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Griesheim Ordnance Depot |
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| Depot History | ||||
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| 1947 | ||||
| (Source: Chief of Ordnance, Chapter XXXIII (Vol IV), The Second Year, OCCUPATION FORCES IN EUROPE Series) | ||||
| Period Covered: 1 July 1946 - 30 June 1947 On 15 March 1947, the Ordnance Procurement Center was established under the command of the Chief of Ordnance, EUCOM and assigned the following units: |
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  HHD, 88th Base Ordnance Depot HHD, 10th Ordnance Service Battalion 3300th Ordnance Stock Control Detachment |
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| The Procurement Center was assigned to the Griesheim Ordnance Depot on 15 May 1947. | ||||
| (Source: Chief of Ordnance, Chapter XXXIII (Vol IV), The Second Year, OCCUPATION FORCES IN EUROPE Series) | ||||
| On 15 May 1947, the Continental Base Section became inoperational and all ordnance troops and installations were transferred to the direct command of the Chief of Ordnance, EUCOM. Previously, the Chief of Ordnance had only exercised technical supervision over their activities. The Griesheim Ordnance Depot with its supporting units was one of the activities that now came under direct command of the Chief of Ordnance. | ||||
| List of troop units assigned to the Griesheim Ordnance Depot on 1 July 1947: | ||||
| HHD, 54th Ordnance Depot HHD, 196th Ordnance Battalion 334th Ordnance Depot Company 344th Ordnance Depot Company 820th Ordnance Base Depot Company 83rd Ordnance Team (General Supply) 264th Ordnance Team (General Supply) |
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| (Source: Chief of Ordnance, Chapter XXVII (Vol IV), The First Quarter, Third Year, OCCUPATION FORCES IN EUROPE Series) | ||||
| Period Covered: 1 July - 30 September 1947 Supply Division, Ordnance Division, EUCOM Under the Chief of the Supply Division were the ordnance depots at  Griesheim Mannheim Nordenham Kitzingen Lübberstedt (sub-depot of Nordenham)
The Supply Division was further responsible for the supervision of the following activities: Ordnance Scrap Collecting Point, Rothenbach Ordnance Vehicle Park, Nürnberg Ordnance Vehicle Park, Büttelborn Ordnance Vehicle Reserve Park, Illesheim
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| Griesheim Ordnance Depot | ||||
| Prior to 21 August 1947, the Griesheim Ordnance Depot directed the administration of the Mannheim and Nordenham depots and the Ordnance Procurement Center at Ober Ramstadt. In August however, the Chief of Ordnance assumed administrative as well as operational control of those installations. On 4 August 1947, Col Thomas K. Vincent relieved Lt Col Ralph L. Bowerman as commanding officer of the Griesheim Ordnance Depot. More than 900 Polish displaced persons served in five labor service companies which were assigned to the depot. The release of 58,000 square feet of warehouse storage and of 20,000 square feet of outside storage space to the German economy necessitated the re-warehousing of some stock in other places. |
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 Formation of 7834th Ord Det, Griesheim Ord Depot, Oct 1947 |
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| Late 1947, a T/D organization - the 7834th Ordnance Depot Detachment - was established to assume the functions of several TOE units at Griesheim Ordnance Depot. (The TOE units were subsequently inactivated.) Based on information found in the Station Lists for 1948-1950, the unit remained in Griesheim until sometime late 1950 or early 1951 when it was most likely discontinued. Around that time TOE (8th Ordnance Battalion) units would set up shop at the depot and begin providing maintenance and supply support to the newly activated Seventh Army. | ||||
| (Source: Chief of Ordnance, Chapter XXXIII (Vol IV), The Second Quarter, Third Year, OCCUPATION FORCES IN EUROPE Series) | ||||
| Period Covered: 1 October - 31 December 1947 Griesheim Ordnance Depot |
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| With Col Thomas K. Vincent as commanding officer, the Griesheim Ordnance Depot operated with a total strength of 3,251 persons, of whom 484 were members of the Army and 2,767 were civilians. Civilian employees at the Depot included 48 of American, Allied, and neutral nationalities; 1,938 Germans, and 781 displaced persons. The greatest possible use was made of the latter two categories of employees, who were used in all except supervisory capacities. Command Reserve Supplies : It was originally planned to consolidate all ordnance supplies for the command reserve at the Griesheim Depot. Following a decision by the Zone Resources Board to release part of the Depot's storage space for the production of carbon electrodes, it was decided to store 55 percent of the ordnance reserve supplies at Griesheim and the remainder at the Mannheim Ordnance Depot, which was designated as a permanent depot. During the month of December (1947) 729 long tons of reserve stocks were shipped to Griesheim, with 14,114 remaining to be moved by the target date of 1 July 1948. A total of 4,929 long tons remained for shipment to Mannheim at the end of December 1947. No difficulty was anticipated in meeting the completion date set for the consolidation project. The Griesheim Depot finished in December the removal of all ordnance materials, amounting to about 20,000 tons, from space assigned to the German chemical plant, which was made responsible for erecting a fence around its area. The construction of nine additional warehouses containing a total of 450,000 square feet of covered storage space at the Depot was 67 percent completed by the end of the period under review. It was estimated that about a million man-hours of work remained on the project, the completion date of which was set at 31 March 1948. Class II & IV Supplies: Besides maintaining 55 percent of ordnance command reserve stocks, the Griesheim Depot continued to store and issue Class II and IV supplies of Standard Nomenclature groups "A" through "G," to classify excess supplies for shipment to the United States, to dispose of surplus property in Class II and IV, to conduct the EUCOM Ordnance Supply School for German employees, and to perform base maintenance on fire control equipment. During the period under review the Depot received 1,053 rail cars containing 14,413 tons of supplies and three barges containing 736 tons of supplies; it dispatched 713 rail cars with 5,499 tons of ordnance material, together with 517 trucks containing 2,285 tons. An additional ton was sent out in shipments by air transport. The Maintenance Shop and Allied Machine Shop at the Depot cleaned, repaired, and repacked for shipment or storage more than twenty thousand pieces of equipment and machines. The Fiscal Branch of the Griesheim installation during the quarter under consideration expended $34,674.75 (Webmaster: probably US and Allied civilians) and RM 1,660,924 (Webmaster: local nationals) for salaries and RM 215,000 for supplies. EUCOM Ordnance Supply School: Major commands and ordnance installations throughout the European Command sent a total of 223 German employees to Griesheim for training in the EUCOM Ordnance Supply School, which graduated 248 students with awards of proficiency. During the quarterly period 19 students were dismissed and 18 students completed the course in an unsatisfactory manner. On 14 October the School completed its first year of operation, during which time it graduated 928 students. When the one thousandth student to complete the course satisfactorily was graduated on 28 November 1947, the EUCOM Ordnance Supply School observed the occasion with ceremonies conducted by the Chief of Ordnance, Brig Gen Elbert L. Ford. |
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| 1952 | ||||
| (Source: STATION LIST, 13 June 1952) List of troop units assigned to the Griesheim Ordnance Depot on 1 July 1947: HHD, 8th Ordnance Battalion 148th Ordnance Company (Reclamation and Classification)(Army) 507th Ordnance Company (Heavy Automotive Maintenance) |
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