Battlefield Typewriters and Mimeographs

The quantity of typed documents coming out of each Company and Battalion and every other unit all the way up was really a lot

This is something of a side note to your question, but perhaps it might help. I interviewed a vet of the 505th PIR who dropped in on D-Day (not the night before). They ran to the air dropped boxes of ammo, tore open the crates and found...

typewriter ribbons.

Dave www.Historylink.org The online encyclopedia of Washington state history.

There were three typwriters in the orderly room of Headquarters Company, Coligny Caserne, Orleans, France, postwar. There was another in the supply room. I suppose that in wartime we could have managed with one.

all the best

I think that would be really tough to determine without some heavy digging in the Natl Archives.

Unfortunately, I don't think records survive from major typewriter manufacturers since most no longer survive in original form and very few still make typewriters.

IBM made electric typewriters and some typewriter/radios, but I doubt many of these were used at the front line. I don't think IBM's electric typewriter business really opened up until after the war.

In the confusion of war, I can't help but suspect some units had too many typewriters while others were inadequate supplied.

In Bill Mauldin's cartoons, a 'technical' soldier ('T' on his rank insignia) was often shown in a tent typing things up.

As to mimeograph machines, I suspect these were fewer and more on the back HQ offices.

I think that would be really difficult to calculate. Typewriters, like all other sundry war supplies, were subject to shipping and transport problems and exposure to damage plus maintenance needs.

All this equipped had to be shipped to the Pacific as well.

It should be noted that IBM made data processing systems to track troop strength, casualties, and other statistics, and these were put into trucks for use with the armies. They were a very helpful tool.