A major contribution to the logistics was made by a British citizen, G. C.

Shaw,
who in 1938 published a monograph: Supply in Modern War. In this work, he
concentrated on establishing principles of supply, transportation, and exploitation of
arms in the field. A revolutionary transformation in the technical advancement of the
Armed Forces equipment, which took place in the interwar period with its beginnings
during World War I, caused changes in military tactics. Shaw noticed a contradiction
between the logistics need of troops caused by the ‘technicalization’ of the army, and
the limited efficiency of the still-existent ‘old’ system of logistics support. The
technological improvement of the army imposed new requirements on the logistics
system, giving it new possibilities at the same time.
Shaw formulated four principles of Armed Forces supplies: self-sufficiency,
limited self-sufficiency, the supplementation from the backup and local
supplementation. Many of Shaw's suggestions found their practical application in
logistics functioning in World War II. His analysis of the role of spare parts and repair
techniques for combat organization, along with the concepts of material and
procedural standardization, are, also today, an example of good logistics thinking
7
.
During the Second World War, the USA Department of Defense established
interdisciplinary teams, the task of which was to develop mathematical planning
models and apply them to solve the logistics problems of the American army
interested in supply of materials for military activity support, efficiently coordinated
in space and time. The issues needing resolution were the location and supply of
storage points and transportation problems. This is how these project teams created a
foundation for the development of a new discipline - logistics
8
.
The USA troops landing in Europe, popularized the concept of Logistics, however
not without certain resistance from the allies. Only after the creation of NATO with

6
W. Stankiewicz, Logistyka. Z zagadnień gospodarki wojskowej państw NATO, Warsaw
1968, pp. 44-49.
7
W. Stankiewicz, Nowe trendy…, op. cit., pp. 15-18.
8
F.J. Beier, K. Rutkowski, Logistyka, SGH Warsaw 1995, p. 15
6

the United States and its leading role there, not only did they popularize the notion of
logistics in the terminology of the allies, but also fostered the adaptation of
organizational structures, principles and procedures into the national systems of those
countries. In British publications from the period 1940 - 1950, the concept of
"logistics" is yet rare to be found and similarly to the French, it is defined as
"administration", understood as a synonym for logistics
9
. By military administration,
the Europeans understood supplies, transport and hospitalization.
For the dissemination of the very concept and scope of logistics, it was of huge
importance that the term "logistics" was included into the British Encyclopedia, with
its definition formulated by an American, R. M. Leightone. According to him,
logistics"in American administration, a term widely used to describe a wide range of
non-combat actions, especially connected with supplies, transport, civil engineering
and care and evacuation of the sick and wounded”
10
.
The logistics models and forms of system analysis have been effectively used by
the armed forces interested in logistics support for military operations, coordinated in
space and time. However, in the post-war economic practice, they were ignored or
forgotten, as once again, there were no conditions favorable for their use. The
increasing post-war need for goods made the managers focus on meeting the demand.
In literature, one may also find the opinion that the merging of military logistics
experience into the civilian sphere directly after World War II, was impossible due to
the lack of equipment (such ase.g. computers today) and its high cost and effort of
hand calculations, resulting from this shortage of means
11
.
The military concept of "logistics", along with a significant part of the scope of
activities connected with this term, have been transferred into the civilian economy by
American managers only as late as in mid 50s. In the beginning, instead of "Logistics"
the term used was Physical Distribution Management
12
.
A clear breakthrough came with the use of computers and quantitive methods in
distribution, when the recession would force reduction and tighter control of the costs.

9
W. Stankiewicz, Nowe trendy…, op. cit., p. 19.
10
R.M. Leighton, Encyclopedia Britannica, T. 14, 1964, p. 325.
11
M. Brzeziński, Systemy w logistyce WAT, Warsaw 2007, p. 29.
12
Cf. www.znko.org/buda/logistycznaobslugaprzedsiebiorstw, 16.08.2010.
7

Then, a developed market economy imposed the use of military Logistics in civilian
activity, as evidenced by terminology specified in Figure 1.2.

Fig. 1.2.: Military terminology in civilian economy.

Source: K. Ficoń: Procesy logistyczne w przedsiębiorstwie, Impuls Plus Consulting, Gdynia 2001, p. 17.

Logistics would develop gradually. In professional literature, we may find several

approaches to the problem. And so, E. Gołembska provides one of the possible
classifications of logistics stages of development
13
.

1. Before 1950 – ‘silent' years

2. 1950 to 1970 - time of development
3. 1971 until today.
Currently, I think, we may distinguish four stages:
1. Stage one applies to the period of the 1950s and earlier. It is the period when the
producer's market is dominant. Logistics operations are fragmentary,
logisticssections are not integrated, neither are they based on a single concept.
Here, we are to deal with the following spheres:
 purchase and supply, connected with actions such as: forecasting the demand,