DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER LIBRARY ABILENE, KANSAS U.S. ARMY: Unit Records, 1917-1950 Linear feet: 687 Approximate number of pages: 1,300,000 The U.S. Army Unit Records collection (formerly: U.S. Army, U.S. Forces, European Theater: Selected After Action Reports, 1941-45) primarily spans the period from 1917 to 1950, with the bulk of the material covering the World War II years (1942-45). The collection is comprised of organizational and operational records and miscellaneous historical material from the files of army units that served in World War II. The collection was originally in the custody of the World War II Records Division (now the Modern Military Records Branch), National Archives and Records Service. The material was withdrawn from their holdings in 1960 and sent to the Kansas City Federal Records Center for shipment to the Eisenhower Library. The records were received by the Library from the Kansas City Records Center on June 1, 1962. Most of the collection contained formerly classified material that was bulk-declassified on June 29, 1973, under declassification project number 735035. General restrictions on the use of records in the National Archives still apply. The collection consists primarily of material from infantry, airborne, cavalry, armor, artillery, engineer, and tank destroyer units; roughly half of the collection consists of material from infantry units, division through company levels. Although the collection contains material from over 2,000 units, with each unit forming a separate series, every army unit that served in World War II is not represented. Approximately seventy-five percent of the documents are from units in the European Theater of Operations, about twenty percent from the Pacific theater, and about five percent from units that served in the western hemisphere during World War II. Nearly every campaign of World War II is covered to some extent by this collection. Every unit series, however, is incomplete, with most series containing a relatively small amount of material. Some series may contain as many as 25,000 pages, while others may have as few as 50 pages. Most organic or component units of divisions are organized separately. Although organic units may comprise separate series, organic unit material may also be found in division or regiment level series. The bulk of the collection consists of duplicate or surplus copies, retained by the units, of original after action reports and operation reports that were sent by the units on a regular basis to the Adjutant General’s Office (part of Record Group 407, Records of the Adjutant General’s Office). Army Regulation 345-105, “Military Records, Historical Records and Histories of Organizations,” November 18, 1929, with subsequent changes, required that all commanders of regiments, separate battalions or squadrons, companies or detachments, and all commanders of a higher grade prepare and submit to the Adjutant General a detailed history of the organization concerned. The regulation also required that after every battle or engagement with the enemy or when prescribed by higher headquarters “reports after action against the enemy,” together with unit and staff journals and supporting documents would be submitted. The histories and historical records submitted under this regulation comprise the “Operations Reports” series in the custody of the Historical Records Section, Departmental Records Branch, Adjutant General’s Office. Except for a small segment, all reports are of ground combat units that served in active theaters of war between December 7, 1941 and September 2, 1945. These records were originally sent by the units to the Operations Division, AFO, but after the war they were placed in a non-current status and retired to the War Department Records Branch (now the Departmental Records Branch), AGO. The records eventually came under the custody of the Historical Records Section. The organization of the collection primarily follows the classification and filing scheme devised by Miss Margaret Emerson and associates of the Combat Analysis Section. The scheme, adopted in May 1946, is based on the organization of the Department of the Army’s combat forces during World War II. For purposes of classification it is divided into three general categories of units: (1) theaters and their commands; (2) organic Page 1 units composed of army groups, armies, corps, and divisions; and (3) non-organic units composed of non- divisional arms and service troops. This collection, however, only includes: (1) division-level units and their organic units composed of regiments, battalions, squadrons, and companies and (2) non-organic units below division level. Within the series descriptions this basic arrangement is referred to as the classification scheme of the Departmental Records Branch (DRB). In each unit series material of a general nature appears first, followed by more specific topics or items. The organization is chronological. Some larger series are divided into subseries. Some, but all, series contain the following categories of reports: General Historical and Operational, G-1 (Personnel), G-2 (Intelligence), G-3 (Operations and Training), G-4 (Logistics), G-5 (Civil Affairs), and Staff Section Reports. The General Historical and Operational Reports consist primarily of unit histories, operation reports, after action reports, journals, and miscellaneous historical items such as photographs, unit newsletters, correspondence, and memorabilia. The Staff Section Reports consist primarily of reports concerning the operations and activities of various staff sections and organizational components of the unit, such as artillery, ordnance, medical, quartermaster, and headquarters company. Original material consists of maps, photographs, correspondence, notes, memorabilia, and drafts of reports and histories. Division-level after action reports, normally prepared on a monthly basis, usually consist of brief operation summaries. A report may also consist of a general division summary of activities followed by after action or operation reports from organic and attached units. G-2 periodic reports, normally prepared on a daily basis, are usually divided into the following sections: Enemy situation at end of period, enemy operations during period, miscellaneous (enemy casualties, weather, morale), enemy capabilities, POW interrogation reports, CI (counter intelligence) reports, and special reports. G-3 periodic reports are usually divided into the following sections: U.S. front lines, location of troops, information on adjacent and supporting troops, weather and visibility, our operations for the period, combat efficiency, and results of operations. The G-3 periodic reports for most of the units, as well as some of the G-2 periodic reports, include map overlays, and many of the reports also include maps. The maps have been transferred to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Map Collection. Photographs depicting unit activities and unit personnel, including many high-level officers, have been transferred to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Audiovisual (AV) Department. When photographs appeared within the body of a report they were replaced with a Xerox copy. NOTE: The photographs have not yet been processed and made available for research. Contact the AV staff for more information. The collection contains many items of special interest. Among the more interesting items are photocopies of letters (in the 11th Inf. Regiment Series) written in 1814 by Major John Wingate Weeks while serving during the War of 1812. The copies were sent in 1937 to Col. L.A. Kunsig (of the 11th Inf.) by Sinclair Weeks, a descendant of Major Weeks and Secretary of Commerce during the Eisenhower Administration. Other items of interest include allied interrogation reports (in the 101stAbn. Division series) involving people who were close to Hitler and other members of the German High Command, and the notes of Major General Charles H Gerhardt (in the 29th Inf. Division series) concerning his fact-finding trip to Italy in October 1943. The last two boxes in the collection are card index files. The Unit Index contains cards for units in the collection, arranged by type of unit, with information about associated organic units. The Campaign Index contains listings for each official campaign in World War II, arranged in alphabetical order, listing the units in the collection that participated in the campaign. NOTE: Although specific units in the collection may have participated in a given campaign, this collection is incomplete and we may not have relevant documents for that time period. For instance, a particular division may have taken part in the Normandy invasion, we may have records for that division, but we do not necessarily have the records of that unit for June, 1944. This collection contains the potential for numerous research topics. Some of the subject areas for which there is a significant amount of material of research value are: U.S., German, and Japanese infantry tactics; U.S., German, and Japanese defensive positions; small unit tactics and actions; artillery operations; armored operations and tactics; amphibious assault; airborne operations; engineer activities; logistics; military Page 2 intelligence; training activities; occupation activity in Germany and Japan; and the life and experiences of the American soldier in combat. NOTE: The materials in the collection are fragmentary and incomplete for all units. This index lists the army units for which records are available at the Eisenhower Library.