1942, Production Goes to War

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Date

1944

Location

Unknown

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General Motors converted all of its production to the Allied war effort and delivered more than $12 billion worth of goods, ranging from airplanes to tanks, marine diesel engines, trucks, machine guns, and shells. No other manufacturer delivered as much material to the Allied forces.

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Here is a list of the WWII General Motors War Material Production 1940-45: (This is the best list I could assemble from the contemporary sources at war's end)

    198,000    Diesel engines for tanks & landing craft
    206,000    Airplane engines
     13,000    Complete bombers and fighter planes
     97,000    Aircraft propellors
    301,000    Aircraft gyroscopes
     38,000    Tanks, tank destroyers and armored vehicles
    854,000    Trucks, including amhibious DUKWs
    190,000    Cannons
  1,900,000    Machine guns and submachine guns
  3,142,000    Carbines
  3,826,000    Electric motors          
 11,111,000    Fuses
360,000,000    Ball and roller bearings
119,562,000    Shells
 39,181,000    Cartridge cases

540,619,000 Grand Total

To this day, the government has not forgotten GM's contribution.

EPA call recently to inquire if there was any leftover High Explosive (HE) on the Pontiac site, After we posed some logical questions: Why ship HE from the Coast to Pontiac, load the artillery shells, then ship these things back to the Coast. Loading the HE into the shells should properly be done at the port just prior to loading the transport ship.

EPA was satisfied with our logic and had no further questions.

Ralph Reinhart