Of Preliminary Work Finished CALCUTTA - More than three quarters of the preparatory work required to put stock-piles of Base Section surplus property in shape for transference to the Indian government had been accomplished even before the final sale agreement, spokesmen for Base Section Headquarters told Roundup this week. The spokesmen estimated that all surpluses in Calcutta, Assam and Karachi would be ready for turning over to the British authorities under the new sale agreement by Apr. 11. Whether or not the final sale agreement would have any effect on the rate of personnel demobilization was not yet clear, since according to the Base Section representative, the U.S. Army must continue its custodial responsibility for the property until the new owners take possession. While the American Army might be ready to relinquish possession by April 1, spokesmen of this headquarters could not predict when the Indian government would be ready to take over the installations and materials. INVENTORY MADE The Base Section spokesmen explained that careful inventories of stocks are being made by the U.S. Army. However, he pointed out, the agreement with India provides that the new owners may make spot checks of the property if they desire to ascertain whether the American count is reasonably accurate. The officials did not expect there would be unreasonable delay in transferring the goods, because the invoices provide that the transfer is subject to final adjustments at a later date, to cover the possibility of errors in the task of inventorying the vast stocks. The Indian government will take possession of the surplus property at present locations and the U.S. is not required to furnish assistance in transporting material to suit Indian requirements, said the Base Section representative. At present the surpluses are concentrated in Chabua, Ledo and Calcutta areas with additional collecting points at Karachi, Tezgaon, Kalikunda, Ondal, Khulna and Chittagong. LARGE AMOUNT largest stockpile is in the Calcutta area, where there are approximately 252,258 long tons of surplus material scattered over many warehouses and installations. Chabua and Ledo come next with about 90,799 and 75,521. Base Section officials also pointed out that there were several other relatively minor operations left before inactivation. These included disposal of some property to UNRRA, Indo-China and private buyers; shipping property to China and the U.S. and the concentration of all war dead into Kalikunda and Barrackpore cemeteries. THEATER TO HAVE 5,700 PERSONNEL HERE MAY 1; APRIL SHIPS LISTED General movement of troops home continued this week as it was announced that the tentative strength of the Theater would be approximately 5,700 on May 1. Since V-J Day, 185,037 troops, including China Theater personnel, had been sent to the U.S. by air and water transportation through midnight Feb. 27. According to tentative figures, approximately 19,000 officers and men are now in the I-B, following the scheduled departure of the General Hodges Tuesday of this week. That figure will drop to about 12,000 on April 1. Two ships, each carrying approximately 3,200 men each, are now slated to leave in April. They are the General Heintzelman and the General Scott. The shipping list is tentatively set as follows: Marine Jumper, leaving March 22 for Seattle; Marine Cardinal, leaving March 24 for San Francisco; General Heintzelman, leaving April 16 for San Francisco; and General Scott, leaving April 27 for Seattle. Each vessel will carry about 3,200 men and will stop at Manila for refueling. Returnees were moving to the Calcutta area this week under the March quota of 6,173 to fill the two ships sailing on March 22 and 24. Theater Circular No. 35, calling for the movement of returnees under the March quota, was revised by Theater Circular No. 48 to change the quota period from 1-10 March to 1-15 March. All returnees will be processed at Replacement Depot No. 3 headquarters, now located at the 142nd General Hospital area in Calcutta. Casuals will be quartered at Camp Dum-Dum (Orphanage), Tollygunge and Camp Dhakuria, all in Calcutta, and a small group at Kanchrapara. A Theater spokesman declared that general policy is that all personnel from whom there is no military necessity will be evacuated at the earliest possible date. Particular safeguards have been set up to insure that all men eligible for release from duty by April 15 will be on their way to the Replacement Depot by that date and home or on the way by April 30. |
Indian Army Plans Moving Ahead Rapidly NEW DELHI - The rate at which the government of India will take possession of the U.S. Army surplus property, under the sale agreement announced last week, cannot be accurately foreseen, nor can the final date of the transfer be set, A. C. Welling, Theater G-4 told Roundup this week. Instructions from the Foreign Liquidation Commission and preparations for G-4 to do the job were nearing completion this week. Maj. Gen. E. Wood, Master General of Ordnance for the Indian Army, has taken charge of taking over property peculiar to the Indian Army and is setting up procedures for transferring the property to the Government of India. Two officers are leaving in a few days for Assam, to give the turnover job "a kick in the pants." The general is optimistic about the speed of the transfer, and well-integrated procedures have been set up for the process. INDIA'S PLANS The India Air Headquarters is setting up plans for the takeover of installed U.S. equipment on airfields. No agency has yet been designated for taking over surplus USAAF stores. For the transfer of stores, exclusive of equipment and installed facilities and exclusive of bulk gasoline, canteen stores and animals, the Indian Army has planned two types of organizations: (1) In Assam and Calcutta, they will have field organizations specifically set up for the takeover, reporting directly to the general in Delhi for instruction. (2) At location s such as Agra, Karachi and Delhi, where there are existing Indian Army ordnance depots, the local ordnance depot will be assigned responsibility for the takeover of U.S. stores. Appropriate sections of the Indian Government will take over animals, bulk gasoline, canteen stores, installed signal communications, and installed machinery. The transfer of these will be an insignificant part of the whole job.
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Theater Plane Flights Shift To Use Of C-47s The workhorse of the air war, the Army's C-47 Douglas twin-engined transport plane, returned to its dominant air role in the I-B Theater last week when the India Wing of the Air Transport Command issued a new Theater flight schedule effective Mar. 1. Reductions of the Theater strength and ATC personnel renders the four-engined C-54 superfluous to I-B flight needs and they are being returned to the U.S. The new schedule is as follows (Local time in all cases):
All other services will be on a special mission basis. |
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"No, Mom, I won't get off Wilbur's lap - I was here first!" |