DISTRICT MANAGERS 341 



wood forests of the Jura, directly behind the American Advance Section 

 and near the great distributing station at Is-sur-Tille, and the pineries 

 of the Landes, whose timber was rushed to Bordeaux to build the first 

 American docks in France. New forestry operations followed in the 

 Loire River Valley, along the main Hne of communications, furnishing 

 materials for the large depot at Gievres, for the Air Service Shops at 

 Romorantin and the Replacement Depot at St. Aignan. A little later 

 forestry troops were assigned to the fir forests of the Vosges and the oak 

 forests of the upper Marne, their operations ultimately extending right 

 up to the American front. 



As the war progressed more and more sawmills were installed in the 

 advance zone, near Nancy, Toul, and the Alsatian frontier, where their 

 products could be shipped to the advance railheads with a minimum of 

 time and of vital transport equipment. During the last two months of 

 the war a flying squadron of small mills was organized to take to the 

 field with the First Army. This operated under the engineer officers in 

 charge of preparations for the St. Mihiel and Argonne offensives, supply- 

 ing the advance engineer dumps from day to day with bridge timbers, 

 railroad ties, bomb-proofing, fortification lumber — whatever was needed 

 most urgently at the moment and could not be forwarded in time from 

 the rear. Thirteen of these advance camps were operated, at times 

 actually under shell-fire. 



The quest for timber also necessitated extending forestry operations 

 into the northern French Alps and the Central Plateau and many new 

 sawmills were set up in the Landes and at fresh locations along the main 

 artery of American traffic through central and northeastern France. 



District Managers. — The operating districts were readjusted from 

 time to time as new battalions and sawmills arrived and were fitted into 

 the general plan. Each battalion commander was a district manager, 

 running from two or three up to ten or twelve mills, with his own person- 

 nel and supply officers, his own shipping organization, his own experts on 

 mill and logging equipment and his own overhead staff of millwrights and 

 mechanics. The battalion office received its cutting orders from the 

 regimental headquarters at Tours and distributed them among its opera- 

 tions to fit their timber, the other work on hand, and the all-important 

 problem of obtaining the quickest and shortest transportation of the 

 material to the points where it was needed. These battalion commanders, 

 or district managers, represented the stable geographical units in the 

 forestry organization. Their task was not only to keep their mills 

 producing the last possible foot of lumber but also to steadily develop the 

 resources of their territory, to locate more timber, and to master the 

 intricacies of getting the best possible service from their local French 

 railroads. 



