James A. Huston

Huston describes Army logistics during the transition from WW II, through demobilization, to the Cold War. Huston's study begins in 1945, with the need to dispose of vast stocks of military supplies. As the war ended and the troops came home, the US faced the monumental task of determining what equipment should be retained to support a smaller peacetime army. Many items of military supply needed to rebuild war-torn economies were transferred to allies in bulk lots at less than acquisition costs. Even as this action proceeded, growing tension between East and West defined new logistics requirements for US military forces. The Berlin Blockade, the birth of NATO, and the Korean War led to base construction and military deployments in North Africa, Europe, the Arctic, and elsewhere. Huston's description of Army logistics in this time of great change is informative, yet it seems incomplete. The book is strangely quiet on the issue of nuclear weapons and their impact on logistics.… (altro)