The Tizard Mission: The Top-Secret Operation that Changed the Course of World War II

摘要

As prologue to the story so skillfully told by Stephen Phelps in his book The Tizard Mission, I was reminded of an incident involving an earlier British technical mission to the United States. America's first sustained defense procurement program was the development of means to manufacture small arms with interchangeable parts, an effort successfully completed during the first half of the 19th century. By 1850, the British army clearly saw the advantages of such industrial capabilities, and urged that the so-called American system of manufacture be studied and adopted. A British parliamentary commission duly traveled to the United States, and upon arrival at the U.S. Armory at Springfield, Massachusetts, they were treated to a demonstration by the commanding officer.