178 ORGANIZING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH FOR WAR 



many staff members were occupied almost entirely with duties which they 

 had assumed with the United States Forces in Europe. 



The successful invasion of the Continent and the swift freeing of the 

 territory of France and Belgium which had been occupied by the Germans 

 brought new duties to the staff of the OSRD London Mission. Many mem- 

 bers served with intelligence teams which followed swiftly in the path of 

 the armies. In addition the London ofl&ce served as a base of operations 

 for specialists supplied to the armed forces by the OSRD Office of Field 

 Service. When the Combined Chiefs of Staff established the Combined 

 Intelligence Objectives Subcommittee composed of representatives of the 

 interested British Ministries, United States Forces in the European Theater, 

 and United States war agencies represented in London, OSRD was in- 

 cluded. Subgroups were organized by subjects, and OSRD had represent- 

 atives on each subgroup which dealt with a subject of interest to the 

 NDRC or CMR. By the time of the capitulation of Germany in May 1945, 

 most of the activities of the London Mission had been shifted to the plan- 

 ning of intelligence investigations and to the carrying out of investigations 

 in the field. 



In the fall of 1944, it was obvious that London, while quite satisfactory 

 as a base of operations for liaison with Great Britain, was not suitable for 

 the work required of the field investigators, since it was too far to the rear 

 of the actual fighting for proper use of facilities associated with the Air 

 Forces. Therefore, in December 1944, quarters were obtained from the 

 United States Embassy in Paris and a small branch office of the OSRD 

 London Mission was established there under Dr. H. P. Robertson, who 

 had been a member of the London staff. Dr. Wallace R. Brode of the 

 Washington staff succeeded Robertson in March 1945, and remained in 

 charge of the office until it was closed in June. In addition to this OSRD 

 office, the two British branch laboratories established an advance service 

 base near Paris with the American Air Forces. The Paris Office served as 

 a useful facility for OSRD personnel who went to France as members of 

 intelligence investigating teams. 



By June 1945, the principal functions for which the London Mission had 

 been established were nearly completed. The need for some liaison with 

 research groups in England was still evident, however, and it was decided 

 to maintain a London Liaison Office for this purpose. By the end of July, 

 the reorganization had been accomplished and a small group under Dr. 

 H. M. MacNeille remained in London to continue liaison activities. Before 

 this change took place, however, arrangements were completed for a change 

 in the procedures which had been followed in the transmittal of OSRD 

 reports to England. Under the new arrangements, OSRD reports were 

 delivered by the Liaison Office in Washington directly to the British Com- 

 monwealth Scientific Office, which was given complete information con- 



