Looking for good info on WW2 supply units

[George]

As part of the research effort for the game I'm working on, I'm looking into the organization of supply units and am trying to find more details on how they were organized and how they functioned during various conditions. I'm interested in books/websites or any other sources of information.

I found a lot of useful information on the German army from this US(!) handbook excerpt: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/Germany/HB/HB-6.html which if full of lots of nice details, all the way down to the number of rations and ammo carried by soldiers and stored in batallion/division/army depots.

Various TO&E's (like this one: http://www.wwiidaybyday.com/kstn/kstn11711nov41.htm) contain lots of information on the composition of units and how many vehicles they had for carrying supplies, but I'm also looking for some more details on what their roles would be when the (parent) unit would be on the offensive or defensive. I assume soft-skinned trucks will not be driving right behind tanks that are in contact with the enemy, but when forming up for an attack and during the subsequent exploitation of a breakthrough, they would need to be right up front to keep the tanks rolling. So how would this work?

In his (great) book "The Blitzkrieg Legend", Karl-Heinz Frieser has a section about how the Germans managed to refuel their tanks on their trip through the Ardennes forest from the German border towards the Meuse river:

Retired Graf von Kielmansegg, who was the supply officer in charge of logistics for the 1st Panzer Division, looking back described the fuel supply movements during the advance to the Meuse River as "one of the toughest tasks" that he ever had to accomplish during the war.

The main problem was a conflict between tactical and logistical requirements. Zeitzler demanded that all vehicles must pass not only the border of Luxembourg but also the Belgian border fully loaded with fuel. But, at the same time, the requirement of the operations officer of the 1st Panzer Division, Major i.G. [Walther] Wenck, was strictly to adhere to the time frame on the march movement table. There was to be no stopping on the move.

Kielmansegg used an improvised system of gasoline can delivery to resolve that conflict. The fuel quantities needed for all the marching groups were calculated precisely and were then stockpiled in gas cans at the planned tactical rest halts along the hundred-kilometer march to the border. In addition, numerous trucks carrying gas cans were inserted into the spearhead of the march movement group. At suitable points, gas cans were simply handed to the crews as their vehicles slowly drove past. Thus, the next stop could be used for refueling— the empty gas cans were simply thrown out on the roadside at designated points. There they were picked up and refilled in the next fuel dump. In that way, it was possible to meet both requirements at the same time: all vehicles drove through the Ardennes fully gassed up with fuel, and it was not necessary to interrupt the march movement to refuel.

I'm having some trouble figuring out what the emptied supply trucks would be doing. Drive back to Germany along a road that I think was essentially designated as a one-way traffic road? Would there be a long column of (tanker) trucks somewhere in the march column to set up a fuel dump along the road where they would refill the cans? Will units that are busy refueling get overtaken by other units? These are the kinds of questions that pop up when I read this  ;)

[Pete Dero]

Logistical Support of the Armies, Vol I  May 1941 - September 1941

http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/007/7-2-1/index.html

Logistical Support of the Armies, Vol. 2

http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/007/7-3-1/index.html

Logistics in World War II-Final Report of the Army Service Forces

http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/070/70-29/index.html

Failure Of German Logistics During The German Ardennes Offensive Of 1944

https://books.google.be/books?id=WypvCwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=nl#v=onepage&q&f=false

[George]

Thank your very much Pete! A quick scan shows a lot of details contained within these, so I have some reading to do, good thing it's Friday :)