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920th Ordnance Heavy Automotive Maintenance Company

Discussion in 'WW2|ORG - WWII Open Resource Group' started by dga99, Jan 11, 2022.

  1. dga99

    dga99 Member

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    Looking for info on 920th Ordnance Heavy Automotive Maintenance Company. All I can find is that they served in the Rhineland campaign in WWII. Don't know what higher unit they were assigned under.
     
  2. Slipdigit

    Slipdigit Good Ol' Boy Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    I'll look later to see what I can find.

    Suspect they were probably an Army or ZOC asset.
     
  3. firstf1abn

    firstf1abn Member

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    At some point, the 920th was in the Oise District; district HQ at Reims. That would suggest Ninth Army zone, but the Ninth's official history doesn't list them, so maybe First Army then.

    I thought that campaign credit required being attached to a field army. If so, then maybe they stayed put after Rhineland ended on 21 Mar 45 - that the war had moved east and left them in COM Z. There were 98 HAM Cos in ETO at end of war. Looks like 6 or 7 typically in a field army, so vast majority operated in COM Z.

    If the National Archives ever reopens, I would ask for the monthly historical reports. For service units these typically read like an itinerary plus a list of work accomplished. These historical reports may have been submitted by battalion, so you would have some work to do to identify.

    USAHEC library has organizational summaries for combat units; not sure about service units, but worth an ask - and, unlike NARA, they are working. Good luck.
     
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  4. dga99

    dga99 Member

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    Thanks. That's the most info that I have been able to acquire on that unit. I know from my past WWII research that high number units, especially when they are support units, that there is very little info to be found on them. Family members said that my uncle didn't talk about the war, as was with my own father, but the only thing that he said was that he was a "radio operator". I suppose every unit had to have someone to operate a radio but I don't know if it would be a member of his support unit that was assigned that job or if that was the job of some other type of unit would perform. It's not like a maintenance unit would need to be in contact with an infantry unit.
     
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  5. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer I Point at Opana Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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  6. RichTO90

    RichTO90 Well-Known Member

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    The 920th HAM Co was at Boulzicourt in the Ardennes as part of Ordnance Depot O-659 as of 15 May 1945 and was assigned to the ETOUSA COMZ.with a strength of 215 O&EM. It's earlier location in the Oise District of the ETOUSA COMZ implies it was always assigned to the COMZ rather than to one of the armies.
     
  7. dga99

    dga99 Member

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    Thanks. I'm not familiar with COMZ and it's organization and duties. I'll have to do some research into it. What does COMZ stand for?


     
  8. RichTO90

    RichTO90 Well-Known Member

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    Like everything else with the US Army, it is complicated. COMZ was the Communications Zone of the Service of Supply, European Theater of Operations, US Army. It was responsible for all service support activities from the Zone of the Interior (Z/I, what we now refer to as CONUS or the Continental US) to the rear Army Group Boundary (depending on circumstances, perhaps 50 to 75 miles from the front). The Commanding General of COMZ was Lieutenant General John C.H. Lee, who was also Deputy Commander of ETOUSA for Eisenhower, who wore two hats as SCAEF (Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Forces) and Commanding General ETOUSA. Complicating things, COMZ originated as a Service of Supply (SOS) organization and SOS was later renamed Army Service Forces (ASF) when someone apparently realized SOS was also the acronym for the nickname for Army creamed chipped beef on toast - Shit-on-a-Shingle - but SOS ETOUSA retained its original name, probably because Lee was an ornery SOB.

    Basically, they were all more or less the same thing, but usually COMZ and SOS ETOUSA refer to the service and supply side of the overall headquarters for the US Army in the European Theater, while ETOUSA is usually used to refer to the command function passing from Eisenhower as SCAEF and wearing his second hat as CG ETOUSA to the American,British, and Allied Army Groups (21st British, 12th US, and 6th), which commanded the armies.
     
  9. firstf1abn

    firstf1abn Member

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    WD GO 118-45 awarded Rhineland credit to units serving in a geographical area, not by attachment to a field army (as I had suggested as a possibility). By the slimmest of margin, Reims is in this defined area, so Oise District remains a good guess (though not the only one). The 920th appears in this GO.

    I am doubtful a company-sized service unit would have a radio. T/O&E for a Medium Automotive Maintenance Co, with a similar scope of work, had no radios or radio operators - nor even any messengers. Perhaps an ordnance battalion HQ Co might have a radio.

    So, either the recollection of the MOS or the unit is likely in error. What is the source for the 920th?
     

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