Annual Report of the Assistant Secretary of War... Appendix A. Report of the Board of Commissions of the United States Appendix B. Assignments, strength and loss statistics of the Army. Appendix C. Miscellaneous statistics pertaining to the Army. 67* Mr. PRESIDENT: This annual report is dated as of June 30, 1940. I assumed the office of Secretary of War subsequent to that date, for which reason I do not believe that it lies within my province to report and comment upon the activities, military and nonmilitary, of the War Department during a fiscal year in which I was not in office. I attach hereto the annual report of the Assistant Secretary of War for that period in view of the potentially profound historical significance of that report. Respectfully, HENRY L. STIMSON, REPORT OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF WAR FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 1940 DEAR MR. SECRETARY: In the past 12 months the War Department has made more progress toward providing our military establishment with necessary arms and equipment than in any similar period since the World War. Complete equipment for authorized forces has become a matter of highest priority. The production of munitions after M-day to support the armed forces has become a matter of vital concern. Congress has provided the fund to make the year's accomplishments in the armament field epochal in our peacetime history. STATUTORY DUTIES Current procurement.-It was pointed out in my last annual report that the peacetime procurement of military supplies for the Army during the fiscal year 1939 had reached an all-time high record. The corresponding procurements made in the fiscal year just closed have very greatly exceeded that record. Under the enlarged Air Corps program of April 3, 1939, the number of airplanes contracted for amounted to more than six times the average annual purchases of Army airplanes in recent years. Similarly, record-breaking peacetime orders have been placed for manufacture and purchase of equipment pertaining to the other arms and services, such as semiautomatic rifles, antitank and antiaircraft guns and other weapons, ammunition, fire-control matériel, tanks and combat vehicles, radio and other Signal Corps equipment for Air Corps and ground forces; searchlights for antiaircraft and seacoast defense; ponton bridge and other engineer equipage; submarine mine cable and control equipment; medical equipment; and gas masks and other gas defense material. For the first time since World War days, a real start has been made toward placing the Army on a basis of preparedness. At the same time there were being placed with the industry of the country large orders for airplanes, engines and accessories, and other military equipment to meet the needs of Great Britain, France, and other foreign countries. The total effect has thus been to develop and increase materially the productive capacity of the country for the furnishing of aircraft and other munitions, although manifestly the result falls far short of creating the capacity required in a major war emergency or even to meet the further greatly augmented program with which the country will be faced in the coming fiscal year. The compilation of data reflecting the volume of current purchases of supplies and nonpersonal services by War Department agencies during the fiscal year just closed has not been completed. A rough summation of the amount expended is $700,000,000. An indication of the normal volume of procurement may be obtained from the compilation for the previous fiscal year (1939). During that year, pro |