The BEB military program had two main divisions of effort. One division, headed by 

 Krumbein, involved the preparation of beach landing reports. Assignments would be 

 received from the Strategic Intelligence Branch of the Office, Chief of Engineers. The job of 

 Krumbein and his associates was then to gather together all available information on beach 

 sites at which military landings were anticipated. This would include such facts as beach 

 slope, sand characteristics, tidal fluctuations, coral reef locations if any, as well as wave and 

 surf conditions. The data would then be transferred to maps of the area in question and a 

 detailed report written, accompanied by charts and photos. The staff usually had just 

 1 montli to prepare complete reports for tliree designated sites, one of which was to be used 

 for an amphibious operation.^ ^ ^ Eleanor Tatge, a member of Krumbein 's group, played an 

 important role in both data interpretation as well as actual report preparation. 



The first general location which was studied was the coast of North Africa, extending 

 from about Casablanca to the vicinity of Tangiers. This report was completed in September 

 1942, with an Allied landing taking place in the area in November of that year.^^^ This 

 study was followed by work on Sicily and the southern half of Italy. 



About mid- 1 943, attention turned to the islands of the Pacific. Work began on the north 

 coast of New Guinea and proceeded generally northward along the island chains. Included 

 were such island clusters as the Solomons, the Carolines, and tlie Philippines. 



Another related activity which was part of this group's responsibility was the preparation 

 of brief graphic reports used more for strategic planning rather than actual operations. These 

 were requested by the Joint Chiefs of Staff usually. on short order, with deadlines ranging 

 from 24 to 72 hours. Such reports or "quickies," as the staff called them, were often 

 assigned to Clara Edmunds, a geologist-chemist from the University of Chicago, who worked 

 at the BEB for 3 years during the war.^ ^ '^ The purpose of the strategic planning reports was 

 to present, as concisely as possible, the major layout of terrain of a fairly large area, often an 

 island or peninsula, "and to indicate where men and equipment could or could not be 

 landed."! 15 



The second division of activity involved work in wave research. It was with problems of 

 this orientation that Garbis Keulegan worked, assisted by Jay Hall, who was also associated 

 with the map intelUgence group. Experiments were run almost continually in the 85-foot 

 wave tank which had been constructed a few years previously. In addition, a smaller wave 

 tank, 42 feet long, 1.5 feet wide, and 2 feet deep, was built in the early 1940's to increase 

 research capacity.^^^ (In 1958, the length of this tank was increased to 72 feet.) 



A variety of problems posed by the needs and conditions of the war were investigated. 

 These included such items as: Improvement of landing craft, with emphasis on beaching and 

 retraction characteristics; determination of water depths over bottom discontinuities 

 (e.g., offshore bars); and the development of movable breakwaters, e.g., "breakwaters which 

 could be fabricated in one locality and towed to the site of operations."^ ^^ In this regard, 

 the BEB researchers studied various shapes of concrete caissons for both their effectiveness 



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