Author: Euan Withersby
The rural village of Cresswell near Blythe Bridge, Staffordshire, played host to the American soldiers of the US Army’s Chemical Warfare Service during the Second World War. Set amongst the fields and rolling hills of the Staffordshire countryside to the west of the famous pottery town of Stoke-on-Trent, documents from the US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) provide the story of Cresswell’s importance to the American war effort.
What were the US Army doing in Cresswell?
These were Chemical Warfare Service troops installing and operating equipment to impregnate US Army uniforms with anti-gas compounds in the expectation that the Germans would revert to their First World War use of poison gas when the Allied invasion took place on D-Day. The Cresswell plant would become very important to the development of the impregnating process in the UK.
Various websites suggest that this compound was CC2. Unfortunately it left a residue on the clothing and made the otherwise very well-made US Army clothing stiff and itchy.
Why was Cresswell chosen?
The American Laundry Machine Company had been contracted to build Zone of the Interior Impregnating Plants. Zone of the Interior was the US Army’s term for the continental USA, shortened to ZI. These plants needed a building with specific requirements. The building needed to have large floor space, be of two storey construction and have great mechanical strength of floors, have high head room, an electric steam facility, had to meet cooling water requirements and have a rail facility.
The British Ministry of Works (MoW) had been tasked with finding the arriving American Forces facilities including camps, storage facilities and workshops. The War Office, presumably on the recommendation of the MoW, identified Ludlow in Shropshire and the Blythe Colour Works site at Cresswell as suitable sites for the chemical impregnating plants.
The Blythe Colour Works building when in use by the US Army as
Chemical Warfare Service Plant 950. Photo: US Army Signal Corps via NARA
The original site was an elongated semi-circle shaped cluster of factory buildings. Still in use today, the site sits at the bottom of a gentle slope of fields south of the main Uttoxeter road, bordered on the north by the railway line between Stoke-on-Trent and Derby. To the south of the site, and providing the gentle curve, is the River Blithe. A shallow but fast-flowing river.
Major Davis of the US Army Chemical Warfare Service (CWS) inspected the site and determined that with significant alterations, amounting almost to reconstruction, the building would be usable. On 19 August 1942, action was taken to secure the site whilst construction drawings were prepared by the US Corps of Engineers. On the 26 September 1942, the War Office acquired the site for the US Army and construction could begin.
Constructing the plant
In October 1942, a ZI Impregnating Plant was moved from Bristol, where it had been shipped to from the USA, and delivered to Cresswell by rail. This was not without its issues as specialist rail cars were not available due to the impending invasion of North Africa. Cresswell was activated as CWS Impregnating Plant 950 (although also known to the US Army as Blythe Bridge)USA and Major Davis, who had inspected the site, took command. The 51st Chemical Impregnating Company, the first such company in the UK, was tasked with installing the equipment as neither Corps of Engineers troops nor British labour was available.
The US Army captioned this photograph as the dryers to dry clothing follow impregnation, it could equally be of the plant under construction. Supporting the former is the soldier on the left smoking, it’s unlikely they would do this around solvent. The person on the left in the civilian clothing would indicate a much later time when the plant was in operation. Photo: US Army Signal Corps via NARA
Over the next five months, construction and installation proceeded, despite a lack of personnel and needing to rely on British sources for materials which were in short supply. An additional Chemical Impregnating Company was requested in December of 1942 to help with construction, but this was denied. Both shipping space and personnel were at a premium at that time, thanks to the invasion of North Africa. Not just the buildings had to be adapted, a small dam had to be constructed in the River Blithe behind the plant on order to provide sufficient year-round cooling water. Plant 950 came into operation on 15 April 1943 although operating on a limited scale. The plant was only able to run for eight hours a day due to a lack of personnel.
The River Blythe with the small dam. The original caption says that it was to prevent flooding of the site, but the history shows that it was to provide water for cooling. In the background are the 1920s or 30s semi-detached houses on Sandon Road. These houses are still there. Photo: US Army Signal Corps via NARA
Health issues at the plant
Prior to the plant becoming operational, some of the troops at 950 were starting to show signs of tetrachloroethane poisoning. This was the solvent used by the impregnating equipment. Lieutenant Sharon of the Medical Department was attached to plant 950 on 19 March 1943 to observe the personnel. Over the course of Lt. Sharon’s observations, blood samples from soldiers of the 51st CI Company showed serious poisoning in around 10 percent of personnel. The US Army were not blind to the danger that this represented as will be seen.
Changes come to Cresswell
1943 would see many changes at Plant 950. First, a change of command. On 28 May 1943, Major Davis was reassigned to HQ Services of Supply and was replaced by Major F. A. Jacobs.
In July 1943, the long-awaited additional troops arrived in the form of the 104th Chemical Impregnating Company, led by Captain E. V. Anderson. This was also the month that records show the US Army was attempting to replace solvent impregnation of clothing with a water emulsion method. This meant more shipping space for invasion preparation as the solvent would not have to be shipped from the USA. There would also be health benefits for the GIs as the tetrachloroethane would no longer be needed.
During August 1943, the pioneering 51st CI Company were moved from Cresswell to make space for the 106thCI Company led by Captain Joseph J. Clements. The 106th did not take up the role until September of 1943, leaving only the 104th in place. During this time, the army Engineering Branch undertook testing to see if the chemical impregnating plants could be used instead for dry cleaning until there was an instance of chemical warfare. It was determined that they could with some small adaptation.
Plant 950 was to play another important role in December 1943. As the equipment had been brought from the USA, it was built to operate on a slightly different AC current than the British national grid supplied to the area. An alternator designed to convert the current was installed along with the ZI plant, but this was a single point of failure that could not be replaced easily. Cresswell was selected to trial using the British domestic electricity supply instead. This was achieved successfully, Plant 950 once again leading the way.
Creswell’s transition to a laundry didn’t happen straight away. The European Theater of Operations’ laundry plan dated 4 November 1943 shows static Army laundries at Cresswell, Lichfield, Exeter and Salisbury. This plan may never have come into effect as in December 1943 the commanding general issued an order that only plants in Northern Ireland could be switched to dry cleaning and by 7 April 1944, both the 104th and 106thcompanies were still at Cresswell engaged in chemical impregnating. There had also been a change of command in the 104th. 1st Lieutenant H. R. Cushman was by then in charge, replacing Captain Anderson. By 16 May 1944, the Western Base Section laundry plan showed Plant 950 as a laundry with a capacity of 100,000 garments per week (bulk work only). Laundry was usually the preserve of the Quartermaster Corps (as was issuing, salvage and repair of uniform items), so the plant would by then be run by the Chemical Warfare Service on behalf of the Quartermaster Corps.
The end of Plant 950
No actual closure date has been found in the NARA archives, but a historical report from the office of the Quartermaster, HQ UK Base Section, shows that in September 1945, 61 long tons of laundry equipment was removed from Cresswell. By this time, the US armed forces were recovering equipment and either disposing of it in the UK, shipping it back to the USA or using it to help allies rebuild their military capabilities. What happened to this, the first ZI Impregnating Plant to go into operation, is unknown.
The boiler at CWS Plant 950 Cresswell. The original photograph is a poor reproduction. Photo: US Army Signal Corps via NARA
The people of Plant 950
I’m not the first person to write about the plant at Cresswell, the late Barry Phillips, a local historian, wrote an excellent article on the people and camp at Cresswell on the Draycott in the Moors Independent News and Comment Website. This article, however, fills in the gaps. One of those gaps is the official list of personnel. Who were they and how many of them were there?
We’ve read of arrival of the 51st, 104th and 106th Chemical Impregnating Companies between October 1942 and September 1943.
On 20 October 1943, records show that the HQ section at Cresswell consisted of five officers and 23 enlisted men (EM). The 104th had by this time been renamed as a Chemical Processing Company with five officers and 142 EM. It seems that not all of the 51st’s troops had departed in August, five EM remained at Cresswel presumably to assist the new companies. Oddly, the 106th isn’t shown, but is highly likely to still have been there. Even more strange is the presence of the HQ and HQ Company of the 926th Signal Battalion of the US Army Signal Corps with one officer and 31 EM. It’s quite possible that they were simply there because the camp had capacity.
On 1 November 1943, the list becomes more detailed. The HQ now consists of two officers and nine EM. The HQ company had four officers and 14 EM. The 104th had a slight change with 5 officers and 140 EM and the 106th is listed (also as a Chemical Processing Company) with five officers and 142 EM. The HQ of the 926thSignal Battalion has acquired another EM to make 32, with still only one officer. The most interesting thing about the 1 November records is that it shows that British civilians were also employed. It’s likely they were at the plant to help with handling of garments as there was a supervisor and eleven unskilled labourers.
Following confirmation that the 104th and 106th Cml. Proc. Co. (to use US Army shorthand) were still at Camp 950 in April 1944, the last mention of US Army troops in relation to the area comes in the official daily journal of the Office of the Chief Chemical Warfare Officer two months later on 8 June 1944. In this, the 115th and 122nd Chemical Processing Companies were requested to move from Guildford and Omagh respectively to Blythe Bridge. Of course, this can only mean Cresswell. Whether they were to supplement or replace the 104thand 106th is not recorded, nor is whether the move took place, but the date is significant being two days after D-Day and the start of the Normandy campaign.
Where did the American troops live?
On the rising slope to south of the plant and above the River Blithe, a camp was constructed to house the troops having a capacity of 26 officers and 960 EM. It had the usual US Army camp facilities including separate living, eating, washing and recreation spaces for EM, sergeants and officers. It had a vehicle repair and parking area and a variety of offices and stores all watched over by the guardroom. The buildings were a mixture of the familiar curved-roof asbestos cement huts, the very similar corrugated iron Nissen huts, standard Ministry of Works huts and a few of the larger curved Romney huts for workshop space.Barry Phillips’ article has some very nice detail about this and is a highly recommended read. The edge of the camp and the plant can be seen in the aerial photos on the Historic England website
Author’s note
As a historian of the US Army in the United Kingdom during the Second World War, I find all subjects interesting. This is a little more personal as I had connections with Blythe Bridge and the surrounding areas for some years. In July 2005, I attended the Foxfield Railway’s WW2 weekend in Blythe Bridge wearing period uniform. Little suspecting that only a short distance away, American troops had spent around three years busily engaged in the war effort.
The author at the Foxfield Railway in 2005 dressed in original WW2 vintage US Army equipment and uniform. It is clothing such as these that would have been impregnated with CC2 or similar anti-gas compounds at Cresswell/Blythe Bridge.
Some readers may also be confused about the US Army’s numbering system. the 51st Chemical Impregnating Company did not necessarily mean that there were 50 similar companies in existence. Each branch of service (in this case, the Chemical Warfare Service) was allocated a number of number of units in its establishment. Irrespective of the specialism, the units were numbered in order of creation, so the 51st was simply the 51st Company sized unit to be created.