PRACTICALLY every selection of fuels and lubricants for the Army Motorized Ground Forces must be a compromise among three considerations - the requirements of the units, the availability of the desired products, and the problems of supply, Mr. Round points out.
Stressing the need for simplification of the supply problem, he brings out that, whereas in civilian operations, a mistake may be merely an inconvenience; in battle it may cause a major disaster. He shows that such simplification is not a simple problem by reporting that practically every type of engine is used in the Ground Forces - gasoline, diesel; air and water cooled; inline, vee, and radial designs, ranging in size from tiny lighting units to the engines used in the largest tanks. The Army problem, he summarizes, is to reduce the wide variety of fuels and lubricants recommended for these engines and vehicles in civilian service to the absolute minimum consistent with satisfactory results. The major part of his paper outlines the real progress that has been made toward this objective.
The seven Appendixes of the paper give the pertinent condensed U. S. Army specifications.