Combined Munitions Assignments Board

The Combined Munitions Assignments Board was a major government agency for the U.S. and Britain in World War II.

With Harry Hopkins, Roosevelt's top advisor in charge, it took control of the allocation of war supplies and Lend lease aid to the Allies, especially Britain and the Soviet Union.

[1] Churchill's original plan called for two offices for the Board, one in London which he controlled, and one in Washington under Harry Hopkins.

The US Army strongly protested, and insisted that the board be under the control of the Combined Chiefs of Staff, the body that brought together the top American and British military commanders.

General George C. Marshall, US Army Chief of Staff, argued that the distribution of munitions was so essential to military strategy, that it could never be left to civilians.

Harry Hopkins, Chairman of the Munitions Assignments Board, confers with MG J.H. Burns, executive officer of the board, Feb. 1943
A meeting of the Combined Munitions Assignments Board in February 1943.
A meeting of the Combined Munitions Assignments Board in February 1943.