadelphia: Redfield-Kendrick-Odell Company, Inc., 1921), ch. 15.

100 Goniometric stations obtained "fixes" on enemy transmitters and determined their location by the intersection of the angles. Terrett, Emergency, p. 18.

101 On the activities of the Radio Division, see ARSO, 1919, ch. 13, pp. 304-37. See also Kennelly, "Advances in Signalling," in Yerkes, ed., New World of Science, pp. 233, 238-42; Lavine, Circuits of Victory, ch. 44.

102 On the 1915 code, see Finnegan, Military Intelligence, p. 32; Historical Sketch, p. 53; Wayne G. Barker, ed., The History of Codes and Ciphers in the United States Prior to World War I (Laguna Hills, Calif: Aegean Park Press, 1978), p. 134; lecture by Dr. Thomas R. Johnson, "American Cryptologic History, 1912-1952," delivered to CMH, 29 Dec 1986, notes in author's files.

103 ARSO, 1919, p. 240. In 1922 the Army adopted the device as model M-94. Ronald Clark, The Man Who Broke Purple: The Life of Colonel William F. Friedman, Who Deciphered the Japanese Code During World War II (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977), pp. 72-73; David Kahn, The Codebreakers: The Story of Secret Writing (New York: The New American Library, Inc., 1973), pp. 114-16. Kahn calls Mauborgne "an extraordinary cryptanalyst" (p. 198). Silvio A. Bedini, Thomas Jefferson: Statesman of Science (New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., 1990), pp. 237-43; Thompson and Harris, Outcome, p. 335.

104 For a brief survey of military intelligence during World War I, see Finnegan, Military Intelligence, pp. 18-41. See also ARSO, 1919, ch. 23.

105 Johnson lecture, "American Cryptologic History."

106 ARSO, 1919, pp. 471 and 1090; Millett, "Cantigny," in Heller and Stofft, eds., First Battles, pp. 160-61.

107 ARSO, 1919, pp. 113, 225.

108 ARSO, 1918, p. 1090; ARSO, 1919, pp. 93, 113, 239.

109 The company was organized under Table 348, "Pigeon Company-Army Troops-Signal Corps," 18 June 1918. This table is printed in United States Army in the World War, 1917-1919,1: 268.

110 On the Pigeon Service, see ARSO, 1919, ch. 14; Rpt, Services of Supply, AEF, 23 Jun 1919, sub: Signal Corps Activities, p. 104; OB, vol. 3, pt. 1, p. 486; Crowell, America's Munitions, pp. 581-82; Terry M. Mays, "A Signal Company for the Birds," Army Communicator 12 (Summer 1987): 26-30. Besides winged messengers, the Army, in a few instances, also used dogs. References to the use of dogs in ARSO, 1919, include the photograph on p. 396 and mention of their use by the 77th Division on p. 413.

111 Thomas M. Johnson and Fletcher Pratt, The Lost Battalion (Indianapolis: Bobbs­-Merrill Company, 1938), pp. 135-37, 140-41; Coffman, War To End All Wars, pp. 323-25; History of the 77th Division, 1917-1918 (New York: Wynkoop, Hallenbeck, Crawford Company, 1919), pp. 199-206. The exploits of another notable bird, John Silver, are described by C. V. Glines in "John Silver: Signal Corps Airman Extraordinary," in Marshall, ed., Story of Signal Corps, pp. 153-56.

112 ARSO, 1919, ch. 15; Terrett, Emergency, p. 21, n. 46.

113 ARSO, 1919, p. 345; Rpt, Services of Supply, AEF, 23 Jun 1919, sub: Signal Corps Activities, p. 104.

114 This total is taken from Signal Corps and Air Service, p. 23. See Herbert E. Ives, "War-Time Photography," in Yerkes, ed., New World of Science, pp. 89-102. (He chiefly discusses aerial photographic techniques.) ARSO, 1919, ch. 15; Peter Maslowski, Armed with Cameras: The American Military Photographers of World War II (New York: Free Press, 1993), pp. 5-6; K. Jack Bauer, comp., List of World War I Signal Corps Films, Special Lists no. 14 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Service, 1957).

115 Edward Steichen, A Life in Photography (New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1963); Patrick D. McLaughlin, "Aerial Recon," Army 23 (Jun 1973): 39-44.

116 Bates and Fuller, Weather Warriors, pp. 17-18; Millikan, Autobiography, p. 156.

117 Whitnah, Weather Bureau, pp. 132-33, states that about 25 percent of the Weather Bureau's personnel entered military service. He does not indicate whether all or only part of this number joined the Army.

118 Blair later became head of the Fort Monmouth laboratories and a key figure in the development of radar (see chapter 6).

119 ARSO, 1919, pp. 347-53; Rpt, Services of Supply, AEF, 23 Jun 1919, sub: Signal Corps Activities, p. 104; Robert A. Millikan, "Some Scientific Aspects of the Meteorological Work of the United States Army," in Yerkes, ed., New World of Science, pp. 49-62; Philip M. Flammer, "Meteorology in the United States Army, 1917-1935" (M.A. thesis, George Washington University, 1958), ch. 2.

120 Bates and Fuller, Weather Warriors, p. 20.

121 Terrett, Emergency, p. 21.

122 ARSO, 1919, pp. 524-25. Although the chief signal officer reports that Col. William Adair received the Medal of Honor, in fact he did not.

123 ARSO, 1919, p. 524.

124 Crowell, America's Munitions, p. 240; Foulois, Memoirs, pp. 147-48.

125 ARSO, 1918, p. 1075; Arnold, Global Mission, p. 50, remarks that of the 55 planes, "51 of them [were] obsolete, 4 obsolescent, and not one of them a combat type"; Weigley, History of Army, pp. 362-63.

126 Foulois, Memoirs, p. 142.

127 As quoted in Palmer, Baker, 1: 282.

128 Hurley, Billy Mitchell, p. 21; Clark, "Squier," ch. 9. Clark remarks, p. 220, that Squier's "three trips in the course of the war before American entry were unique among attaches." Goldberg, History of Air Force, p. 13; Signal Corps and Air Service, p. 40; Crowell, America's Munitions, p. 259, gives February 1917 for Mitchell's trip; Arnold, Global Mission, p. 49.

129 Major Mitchell apparently had some role in the formulation of these figures. See Hurley, Billy Mitchell, p. 27. For a detailed discussion of the Ribot cable and its doctrinal implications, see Holley, Ideas and Weapons, ch. 3.

130 Goldberg, History of Air Force, p. 14.

131 Orville Wright had sold his airplane company in 1915. The following year it merged with a California company owned by Glenn Martin to form the Wright-Martin Aircraft Corporation. During World War I, Orville received a commission as a major in the Signal Corps Reserve but did not serve in uniform. Howard, Wilbur and Orville, pp. 404-05, 410-11. Crowell, America's Munitions, p. 251, lists five companies that had pro­duced more than ten machines.

132 Signal Corps and Air Service, p. 43.

133 As quoted in Palmer, Baker, 1: 289.

134 As quoted in Palmer, Baker, 1: 293.

135 Foulois, Memoirs, pp. 143-45; Maurer, comp. and ed., Air Service in World War I, 2: 105; Holley, Ideas and Weapons, p. 45.

136 Coffey, Hap, p. 90; Foulois, Memoirs, pp. 149-58; Holley, Ideas and Weapons, pp. 134-35; OB, vol. 3, pt. 1, p. 94.

137 Coffman, War To End All Wars, p. 193.

138 Created by an act of 3 Mar 1915. See George W. Gray, Frontiers of Flight: The Story of NACA Research (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1948), p. 13.

139 Hennessy, Army Air Arm, pp. 130-31; Clark, "Squier," pp. 258-69; Dupree, Science in Federal Government, pp. 283-87. This body had conducted the survey that found only a dozen capable aircraft manufacturers. On its role early in the war, see Coffman, War To End All Wars, p. 190.

140 Beaver, Baker and War Effort, pp. 57-59.

141 Holley, Ideas and Weapons, p. 40; Signal Corps and Air Service, p. 36.

142 Pershing, My Experiences, 1: 161.

143 Palmer, Baker, 2: 176-79; Holley, Ideas and Weapons, ch. 4; Coffman, War To End All Wars, ch. 7.

144 Foulois, Memoirs, pp. 146-47, 150; Holley, Ideas and Weapons, p. 45; Arnold, Global Mission, p. 50; Goldberg, History of Air Force, p. 14; Clark, "Squier," pp. 281-82.

145 Not to be confused with the Aircraft Manufacturers Association. See Clark, "Squier," p. 274, n. 53.

146 Hennessy, Army Air Arm, p. 156; Clark, "Squier," pp. 272-80; Howard, Wilbur and Orville, p. 405; Loening, Takeoff into Greatness, pp. 114-15. Loening indicates that the fee was $200 for each plane built.

147 Clark, "Squier," pp. 328-39; Frank W. Anderson, Jr., Orders of Magnitude: A History of NACA and NASA, 1915-1980 (Washington, D.C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 198 1). These facilities are named for Samuel P. Langley, former secretary of the Smithsonian and aviation pioneer. The laboratory is today used for research by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the successor to the NACA.

148 Clark, "Squier," pp. 268, n. 41 and p. 269.

149 Holley in chapter 3 of Ideas and Weapons discusses the Bolling mission at length and its implications (or the lack thereof) on the doctrine of American air power. An extract from the Bolling report is contained in Maurer, comp. and ed., Air Service in World War I, 2: 131-33.

150 In many sources De Haviland is spelled De Havilland.

151 Details of the production of the various types of planes will not be given here. For more on the country's aircraft production program during World War 1, see Crowell, America's Munitions.

152 Gail E. H. Evans and Gerald W. Williams, "Over Here, Over Here: The Army's Spruce Production Division During 'The War To End All Wars.'" Revised version of a paper presented at the Washington State Military History Conference at Camp Murray, Washington, 29-31 March 1984. Copy in author's files. Squier discusses this program very briefly in ARSO, 1918, p. 1078. See also Crowell, America's Munitions, pp. 243-50; Foulois, Memoirs, pp. 154-55; Sweetser, American Air Service, ch. 9; Kennedy, Over Here, pp. 265-66.

153 The scientists also developed a linen substitute made from paper, but too late for wartime use. The bureau also became involved in finding new formulas for airplane dope. These two projects reflect only a small portion of the bureau's aviation-related work. See Cochrane, Measures for Progress, pp. 176, 179-86; Sweetser, American Air Service, ch. 9; Foulois, Memoirs, pp. 154-55; Crowell, America's Munitions, pp. 247-50.

154 ARSO, 1918, p. 1078; Crowell, America's Munitions, pp. 242, 248-50; Weigley, History of Army, p. 363; Sweetser, American Air Service, ch. 9.

155 On production of these and other items, see Crowell, America's Munitions, pp. 294-30.

156 Only the aerial observers in captive balloons used parachutes during the war. Although German pilots used parachutes, the Allied armies did not adopt them during World War I. See Lois Walker and Shelby E. Wickham, From Huffman Prairie to the Moon: The History of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio: Office of History, 2750th Air Base Wing, 1986), p. 194; Maurer Maurer, Aviation in the U.S. Army, 1919-1939 (Washington, D.C.: Office of Air Force History, 1987), pp. 161-64.

157 The chief signal officer briefly discusses the Liberty engine in ARSO, 1918, pp. 1076-77. For more detailed coverage, see Crowell, America's Munitions, pp. 265-80; Walker and Wickham, Huffman Prairie to Moon, pp. 181-83; Loening, Takeoff into Greatness, pp. 133-38; Isaac F. Marcosson, Colonel Deeds: Industrial Builder (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1947), ch. 11.

158 The Wrights built their own motor for the original flyer, a four-cylinder, twelve-­horsepower affair. Orville Wright, How We Invented the Airplane: An Illustrated History, ed. Fred C. Kelly (1953; reprint with additional text, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1988), p. 20.

159 Walker and Wickham, Huffman Prairie to Moon, pp. 182-83.

160 The first American-built De Haviland with a Liberty motor took to the air over France on 17 May 1918 (Sweetser, American Air Service, p. 198). See comments by Edgar S. Gorrell, The Measure of America's World War Aeronautical Effort, James Jackson Cabot Professorship of Air Traffic Regulation and Air Transportation, Publication no. 6 (Burlington, Vt.: Lane Press, Inc., 1940), pp. 65-68, where he disputes the assertions about the DH-4. See also Howard, Wilbur and Orville, p. 415.

161 Crowell, America's Munitions, p. 278; Walker and Wickham, Huffman Prairie to Moon, p. 181.

162 Pogue, Marshall, 1: 203.

163 John B. Watson, the founder of behaviorism, was among the psychologists who served in the Signal Corps during World War I. Clark, "Squier," pp. 319-21; Goldberg, History of Air Force, p. 18, states that 38,000 men volunteered between July 1917 and June 1918.

164 Mineola became known as Hazelhurst Field and was the location from which Charles Lindbergh took off on his cross-Atlantic flight in 1927. See Jacobs, "Pioneer Aviation," p. 40; Hennessy, Army Air Arm, pp. 177-81. On Wilbur Wright Field, see Walker and Wickham, Huffman Prairie to Moon, ch. 2; Howard, Wilbur and Orville, pp. 506-07. See also the list of fields in Maurer, Aviation in U.S. Army, app. 1.

165 For details about flight training, see Goldberg, History of Air Force, pp. 18-21; Sweetser, American Air Service, ch. 7; Maurer, Aviation in U.S. Army, pp. xxi-xxii; Coffman, War To End All Wars, pp. 197-200.

166 Arnold, Global Mission, p. 51; Weigley, History of Army, p. 374; Gorrell, America's Aeronautical Effort, p. 5; Clark, "Squier," p. 293.

167 This phase of the training initially lasted eight weeks and was later increased to twelve. The participating schools were Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cornell, Ohio State, Princeton, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the Universities of Illinois, Texas, and California. Goldberg, History of Air Force, p. 19.

168 Goldberg, History of Air Force, p. 19; Sweetser, American Air Service, p. 113.

169 Signal Corps and Air Service, p. 54; Goldberg, History of Air Force, pp. xx; Sweetser, American Air Service, pp. 114-23.

170 Sweetser, American Air Service, especially chs. 7 and 8 and the "Chart of Air Service Training and Channels of Transfer," p. 260.

171 Hennessy, Army Air Arm, p. 176; Gorrell, America's Aeronautical Effort, p. 55; Goldberg, History of Air Force, pp. 23-25.

172  For details on the air war, see Signal Corps and Air Service, pp. 52f; Goldberg, History of Air Force, pp. 23-27; Coffman, War To End All Wars, pp. 200-211.

173 Inez Whitehead, "Fort Omaha Balloon School: Its Role in World War I," Nebraska History 69 (Spring 1988): 2-10.

174 Sweetser, American Air Service, p. 289 and ch. 14; Crowell, America's Munitions, pp. 331-44; Whitehead, "Fort Omaha Balloon School," p. 9.

175 Charles A. Ziegler, "Technology and the Process of Scientific Discovery: The Case of Cosmic Rays," Technology and Culture 30 (Oct 1989): 939-63. In 1923 Millikan received the Nobel Prize in physics for his work with electrons and the photoelectric effect. R. H. Kargon, The Rise of Robert Millikan (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1982), p. 87; Millikan, Autobiography, pp. 176-77.

176 Beaver, Baker and War Effort, pp. 161-65; Dictionary of American Biography, s.v. "Borglum, John Gutzon de la Mothe," supplement 3, pp. 87-90; Johnson, "Aero Club and Army Aviation," p. 378, mentions Borglum's membership. Sweetser, American Air Service, p. 215. Howard discusses Borglum at some length, especially regarding his ill­-will towards Deeds, in Wilbur and Orville, pp. 413-14.

177 Beaver, Baker and War Effort, p. 163; Goldberg, History of Air Force, p. 17. Baker left for France on 27 February 1918 and returned in mid-April.

178 This cable is quoted from in Pershing, My Experiences, 1: 334 and in Palmer, Baker, 2: 189-90.

179 Orville Wright served as a director and consulting engineer for the Dayton-Wright Company. See Marcosson, Colonel Deeds, p. 216; Howard, Wilbur and Orville, pp. 410-11; Merlo J. Pusey, Charles Evans Hughes, 2 vols. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1963), 1: 377.

180 Pusey, Hughes, 1: 375; Palmer, Baker, 2: ch. 27.

181 Palmer, Baker, 2: 190.

182 Beaver, Baker and War Effort, p. 164; Sweetser, American Air Service, pp. 213f; Clark, "Squier," pp. 287-89; Palmer, Baker, 2: 190-93.

183 The minority report, however, said that Americans should be proud of its achieve­ments. See Pusey, Hughes, 1: 375; Palmer, Baker, 2: 187 and 191; Sweetser, American Air Service, pp. 216-17; Holley, Ideas and Weapons, pp. 119f, Beaver, Baker and War Effort, p. 165.

184 The letter is quoted from in Clark, "Squier," p. 288.

185 Ibid., pp. 289-90.

186 OB, vol. 3, pt. 1, p. 93. On Kenly, see Maurer, comp. and ed., Air Service in World War l, 2: 138.

187 Palmer, Baker, 2: 193; Clark, "Squier," p. 289.

188 Wilson acted in accordance with the Overman Act, which authorized him to reor­ganize governmental departments as he saw fit. The order to separate aviation from the Signal Corps is published in WDGO 51, 24 May 1918. See also Clark, "Squier," p. 289; OB, vol. 3, pt. 1, pp. 96-97; ARSO, 1918, p. 1073; Coffman, War To End All Wars, p. 196.

189 Beaver, Baker and War Effort, pp. 165-70.

190 As a civilian employee, Deeds had served as acting chief of the Equipment Division. After receiving his commission on 24 August 1917, he became its chief. Marcosson, Colonel Deeds, p. 221.

191 Marcosson, Colonel Deeds, pp. 272-83; Sweetser, American Air Service, pp. 93-94. The original Hughes report, consisting of folders on the persons who testified, is located in RG 60 (General Records of the Department of Justice), NARA.

192 Chief of Staff to Squier, 16 Nov 1918, as quoted in Clark, "Squier," pp. 289-90, n. 96.

193 Pusey, Hughes, 1: 375-82; Marcosson, Colonel Deeds, ch. 13; Martha E. Layman and Chase C. Mooney, "Organization of Military Aeronautics, 1907-1935: Congressional and War Department Action," Army Air Forces Historical Studies no. 25 (Washington, D.C.: Assistant Chief of Air Staff, Intelligence, Historical Division, Dec 1944), ch. 2.

194 Clark, "Squier," p. 280; Loening, Takeoff into Greatness, pp. 100-103.

195 Millikan, Autobiography, pp. 148-49 and 156.

196 On Deeds' views, see Marcosson, Colonel Deeds, pp. 219-20; Clark, "Squier," p. 283, n. 76. Foulois speaks well of Squier in his Memoirs. See also the favorable comment about Squier by Theodore Roosevelt cited by Clark, "Squier," p. 283, n. 75.

197 Charles J. Gross, "George Owen Squier and the Origins of American Military Aviation," Journal of Military History 54 (Jul 1990): 281-305.

198 Crowell, America's Munitions, p. 243.

199 Of these officers, only Mitchell had received a commission in the Signal Corps; the others had been detailed. The Air Service became a separate branch under the National Defense Act of 1920.

200 ARSO, 1919, pp. 11 and 543. Service companies replaced depot companies within the Signal Corps' organizational structure per WDGO 18, 14 Feb 1918.

201 This theme is touched on by Marshall, "Signal Corps in World War I," in Marshall, ed., Story of Signal Corps, p. 145.


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