Records of Headquarters Army Service Forces [ASF]
(Record Group 160)
1936-46
Table of Contents
- 160.1 Administrative History
- 160.2 Records of the Office of the Commanding General
1941-46
- 160.3 Records of Directors and Divisions Attached to the Office
of the Commanding General
1941-46
- 160.4 Records of Functional Staff Directors and Divisions
1939-46
- 160.4.1 Records of the Office of the Director of Materiel
- 160.4.2 Records of the Office of the Director of Military
Training
- 160.4.3 Records of the Army Specialized Training Division, Office
of the Director of Military Training
- 160.4.4 Records of the Office of the Director of Personnel
- 160.4.5 Records of the Office of the Director of Supply
- 160.4.1 Records of the Office of the Director of Materiel
- 160.5 Records of Service Commands Operating in North America, World War II 1936-46
- 160.6 Cartographic Records (General)
1942-46
Established: In the War Department by General Order 14, War Department, March 12, 1943.
Predecessor Agencies:
Services of Supply (SOS, 1942-43)
Functions: Provided services and supplies to meet military requirements except those unique to the Army Air Forces.
Abolished: Effective June 11, 1946, by Circular 138, War Department, May 14, 1946, implementing EO 9722, May 13, 1946.
Successor Agencies: Personnel Division (G-1) and Supply Division (G-4), War Department General Staff; Technical Services; Administrative Services.
Finding Aids: Helene Bowen, Charles Hipolite, and Pauline Wiltshire, comps., "Preliminary Inventory of the Textual Records of Headquarters Army Service Forces," NM 25 (1964).
Related Records:Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs, RG 165.
Records of United States Army Commands, 1942-, RG 338.
Records of U.S. Army Defense Commands (World War II), RG 499.
Records of U.S. Army Forces in the Caribbean, RG 548.
Records of the United States Army Military District of Washington, RG 551.
Subject Access Terms: World War II agency.
160.2 Records of the Office of the Commanding General
1941-46
History: SOS established, effective March 9, 1942, under command of Lt. Gen. Brehon B. Somervell, by Circular 59, War Department, March 2, 1942, as part of a general reorganization of the War Department authorized by EO 9082, February 28, 1942, to supervise and coordinate the activities of units of the Office of the Under Secretary of War engaged in procurement and industrial mobilization; the Budget Advisory Committee; the Army Technical Services (Offices of the Surgeon General, Chief of Engineers, Chief Signal Officer, Quartermaster General, Chief of Ordnance, Chief of Transportation, and Chief of Chemical Warfare Service); the Administrative Services (Adjutant General's Office, Judge Advocate General's Office, Office of the Chief of Finance, and Provost Marshal General's Office); and the Army Corps Areas, redesignated Service Commands by General Order 35, War Department, July 22, 1942. SOS renamed ASF, 1943. SEE 160.1.
Textual Records: General and subject correspondence of General Somervell, 1941-46. Letters sent by Lt. Gen. W.D. Styer, Chief of Staff, ASF, March-May 1942, 1944-45. Strategic plans for conducting the war, 1942-45. Speeches by Generals Somervell and Styer, 1941-45. Correspondence, memorandums, messages, and reports of the Office of the Chief of Staff, 1942-46. General correspondence of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Service Commands, 1943-45. Records of the public relations adviser to the commanding general, 1942-45.
160.3 Records of Directors and Divisions Attached to the Office
of the Commanding General
1941-46
160.3.1 Records of the Office of the Director of Administration
Textual Records: General correspondence, and correspondence relating to the State Guards, 1942-43.
160.3.2 Records of the Office of the Director of Plans and
Operations
Textual Records: Logistical plans and policies correspondence, 1942-45, with subject index. Correspondence of the Liaison and Control Unit, 1942-44. Records of the Mobilization Division, consisting of a history of the Movements Branch, 1945, and subject correspondence of the Command Installation Branch, 1942- 46. Records of the Planning Division, including general correspondence, 1942-46; correspondence of the ASF Staff School, 1944-46; divisional history, 1945; branch and section diaries, 1942-46; correspondence and studies of the Strategic Logistics Branch, 1942-46; correspondence and reports of the Theater Branch and its Asiatic, Atlantic, European, Mediterranean, and Pacific Sections, 1942-46; and correspondence and histories (1940-46) of the Requirements and Stock Control Division, 1946.
160.3.3 Records of the Control Division
Textual Records: General correspondence, 1942-46 (181 ft.). Issuances and manuals, 1942-46. Reports and studies relating to the organization, procedures, and operations of SOS and ASF, 1942-45, including a survey report of IBM machine installations, December 1942; a status report on nomenclature and supply catalogs, August 1943; reports on tabulating machine utilization, March-July 1944, November 1945; and a casualty condolence survey, March 1945. Monthly progress reports of SOS and ASF; and of the Service Commands, 1942-46. Reports of Service Command conferences, 1942-46. Records relating to seizures and operation of plants by the War Department, 1943-45. Records of the Pratt Committee investigation of airport construction in Latin America and the West Indies, 1945-46. Records of the Administrative Management Branch, including historical reports, 1941-45; reports on the Canol Project, 1942-43, 1945; Congressional lecture books, 1941-43; and administrative logs, 1945. Records of the Statistics and Progress Branch, including correspondence, 1941-43; and lend lease requisitions and related records, 1941-46.
Subject Access Terms: Pratt, Col. Curtis G.
160.3.4 Records of the Intelligence Division
Textual Records: General correspondence, 1943-46. Correspondence with the 1800th Engineer General Service Battalion, 1942-45. Reports and studies relating to Japanese balloons, 1942-45.
160.4 Records of Functional Staff Directors and Divisions
1939-46
160.4.1 Records of the Office of the Director of Materiel
Textual Records: General correspondence, 1942-46. Correspondence and other records of the Director of Materiel, 1942-46, and the Director of Industrial Demobilization, 1943-45. Annual and historical reports of the Production Division, 1940-45; Production and Purchases Division, 1945-46; and Resources Division, 1942. Records of the International Division, including general correspondence, 1941-46; correspondence of the Office of the Director of Defense Aid, War Department, and its successor, the Defense Aid Division, SOS, 1941-42; historical files and records relating to Lend-Lease, 1940-46; records of the Civilian Supply Branch, consisting of general correspondence, 1942-46, policy correspondence on civilian supplies for liberated and occupied areas, 1942-46, and records of the U.S. Procurement Committee and the Supply Subcommittee of the Combined Civil Affairs Committee, 1942-46; and correspondence of the Missions Branch relating to military missions to China, Iran, North Africa, and the Soviet Union, 1941-42. General correspondence, 1942-46 (199 ft.), and other records of the Production Division and the Resources and Production Division. General correspondence of the Purchases Division, 1942-46; and records of its Small War Plants Branch, 1942-44, Tax Amortization Branch, 1941-44, and Training Contracts Branch, 1943-46. General correspondence, 1943- 46; and correspondence relating to contract settlement and surplus property disposal, 1942-46, of the Readjustment Division. Project correspondence, 1942-46; and monthly summary project reports, 1943-45, of the Research and Development Division.
160.4.2 Records of the Office of the Director of Military
Training
Textual Records: General correspondence, 1942-46. Correspondence, 1942-46, and historical files, 1942-45, relating to the Army Specialized Training Program, 1942-46. Historical files relating to training of the Women's Army Corps, 1942-45. Records of the School Division, including completed Service Command questionnaires and related reports and studies concerning the Army Specialized Training Program, 1943-45. Histories prepared by the History Branch of the Training Requirements Division, 1944- 45, of military training in the United States (1939-45); of the Training Doctrine Branch (1942-44); and of the Machine Training School, Adjutant General's Office (1945).
160.4.3 Records of the Army Specialized Training Division, Office
of the Director of Military Training
Textual Records: Division policy file, 1942-44. History of the Army Specialized Training Program, May 1944. Policy file of the Facilities Branch, 1942-44.
Maps (30 items): Atlas of world maps issued for use in army training programs, showing natural and economic regions, climate, languages, population, shipping routes, and areas controlled by the major powers, 1942-46.
Sound Recordings (147 items): Foreign language sound recordings made for training purposes, 1943-44.
160.4.4 Records of the Office of the Director of Personnel
Textual Records: General correspondence and project files, 1942- 46. General correspondence of the Industrial Personnel Division, 1940-46; and of the Labor Branch and its race relations analyst, 1942-46. Records of the Military Personnel Division, including general and project correspondence, 1942-46; and a history of the procurement, distribution, and separation of military personnel, 1939-45. Correspondence of the Officer Procurement Service, 1942- 45; and a history of officer procurement in World War II, April 1945. Records of the Special Services Division, including correspondence, 1940-45; and general records, 1941-45 (205 ft).
160.4.5 Records of the Office of the Director of Supply
Textual Records: General correspondence, 1943-46. Official unit diaries of the Supply Control Branch, 1946. Correspondence, historical files, journals, and diaries of the Distribution Division, 1942-46. Correspondence and diaries of the Maintenance Division, 1943-46. Correspondence and diaries of the Storage Division, 1941-46; and correspondence of its Allocations Branch, 1942-45.
160.5 Records of Service Commands Operating in North America, World War II
1936-46
Textual Records: Records of the following service commands: First, headquartered in Boston, MA, 1942-46; Second, headquartered on Governors Island, NY, 1942-46; Third, headquartered in Baltimore, MD, 1942-46, including intelligence report files, 1943-46, and records relating to German prisoners of war, 1944-45; Fourth, headquartered in Atlanta, GA, 1942-46, including correspondence of the G-2 (Intelligence) Section and plant protection survey reports; Fifth, headquartered in Columbus, OH, 1942-46, including intelligence summaries and plant protection survey reports; Sixth, headquartered in Chicago, IL, 1942-46, including G-2 (Intelligence) Section files; Seventh, headquartered in Omaha, NE, 1936-46, including reports of investigations of aircraft accidents; Eighth, headquartered in San Antonio and Dallas, TX, 1942-46; Ninth, headquartered at The Presidio, San Francisco, CA, 1942-46; and Northwest, headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 1942-45.
Maps: Geographic index to quadrangle maps covering the northeastern United States, by First Service Command, 1943 (1 item). Military installations location map covering TX, AR, and LA, by Eighth Service Command, 1942 (1 item).
Architectural Plans: Floor plan of McCaw General Hospital, Walla Walla, WA, by Ninth Service Command, ca. 1942 (1 item).
160.6 Cartographic Records (General)
1942-46
Maps: A series of the published Newsmap, containing maps, posters, and photographic views issued weekly to illustrate Allied and enemy military situations and civilian activities during World War II, 1942-46 (240 items).
Bibliographic note: Web version based on Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States. Compiled by Robert B. Matchette et al. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1995.
3 volumes, 2428 pages.
This Web version is updated from time to time to include records processed since 1995.
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