While the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was a tragic surprise, the United States was not totally unprepared for war. Chrysler was foremost among the car manufacturers involved in the defense program, which aimed at the gradual rearmament of the country, and when the United States entered World War II, easily made the transition to full wartime production.
World War II gave the company its first opportunity to prove its manufacturing mettle. Chrysler had begun a high-energy push into defense work, manufacturing wartime goods for the European Allied nations. In the spring of 1940, Chrysler began mass production of tanks for sale overseas.
By the late summer of that same year, Chrysler received a contract with the Department of Defense for $54.5 million to construct and staff a tank-building plant. This contract, an incredible amount of money for the time, demonstrates the magnitude of governmental interest and trust in the reliability of Chrysler production.
The Chrysler-produced Sherman M4 tank would be the main combat vehicle of U.S. ground forces. Chrysler was also involved in the production of field kitchens, refrigerators, bomb fuses, shells, landing gear for airplanes, cartridge fuses, bearings, marine tractors and tugs and assorted military vehicles such as command cars, ambulances, trucks, and weapons carriers.
One of Chrysler’s greatest WWII achievements came with the Dodge production of the Boeing B-29s. The assemblage rate of B-29 bomber engines at Dodge-Chicago exceeded the target amount by at least a hundred per month, while at the same time, cutting the 
cost of engine manufacturing by half.
In 1942 Chrysler was given an order for machinery to produce 40-millimeter anti-aircraft guns for the Navy. Firing one hundred and twenty rounds a minute, the gun was one of the best weapons for fighting dive bombers. Parts of the gun were to be manufactured at Chrysler plants in New Castle, Indiana and Dayton, Ohio with the remaining work and final assembly to be done at the Detroit Chrysler Plant. The production schedule called for three hundred guns a month.
By the end of the war, Dodge had produced 18,413 B-29 engines and approximately 500,000 military trucks, The Chrysler Corporation amassed over $3.4 billion in U.S. governmental contracts and had produced items of transportation and protection for both ground and air forces. The company consistently delivered higher quality products, earlier than expected, and at far lower cost.
Phil Robertson, Editor
