Chemicals in Combat is the last of the three volumes concerned with the activities of the Chemical Warfare Service in World War II. It is devoted to the overseas story administration, logistics, and combat. In World War II the CWS faced a unique situation, in that it found itself in the unenviable position of preparing for an unconventional kind of warfare that never came to pass. Yet, even as it served as insurance in the event of the introduction of gas by the enemy (United States policy permitted the use of gas only in retaliation), it also had to be useful in a gasless war. The CWS was useful in World War II. Its contributions included the missions of smoke, flame and incendiary weapons, which, less heralded at first, eventually eclipsed the gas mission. How the CWS carried out these various missions in the theaters of operation is the main theme of this volume. Chemical Warfare is a term meant to include the employment of artificial smoke, flame, and incendiary munitions as well as gas offensive and defensive munitions. While the practice at the time of this writing is to refer to the employment of chemical weapons rather than to chemical warfare, the latter term is appropriate to a World War II setting, and the term chemicals retains its inclusive World War II meaning. Keywords: Chemicals in Combat, CWS

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