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Mainz
Army Depot |
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| Depot History | |||
| 1954 | |||
| (Source: STARS & STRIPES, April 11, 1954) | |||
The Mainz Ordnance Maintenance Depot ( ) is under the 51st Ord Gp at Esslingen. The 55-acre depot on the western edge of the German city of Mainz is responsible for the rebuild, overhaul, repair, modification, reconditioning and reclamation of wornout or broken armament and fire-control equipment. The equipment that the Depot can repair ranges from watches to tracks on a 50-ton tank to the 280mm atomic cannon. The Depot is the largest of its kind in Europe. The Depot began operation in September 1951. In the two and a half since then, the Depot has reclaimed about 300,000 ordnance items. The Depot is staffed by (?) Army officers, 46 enlisted men, 10 US Dept of the Army civilians and about 1,200 German technicians and laborers. In addition, Company B, 601st Ord Bn with three officers and 168 enlisted men is stationed at the depot. They are assigned in a training capacity. Depot CO is Col John W. Cave. The primary mission of the Mainz Depot is rebuild of tracked vehicles, artillery, fire-control equipment and small arms. If an item cannot be repaired by the depot, it is classified as "junk." Besides the ability to repair ordnance equipment, the Depot also has the capacity to manufacture certain items. Tank Rebuild -- the process is simple: transport the damaged tank to the depot from the field unit; take it apart; clean each section; give the chassis a steam bath; recondition any section that needs to be repaired; put the tank back together. Officials estimate it takes an average of 1,330 man-hours to rebuild a tank. The savings to the US government can be significant -- the pay scale of the foreign technicians is lower than in the US and there are no great costs in transportation compared to shipping the vehicles back to the US. |
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| 1956 | |||
| (Source: STARS & STRIPES, March 17, 1956) | |||
| Effective April 1, 1956, the Luther-Werke, based out of Braunschweig, Germany will take over the operation of the Mainz Ordnance Maintenance Depot in Mainz. Under a new contract recently negotiated between the German company and the US Army, the German company will become responsible for running the depot which employs 2,500 German workers. The current depot commander, Col John W. Cave, and his staff will only play a minor role in the operation of the depot. There will be no change in mission. The depot will continue to repair everything from a wristwatch to the giant 280-mm cannon for the US forces in Europe. |
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| If you have more information on the history or organization of the Mainz Ord Depot, please contact me. | |||
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| MIP Mainz Industries Panzerwerke - German Wikipedia Page covers some of the history of the Mainz Ordnance Depot starting with 1951 | |||
