TASCOM

Theater Army Support Command patch. original, WW2. On 24 May 1942, the Services of Supply, ETO was established in England with Lieutenant General John G.H. Lee as its first commanding general. Two years of build-up and stockpiling of supplies and equipment culminated in that command's being redesignated in May 1944 as the Communications Zone, ETO. General Lee moved his headquarters to France soon after D-Day -- 6 June 1944 -- and during the ensuing 11 months enormous logistical operations took place. The World War II infantry soldier was supplied and re-supplied at a rate and with an efficiency never before attained. By the time V-E Day rolled around on 8 May 1945, the TASCOM of that war had furnished 61 combat divisions of the Allied Expeditionary Force, commanded by General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower, with more than 21 million tons of vital supplies. And when the colors were furled in January 1946, the logistical feats of World War II had attained very nearly the status of legend. Allied battle commanders were unanimous in their praise of the magnitude, efficiency, and ingenuity of the American logistical system.