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Originally Posted by
Calif-Steve
The US Navy was told to bring back brass cases for re-use. The Navy always tossed brass overboard and they used large amounts of brass/copper. They used the brass in 1943/44 pennies.
1943 pennies were made of steel and zinc plated, there were a few copper cents struct.
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12-18-2015 09:39 PM
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firstflabn
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Originally Posted by
ArtPahl
There is another consideration that hasn't been discussed. We know now that the war ended in August, 1945 but nobody knew about that in 1943, 1944, or even in 1945. The invasion of
Japan was scheduled for Spring, 1946.
Good point, Art. The world certainly looks different through the other end of the telescope. Actually, though, the first phase of the invasion of Japan was scheduled for Nov 1 45.
Logistically there's a big difference between providing initial issues to troops and replacing losses later. The U.S. was nearly completely mobilized by 1944, so of course the all out procurement effort could begin to wind down. Additionally, there were 3 million small arms in the hands of troops in the ETO and another 600k or so in the MTO. Only 400k of those were slated for European occupation forces. Planners used 75% as an estimate on recoverable small arms. At worst, that's 2.4 million available for the Pacific (ignoring smaller areas like CBI). SA alone rebuilt 60k '03s and 124k Garands in FY45 - and that's before any weapons from Europe could have arrived.
By 1945 the '03 was slowly being replaced by the Garand in some service units' T/O&Es, so planners understood the big picture on availability coming with the completion of the 03A3 procurement program. Garand production averaged about 90k per month for the last six months of full production; carbines over 125k. No reason to believe those quantities were not sustainable. The '03's job was about done by the time the invasion of Japan was being planned.
To this already lengthy reply, I'll add my favorite quote on WWII procurement. It's from the Army Green Books and was made by MG Brehon B. Somervell, commander of Army Service Forces. He was appearing at a Senate committee hearing chaired by Harry Truman. Truman made his name nationally by doing what politicians do best - second guessing the actions of the doers. He was investigating waste in WWII military procurement.
If you've stuck with me this long, read Somervell's somewhat disgusted response and see if it warms the heart of a milsurp collector:
There are a lot of people, sir, who would like to have us fire the last cartridge at the last Jap after we have eaten the last K ration and after we have dropped the last bomb in the last emplacement.
We don't think we are going to be able to do that. Naturally, we are going to wind up with stocks.
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