The American Automobile Industry in World War Two
An American Auto Industry Heritage Tribute by David D Jackson

Overview      Lansing Michigan in World War Two   The U.S. Auto Industry at the Normandy Invasion, June 6, 1944    The U.S. Auto Industry and the B-29 Bomber   U.S. Auto Industry Army-Navy "E" Award Winners   The Complete listing of All Army-Navy "E" Award Winners   Sherman Tanks of the American Auto Industry   Tank Destroyers of the American Auto Industry    M26 Pershing Tanks of the American Auto Industry   M36 Tank Destroyers of the American Auto Industry   Serial Numbers for WWII Tanks built by the American Auto Industry   Surviving LCVP Landing Craft    WWII Landing Craft Hull Numbers   Airborne Extra-Light Jeep Photos  The American Auto Industry vs. the German V-1 in WWII   American Auto Industry-Built Anti-Aircraft Guns in WWII   VT Proximity Manufacturers of WWII   World War One Era Motor Vehicles   National Museum of Military Vehicles  
Revisions   Links

 Automobile and Body Manufacturers:  American Bantam Car Company   Briggs Manufacturing Company   Checker Car Company   Chrysler Corporation   Crosley Corporation   Ford Motor Car Company   General Motors Corporation   Graham-Paige Motors Corporation   Hudson
Motor Car Company   Murray Corporation of America   Nash-Kelvinator   Packard Motor Car Company      Studebaker    Willys-Overland Motors

General Motors Divisions:  AC Spark Plug   Aeroproducts   Allison   Brown-Lipe-Chapin   Buick   Cadillac   Chevrolet   Cleveland Diesel   Delco Appliance   Delco Products   Delco Radio   Delco-Remy   Detroit Diesel   Detroit Transmission   Electro-Motive   Fisher Body   Frigidaire   GM Proving Grounds   GM of Canada   GMC   GMI   Guide Lamp   Harrison Radiator   Hyatt Bearings   Inland   Moraine Products   New Departure   Oldsmobile   Packard Electric   Pontiac   Saginaw Malleable Iron   Saginaw Steering Gear   Southern California Division   Rochester Products   Ternstedt Manufacturing Division   United Motors Service   Vauxhall Motors

 Indiana Companies:  Bailey Products Corporation   Chrysler Kokomo Plant   Continental Steel Corporation  Converto Manufacturing    Cummins Engine Company   Diamond Chain and Manufacturing Company   Delta Electric Company   Durham Manufacturing Company   Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation   Haynes Stellite Company   Hercules Body Company   Horton Manufacturing Company   Howe Fire Apparatus   J.D. Adams Company   Kokomo Spring Company   Magnavox  
Muncie Gear Works   Pierce Governor Company   Portland Forge and Foundry   Reliance Manufacturing Company   Republic Aviation Corporation - Indiana Division   Ross Gear and Tool Company   S.F. Bowser & Co.   Sherrill Research Corporation   Tokheim Oil Tank and Pump Company   Warner Gear   Wayne Pump Company   Wayne Works

Commercial Truck and Fire Apparatus Manufacturers:  American LaFrance   Autocar  
Biederman Motors Corporation   Brockway Motor Company   Detroit General   Diamond T   Duplex Truck Company   Federal Motor Truck   Four Wheel Drive Auto Company(FWD)   International Harvester   John Bean   Mack Truck   Marmon-Herrington Company   Michigan Power Shovel Company   Oshkosh Motor Truck Corporation   Pacific Car and Foundry   "Quick-Way" Truck Shovel Company   Reo Motor Car Company  Seagrave Fire Apparatus   Sterling Motor Truck Company    Ward LaFrance Truck Corporation   White Motor Company

Aviation Companies:  Abrams Instrument Corporation   Hughes Aircraft Company   Kellett Aviation Corporation   Laister-Kauffman Aircraft Corporation   Naval Aircraft Factory   P-V Engineering Forum, Inc.    Rudolf Wurlitzer Company-DeKalb Division  Schweizer Aircraft Corporation   Sikorsky Division of United Aircraft Corporation   St. Louis Aircraft Corporation   Timm Aircraft Corporation

Other World War Two Manufacturers: 
Air King Products   Allis-Chalmers   American Car and Foundry   American Locomotive   American Stove Company   Annapolis Yacht Yard  
Andover Motors Company   B.F. Goodrich   Baker War Industries   Baldwin Locomotive Works   Blood Brothers Machine Company   Boyertown Auto Body Works   Briggs & Stratton   Caterpillar   Cheney Bigelow Wire Works   Centrifugal Fusing   Chris-Craft   Clark Equipment Company   Cleaver-Brooks Company   Cleveland Tractor Company   Continental Motors   Cushman Motor Works   Crocker-Wheeler   Dail Steel Products   Detroit Wax Paper Company   Detrola   Engineering & Research Corporation   Farrand Optical Company   Federal Telephone and Radio Corp.   Firestone Tire and Rubber Company   Fruehauf Trailer Company   Fuller Manufacturing   Galvin Manufacturing   Gemmer Manufacturing Company   General Railway Signal Company   Gibson Guitar   Gibson Refrigerator Company   Goodyear   Hall-Scott   Hanson Clutch and Machinery Company   Harley-Davidson   Harris-Seybold-Potter   Herreshoff Manufacturing Company   Higgins Industries    Highway Trailer   Hill Diesel Company   Holland Hitch Company   Homelite Company   Horace E. Dodge Boat and Plane Corporation   Huffman Manufacturing   Indian Motorcycle   Ingersoll Steel and Disk   John Deere   Johnson Automatics Manufacturing Company   Kimberly-Clark   Kohler Company   Kold-Hold Company   Landers, Frary & Clark  Lima Locomotive Works   Lundberg Screw Products   MacKenzie Muffler Company   Massey-Harris   Matthews Company   McCord Radiator & Mfg. Company   Metal Mouldings Corporation   Miller Printing Machinery Company   Morse Instrument Company   Motor Products Corporation   Motor Wheel Corporation   National Cash Resgister Company   Novo Engine Company   O'Keefe & Merritt Company   Olofsson Tool and Die Company   Oneida Ltd   Otis Elevator   Owens Yacht   Pressed Steel Car Company   Queen City Manufacturing Company   R.G. LeTourneau   R.L. Drake Company   St. Clair Rubber Company   Samson United Corporation   Shakespeare Company   Sight Feed Generator Company   Simplex Manufacturing Company   Steel Products Engineering Company   St. Louis Car Company   Twin Disc Company   Victor Adding Machine Company   Vilter Manufacturing Company   Wells-Gardner   W.L. Maxson Corporation   W.W. Boes Company   Westfield Manufacturing Company   York-Hoover Body Company   Youngstown Steel Door Company  
   

 Johnson Automatics Manufacturing Company During World War Two
1940-1945
Cranston, RI
Providence, RI

This page added 1-23-2023.

Johnson Automatics Manufacturing Company was created for the express purpose of producing both the M1941 Johnson rifle and the M1941 Johnson light machine gun.  Both weapons were created by Melvin Maynard Johnson, Jr., a Boston attorney and USMC reserve officer.  He began development of the Johnson rifle in response to the issues the new M1 Garand was having in the late 1930s during its early days of manufacture and use by the U.S. Army.  The M1 Garand went on to become the standard rifle for all American military services in World War Two and Korea.  In January 1945, General George S. Patton wrote, "In my opinion, the M-1 is the greatest battle implement ever devised."  That was in 1945 when all of the issues had been resolved.  It is obviously unknown whether General Patton would have said the same thing about the M1941 Johnson rifle if this weapon had become the standard American rifle.  That was not the case in the late 1930s when many persons associated with weapons thought the M-1 was a bad idea.  One such person was Melvin Johnson, who developed what he considered to be a better option than the M-1.

Due to the limited production and use of the M1941 Johnson rifle by American forces in World War Two, I have only found two examples of it in my research travels.


This example is at the Kentucky History Military Museum in Frankfort, KY.  Author's photo.


The rifle with the bayonet is also an M1941 Johnson rifle which was invented by Melvin Maynard Johnson, Jr.  The weapon in the lower right is a Reising submachine gun.  Both are on display at the National Museum of the USMC in Triangle, VA.  Both weapons saw limited USMC use early in World War Two.  Author's photo.

There are several excellent online articles that describe the several year campaign to have the M1941 Johnson rifle become the standard semi-automatic weapon for the American military.  Therefore, that story will not be covered here.  It should be noted that the M1941 Johnson rifle had its issues also.  One particular issue was that the standard U.S. Army bayonet did not work on the Johnson rifle.  The bayonet shown above was developed by Mr. Johnson especially for use with the M1941 Johnson rifle.  In the end, the U.S. Army continued with the M-1 Garand as the standard infantry rifle and the Johnson entry lost out. 

However, the historical record notes that the Dutch were interested in Mr. Johnson's rifle, and in August 1940 placed an order for 10,200 of the weapons.   These weapons were for the defense of the Dutch East Indies, in anticipation of the expected Japanese attack. 

Melvin Johnson never intended to get into the manufacturing business and had planned to license his product with an established weapons manufacturer.  However, they were all busy with other projects for the U.S. Army.  Therefore, Mr. Johnson set up his own manufacturing operation.  He did this in part of an unused textile factory in Cranston, RI.  During a period of short supply, he was able to obtain the required equipment and raw materials to build his rifles. 

According to the historical record, 1,199 of the 10,200 rifles of the initial order for the Dutch East Indies were shipped from the plant before the Japanese invaded the country January 1942.  There are differing accounts as to whether they actually left the United States or not.  One source has the shipment getting as far as San Francisco, CA where the shipments were blocked by the United States government.  Other sources imply the weapons were actually shipped to the Dutch East Indies.  With the fall of the Dutch East Indies to the Japanese in March 1942, the United States blocked the shipment of the balance of the order.  They sat in storage in the United States. 

What is known is that there were at least 8,000 embargoed 1941 Johnson rifles in the United States.  Some sources indicate that the Marines obtained a limited amount of Johnson rifles from this stock.  Others indicate the Marines purchased the weapons.  It may have been a combination of both.

Table 1 shows that there were multiple orders for guns, gun parts, gun barrels, and gun bayonets during 1941 and up through January 1942.  These are in addition to the original Dutch orders in August 1940.  These orders included another 10,200 rifles which were also produced, resulting in a total built of 20,400 for the Dutch.  Johnson Automatics also built another 1,588 rifles, of which 1,000 were sold to Chile.  The known historical record therefore indicatest that there were 21,988 M1941 Johnson rifles built.

Table 1 shows that there were more M1941 Johnson rifles built than the 22,988 built for the Netherlands and Chile.  It shows that the USMC had a $289,000 order for guns in April 1942, which was completed by August 1942.  While the USMC may have been able to obtain a few weapons from the Dutch order, they would have needed to place an official order.  Army Ordnance also awarded four contracts in 1942 with the Johnson Automatic Cranston, RI and Providence, RI plants for gun barrels, rifles, and guns.  While Army Ordnance was not interested in the M1941 Johnson rifle for American use, these orders were most likely for Lend-Lease to the Chinese.  If the Chinese received the Johnson rifle, they would be less likely to request the M-1 Garand which was needed for American use.  

After September 1944, Johnson Automatics had no remaining major contracts.  It is unknown whether it had more work from other sources until the end of the war a year later.

Table 1 - Johnson Automatics Manufacturing Company's Major World War Two Contracts - Cranston, RI
The information below comes from the "Alphabetical Listing of Major War Supply Contracts, June 1940 through September 1945."  This was published by the Civilian Production Administration, Industrial Statistics Division. 
Product - Customer Contract Amount Contract Awarded Date Completion Date
Guns - Foreign $1,853,000 8-1940 5-1941
Rifles - Foreign $1,124,000 8-1940 8-1941
Guns - Foreign $688,000 12-1940 7-1941
Gun Parts - Foreign $611,000 12-1940 2-1942
Gun Parts - Foreign $83,000 1-1941 2-1941
Guns - Foreign $908,000 3-1941 12-1942
Gun Parts - Foreign $263,544 4-1941 11-1942
Gun Barrels - Foreign $544,000 6-1941 8-1942
Gun Parts - Foreign $600,000 9-1941 11-1942
Barrels Gun - Foreign $105,000 9-1941 5-1942
Guns Bayonets - Foreign $1,976,000 1-1942 7-1943
Guns - USMC $289,000 4-1942 8-1942
Gun Parts - Foreign $121,000 8-1942 11-1942
Barrels Rifle - Army Ordnance $1,274,000 11-1942 9-1944
Guns - Army Ordnance $67,000 12-1942 3-1943
Total $10,506,000    

 

Table 2 - Johnson Automatics Manufacturing Company's Major World War Two Contracts - Providence, RI
The information below comes from the "Alphabetical Listing of Major War Supply Contracts, June 1940 through September 1945."  This was published by the Civilian Production Administration, Industrial Statistics Division. 
Product - Customer Contract Amount Contract Awarded Date Completion Date
Rifles - Army Ordnance $77,000 6-1942 12-1942
Guns - Army Ordnance $2,796,000 7-1942 5-1944
Total $3,873,000    


Melvin Johnson also developed the Johnson M1941 light machine gun based on his M1941 Johnson rifle.  This is a rare example of the weapon which is on display at the US Army Airborne & Special Operations Museum in downtown Fayetteville, GA.  The historical record indicates that there were 9,500 of these built during World War Two.  It is assumed that these were also part of the Dutch orders of 1940 and 1941.  The descriptions used in Tables 1 and 2 are not clear.  The terms guns and rifles are both used.  It is unknown whether the terms were interchangeable, or if rifles meant only the 1941 Johnson rifle and guns meant only the 1941 Johnson light machine gun.

The only American U.S. Army unit to use the Johnson light machine gun was the First Special Force Service, which was a combined American and Canadian organization.  It was more commonly known as the Devil's Brigade.  These were used in place of the standard BAR because they weighed less than the BAR.  However, as the Johnsons began to wear out, they were replaced by the BAR.

As with the M1941 Johnson rifle, the 1941 Johnson light machine gun may have been ordered by Army Ordnance for use in China.


The USMC Raiders and Paramarines were the prime users of weapons built by Johnson Automatics.  This photo shows Paramarines during the Bougainville Raid with both Johnson weapons.  This was the last official use of the Johnson Automatics-built weapons.  When the Paramarines were disbanded in early 1944, the Johnsons were removed from the Marine inventory.

 

 

 

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