Volume Four - An Era of Change, Uncertainty, Depression & War - Activity at the dock during World War II . . .

In October 1943 A U.S. Naval Advanced Amphibious Maintenance Sub-Base was established at Penarth which provided quarters for 561 officers and men, a hut camp for 120 men, messing and galley facilities, shops, buildings, utilities, offices, Red Cross Club, waterfront facilities and a 50-bed hospital. The foregoing is recorded in the Landing of the CeeBees in the UK. The first section of the 29th Naval Construction Battalion arrived in November and December 1942 tasked with completing the construction of naval bases in the UK. [492]

US Army in WWII - Logistical Support of the Armies - 'Until the summer of 1943 the British unions restricted the use of military labor to those periods when civilian workers were unavailable. By that time, however, the flow of cargo rose to huge proportions and resulted in an acute labor shortage, and the ban on the use of military labor was lifted. In the Bristol Channel area the U.S. port commander had foreseen this shortage and had anchored a ship at Penarth to train a new group of fifty Transportation Corps soldiers in unloading methods every two weeks. This scheme paid off well when the critical labor shortages developed in 1943. At the height of the BOLERO build-up in the spring of 1944 fifteen U.S. port battalions of approximately 950 men each were engaged in the discharge of cargo from U.S.-controlled vessels.' [493]

The book also documents that 'Penarth and Fowey were primarily ammunition ports; heavy engineering and other out-of-gauge equipment was handled at Cardiff.'

The US Army / Army Air Force : Units from UK Station List dated as of May 1944 lists the 156 Infantry Regiment, Anti-Tank Company, Det B together with the 3915 Quartermaster Gasoline Supply Company as stationed at Penarth, Glamorgan. [494]

Accommodation for the US Forces at Penarth consisted of 28 huts which housed 425 enlisted personnel. In addition there were 47 officers and a further 514 enlisted personnel with quarters based in local houses and hotels. [640]