CONSTRUCTION AND FORESTRY.
The division of construction and forestry was charged with all construction work in the service of supply, and also with the procuring of forest products for the American Expeditionary Forces. At the signing of the armistice its organization totaled 150,823 men, of whom about 127,000 were constantly engaged in production work. Using standardized building plans, this force performed a huge amount of construction work in France.
It was assumed that one-third of the American troops in France would have to be housed in new buildings erected specially for the purpose. Thus accommodations for about 750,000 men had to be built at the rate of 16 barracks, each 20 by 100 feet in size, for every 1,000 men. Contracts were let to British and French contractors for 23,000 demountable barracks, this order being based on the ultimate probable size of the Expeditionary Forces. During August, September, and October, 1918, these barracks were being received at the rate of 1,000 per month. To supplement a supply of even such magnitude, our own type of barrack was developed to be built with lumber furnished by the American forestry forces in France. One cantonment project involved the construction of 500 barracks, accommodating 55,000 men. A total of 11,862 barracks were erected for the American Expeditionary Forces in France, representing 225 miles of length, if all the barracks were placed singly end to end.
It was the policy of the American Expeditionary Forces to provide hospital room sufficient to give beds, if necessary, to 15 of every 100 American soldiers in France. On this basis the Engineers set out to provide hospitals with a total of 280,000 beds. Of these, 139,000 beds were in hospitals taken over from the French, 25,000 beds being added to this capacity by new construction. In entirely new base, camp, evacuation, and convalescent hospitals, 116,000 beds were ultimately made available for the casualties of the American Expeditionary Forces, requiring the erection of 7,700 hospital barracks of special type, all of which would have totaled 127 miles in length if placed singly end to end. As to the progress of this construction, on November 14, 1918, there were 190,356 beds occupied in American hospitals in France, but all 280,000 beds originally specified were ready and available.
The base hospital plants were complete municipalities in themselves, and had capacities varying from 1,000 to 6,000 beds. These units were built where nothing had existed before but little French rural communities, devoid of the improvements and modern conveniences with which we in this country are so familiar. To establish a modern military hospital, capable of caring for the varied casualties and illness arising from action and abnormal living conditions, it required the construction of roads, sidings, unloading platforms, sorting and classification buildings, operating rooms, surgical and medical wards, dormitories, morgues, cemeteries, complete water supplies, fire protection systems, sewage and garbage disposal plants, recreation buildings, electric light plants, and all that goes to make complete a modern installation for the care of the wounded and sick. Many of the camp and evacuation hospitals required construction of the same character, but differing in magnitude.
The Engineers developed port faculties at St. Nazaire, Bordeaux, La Pallice, Marseilles, Brest, and at less important harbors. In general, at these places the existing facilities were expanded to meet the needs for the debarkation of troops and the unloading and shipment of supplies. Originally 23 ship berths were placed at our disposal by the French. The Engineers expanded this equipment to a total of 89 berths, with authorized projects for 160 berths by June, 1919. Our overseas shipments grew from 20,000 tons in July, 1917, to 1,000,000 tons in October, 1918, but the port expansion kept abreast of this development. Fifty-eight 300-ton lighters were built by Engineer troops with French timber, and twenty-six 500-ton lighters with American timber. The Engineers constructed seven derrick barges with lifting capacities ranging from 30 to 100 tons.
The existing French railroads running from the base ports to the advanced zone were quite inadequate, so that it was necessary to supplement their facilities with many miles of new track and other construction, including important storage, classification, arrival, and departure yards, warehouse tracks, engine terminals, water points, and repair shops. At Bassens, St. Sulpice, Miramas, and Montoir, enormous storage depots were constructed to handle the supplies entering France for our forces. The American-built railroad yards at these points were comparable in magnitude and completeness to the important yard developments undertaken in this country in recent years by the large railroad systems, the yards at St. Sulpice having a trackage totaling 147 miles of single track. Those at Bassens and St. Sulpice were virtually completed during the war, while the construction at Miramas was well under way at the signing of the armistice. At St. Sulpice the project was designed on the basis of receiving, storing, and forwarding the supplies for 1,000,000 men for 30 days. The others were of like magnitude.
INTERIOR OF SUBSISTENCE WAREHOUSE AT NEVERS, FRANCE, MARCH, 1918 SHOWING FRENCH WOMEN TRUCKING RATIONS.
