In the procurement of cement for the use of the American Expeditionary Forces, the Engineers dealt successfully with a problem of large magnitude and importance. By contract with English and French mills, by direct purchase for specific jobs from local mills, and by their own manufacturing operations, the Engineers secured enough cement to supply the demands for construction both at the front and in the S. O. S., as the service of supply was generally known. Three large cement mills were leased from the French owners and operated by special troops organized in the United States. To certain other French mills the Engineers furnished labor and materials in return for a certain proportion of their output. It is estimated that about 215,000 tons of cement were thus procured, representing a total cost of about $7,000,000.
ENGINEERS, ASSISTED BY INFANTRY, BUILDING A ROAD OVER WHAT WAS NO MAN'S LAND ONE WEEK BEFORE.
The stones from tottering walls of buildings are broken into small pieces and laid on the road bed, making a good military road. Fay on Haye, France.
WAREHOUSES AND DOCKS FROM THE RIVER. BASSENS DOCKS, BORDEAUX, FRANCE.
NORTHERN VIEW OF THE AMERICAN DOCKS AT OLD BASSENS, BORDEAUX, FRANCE.
The Engineers operated shops at various points near the front in which were manufactured standard material for dugout, trench, and emplacement construction, such as concrete beams, concrete slabs for overhead protection against high-angle shell fire, trench frames, revetment material, trench duck boards, mine and gallery timbers, knockdown bunk sets, etc.