This volume traces the course which the Signal Corps followed between the first and second world wars, a period of planning and preparation. The reader can here follow from birth the history of Army radar and mobile radio, the first steps taken in the conversion of the civilian communications industry to war production, the expansion of training facilities, and the beginnings of the far-flung communications network that eventually encircled the globe. -- From the Foreword.

PART I. Before World War II. Military communications -- The Army in limbo -- The scope of the Signal Corps -- The Army in Abeyance -- Equipment search and research -- PART II. The Limited and Unlimited Emergencies. The pace of emergency -- The propulsion from limbo -- Selective service -- Working for the ground forces -- Working for the air forces -- Signaling the hemisphere -- Appendix: Signal Corps equipment, World War II.