U.S. Department of Defense
Date of this Version
1956
Document Type
Article
Abstract
This is a manual describing the transportation intelligence activities of the Army in the mid-1950s. A more accurate title would be “Transportation Corps Intelligence” since the Army technical services were responsible for intelligence related to their field of expertise in the 1950s.
The modern US Army vision of the technical intelligence developed during World War II. Shortly before World War II, Army Technical Services had been instructed to set up intelligence sections in the offices of their chiefs. The technical services were bureaus which supplied weapons, equipment, and services to the Army, managed the careers of officers in a particular branch, trained specialists, and organized and trained special purpose military units. There were a number of technical services including the Chemical Warfare Service, the Medical Department, the Ordnance Department, the Quartermaster Corps, the Transportation Corps, etc. The Transportation Corps provided non-combat vehicles, operated Army port and depot facilities, and operated Army transportation systems. It managed the careers of officers commissioned in the Transportation Corps branch. The head of the Transportation Corps was a general with the title of the Chief of Transportation. The Office of the Chief of Transportation (OCOFT) was the headquarters of the Transportation Corps in Washington, DC. The OCOFT was part of the Headquarters, Department of the Army.
During World War II, the importance of studying foreign military equipment had become apparent and procedures for collecting and evaluating of equipment had been developed. Technical intelligence organizations in the Technical Services grew and operating procedures were developed and refined. Technical intelligence came to be defined as production and dissemination of intelligence about foreign weapons and equipment and production and dissemination of intelligence about foreign capabilities analogous to those of the technical services in the US Army. For example, during the 1950s, the Transportation Corps was responsible for intelligence concerning the transportation systems of the Warsaw Pact armed forces. Since there was no national intelligence agency with expertise in transportation systems, the Transportation Corps was made responsible for intelligence about ports and about waterways, railway, and road systems of foreign nations.
This manual describes the transportation intelligence organizations of the Army, the responsibilities of various parts of the Army for transportation intelligence, transportation intelligence operations, and the production, dissemination, and uses of transportation intelligence.
Appendices describe information requirements for reporting about railway transportation; highway transportation; inland waterway transportation; and ports, beaches, and landing areas. Appendices also include references, definitions and illustrations, and aircraft information requirements.
[Pages 113 through 137 are not included.]
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Comments
(1) According to FM 21-205, 18 Jan 1944, "Field Manuals constitute the primary means of promulgating the basic doctrines of military training and operations."
(2) This is the first edition of a field manual entitled Transportation Intelligence. However, the contents are similar to textbooks used at the Army Transportation School:
(a) ST 55-30-1, Transportation Intelligence, 1950 and
(b) ST 55-06-1, Transportation Intelligence, 1954
Since the Army reused document numbers and titles, the date must be included to uniquely identify a given editions. For example, FM 55-8, Oct 56 is a minimal citation for this manual.