LIAISON WITH THE ARMED SERVICES I53 



the entire history of OSRD there was no more satisfactory or productive liai- 

 son than existed when scientific groups sat down with the Service boards 

 to hear their problems at first hand and learn the characteristics of needed 

 equipment. In such cases, scientists and military personnel tackled a prob- 

 lem together, and action was swift. 



The Army Air Corps became increasingly autonomous during the war. 

 Liaison with scientific organizations was in the main direct, though nomi- 

 nally and officially through the War Department Liaison Officer. 



The Army Service Forces included a large headquarters besides the several 

 procurement agencies of the War Department: for example, the Ordnance 

 Department, the Signal Corps, the Corps of Engineers, the Chemical War- 

 fare Service. In that headquarters was placed the War Department Liaison 

 Officer for NDRC. So placed, his Office operated under handicaps, some of 

 which might have been avoided had it been placed under the Secretary of 

 War or the General Staff. 



A succession of changes in organization within the War Department 

 affected liaison with NDRC. Frequent changes of personnel further tended 

 to weaken the effectiveness of liaison. When NDRC was created, the War 

 Department detailed Colonel Gladeon M. Barnes of the Ordnance Depart- 

 ment as War Department Liaison Officer. Before the office had become 

 active he was relieved on July 30, 1940, by Brigadier General Richard H. 

 Somers, also of the Ordnance Department. General Somers served in this 

 capacity until August 5, 1941, when Colonel (then Brigadier General) 

 Barnes was re-detailed. He served until the reorganization of the War De- 

 partment in March 1942. 



Theretofore, the functions of development had been a reponsibility of the 

 G-4 (supply) Division of the War Department General Staff, of which 

 Major General Brehon B. Somervell was chief. In the reorganization these 

 functions were transferred with General Somervell to the newly created 

 Army Service Forces (for a period called the Services of Supply). In the 

 headquarters organization of the Service Forces, the War Department 

 Liaison Officer for NDRC was attached to the Development Branch (later 

 designated the Research and Development Division). On April 3, 1942, 

 Major General C. C. Williams, who had been Chief of Ordnance from 

 1918 until 1930, was appointed War Department Liaison Officer and also 

 became the War Department member of NDRC. General Williams brought 

 broad vision and prestige in the Army to the Office of the War Department 

 Liaison Officer, with an understanding of the increased potentialities of 

 highly technical equipment in military operations and an appreciation of the 

 reliance which must be placed on scientific personnel as a consequence. For 

 personal reasons it was necessary for General Williams to retire; he was 

 relieved on July 7, 1943. 



General Williams was succeeded by Brigadier General W. A. Wood, Jr., 



