Part Four
Theaters of Operations [1083]

NOTE: The location information given in this publication is obsolete. Although copies of some documents may have been retained in the various commands, the vast majority of documents have been transferred to the National Archives, primarily the Modern Military Records Branch at College Park, MD. Additional records may be located at the various branches of the Archives. --HyperWar

The areas in the Western Hemisphere, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Pacific, and Asia that were designated as theaters of operations during World War II and the major United States Army and Navy combat and logistical commands in these theaters are separately described in the following sections. During the defense period, September 1939-December 1941, the major overseas tactical commands of the Army consisted of five Departments within the territorial possessions of the United States. The Navy's major overseas commands included several Naval Districts and, after July 1941, Naval Coastal Frontiers (later Sea Frontiers), each with a geographical jurisdiction somewhat comparable to that of the Army's Departments but extending over the adjacent waters and sea lanes. In 1941 the Army and the Navy had commands at island bases in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean that had been acquired from the British on long-term lease in exchange for destroyers. Before December 1941 both the Army and the Navy established several overseas groups of observers and technical missions, which consulted with their counterparts in the armed forces of the United Kingdom and other nations at war with the Axis Powers.

In December 1941 the Army's territorial Departments were replaced (in some cases by the change of name only) by theaters of operations, and eventually major combat theaters were established in virtually all areas of the world conflict. After the strategic direction of the war was made a joint Army-Navy and interallied responsibility through the establishment of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Combined Chiefs of Staff, the term "theater of operations" came to be used in military parlance to embrace a specified geographical area and all the commands in it, and the Army often used the term to designate its own headquarters in each area. In this volume the term "theater of operations" is used in the sense of an area in which troops and naval forces operated and is not used to designate a military command except in those few cases where the Army officially designated its command in an area as a "theater of operations."

The entries that follow are grouped in general according to the organizational structure and nomenclature of the commands at the end of hostilities--in May 1945 for the American, European, Mediterranean, and Middle East Theaters; and in September 1945 for the Pacific and China-Burma-India

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areas. Included are entries for United States commands and for interallied commands in which the United States was represented. The national forces of other Allied Nations are not discussed.

The more important United States combat commands are discussed under the appropriate theaters, but the many troop units that made up the Army's combat and supporting forces are not discussed in this volume. Information about these units is in the operational and historical reports noted throughout the following sections and in the monthly "Directory of the Army," issued during the war by the Adjutant General's Office. A definitive order of battle for the Army units in each theater is being compiled by the Army's Historical Division. Similarly the discussion of the Navy's major fleets and forces does not include data for the individual ships that were component parts of the larger commands. Such data were listed at intervals during the war in successive issuances entitled "U.S. Atlantic Fleet Organization" and "U.S. Pacific Fleet Organization."

Records.--Wartime records of the major headquarters, their predecessors, and their chief subordinate commands are discussed in the entries below. Several guides have been compiled for the many series of records of the major commands. The wartime records of such Army commands, most of which are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis, are listed in that Center's processing work sheets, a set of which is in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. The records of the major Navy operational commands, usually called "flag files," have been listed by the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa.; sets of these lists are in the Division of Naval Records and History and the Navy Department's Office Methods Division. Records of ships that operated in the Pacific are in the Naval Records Management Center at San Bruno, Calif.; those of ships that operated in the Atlantic are in the Center at New Orleans. There are a few selective lists of overseas Army records in the Center at St. Louis, such as a name list of office files of about 100 key officers (usually commanding officers) in various commands and troop units, prepared by the Departmental Records Branch, AGO; and a list of records of overseas Chemical Warfare Service troop units and staff sections, compiled by that Service's Historical Office.

Information about records is in the many monographs on combat operations and logistical support, prepared or in preparation by the historical sections of the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Particularly useful are those monographs that contain footnotes and bibliographies. Historical introductions to the records, usually without documentary citations, appear in the critiques on particular operations or types of operations, written by the various evaluation boards and operations-analysis sections, such as the General Board in the European Theater and the Strategic Bombing Survey in both Europe and the Pacific. Also useful are the directories of overseas commands and troop units (see entry 132) and directories that give the successive locations of overseas Army Post Offices and Fleet Post Offices. A guide to the official Army nomenclature of the battles, campaigns, and engagements of the war is "Campaigns, World War II" (War Department

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General Order No. 24, March 4, 1947). The official Navy nomenclature is given in "Operations and Engagement Stars," issued by the Bureau of Naval Personnel in June 1946.

The biennial Reports made to the Secretary of War by Gen. George C. Marshall as Chief of Staff, 1941-43 (56 p.), and 1943-45 (123 p.), contain much information on the specific theaters of operations and useful maps and charts. The biennial reports made to the Secretary of the Navy by Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King as Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, and Chief of Naval Operations were published as U.S. Navy at War, 1941-1945; Official Reports (Washington, 1946. 305 p.). Material in these reports that pertains to specific theaters of operations is cited in the sections dealing with those theaters, below. A synoptic order of battle for Army forces in Europe in May 1945 and in the Pacific in September 1945 is published in Roger W. Shugg and H. A. De Weerd, World War II, A Concise History, 408-412 (Washington, 1946).

AMERICAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS [1084]

The tactical and supporting forces of the United States for the active defense of the Western Hemisphere against enemy attack during the years 1939-45 did not operate in what was officially designated as a single theater of operations, although unified command was nevertheless achieved in each of the major regions involved, chiefly through the Joint Chiefs of Staff and through local measures of Army-Navy-civilian cooperation. After the fall of France in 1940 a comprehensive joint Army and Navy basic war plan was drawn up for the close cooperation of Army and Navy forces in the defense of the continental United States.

Although there was no one theater commander there were several tactical Army commands in the continental United States and the Caribbean area, several nontactical Army commands in Canada and Central and South America, and a number of Navy commands in the continental United States, the western Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf areas, and Alaska that operated in what may be considered as the American Theater of Operations. Dutch naval units in the Caribbean served under the command of a United States naval officer; Brazilian Army commands cooperated with the United States Army Forces in the South Atlantic; and the Brazilian Navy served under the commander of the United States South Atlantic Fleet. There were, however, no over-all interallied commands in the Western Hemisphere.

Records.--The records of the several commands have been handled in accordance with the Army and Navy records administration programs. Most of the noncurrent records are in Army or Navy records depositories; a few are in the National Archives.

Army activities in the American Theater of Operations in the defense of the hemisphere and the supply of matériel and men for overseas operations are briefly sketched in Gen. George C. Marshall's Reports as Chief of Staff to the Secretary of War, 1941-43, p. 2-9, 30, 32-36, and 1943-45, p. 113-115. Naval operations in the Theater are discussed in the reports of Admiral Ernest J. King, published after the war as U.S. Navy at War, 74-82, 100-102, 211-212 (Washington, 1946); and in Samuel Eliot Morison, The Battle of the Atlantic, September 1939-May 1943 (Boston, 1947. 432 p.).
[See also the two volumes of the UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II series: The Framework of Hemisphere Defense and Guarding the United States and Its Outposts --HyperWar.]

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Defense Commands [1085]

From the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939 until March 1941 the Army's organization for the defense of the continental United States consisted of four field Armies (the First, Second, Third, and Fourth), which were intended to operate in time of war directly under the command of the Chief of Staff, United States Army. In March 1941 four Defense Commands were established--the Northeast, Central, Southern, and Western--each of which was under the commanding general of one of the four field Armies; and in the following May a fifth, the Caribbean Defense Command, was organized.

These Commands, which were considered to be potential theaters of operation in case of attack by enemy forces, were in December 1941 put under the over-all tactical command of the General Headquarters United States Army, and after March 1942 they were under the Operations Division, War Department General Staff. Each Command was responsible for planning and directing air and ground operations for the protection of its area of responsibility and for other military activities within its area. Its headquarters was organized according to the customary patterns of sections or offices for G-1, Personnel; G-2, Intelligence; G-3, Operations; and G-4, Supply; and for special staff activities. Each Command was responsible for varying numbers and types of subordinate commands, and to it were assigned for varying periods of time combat, service, and other units of the ground and air forces. The Defense Commands cooperated closely with the Sea Frontiers, which were set up as Naval Coastal Frontiers in July 1941 and which had generally comparable areas of jurisdiction. The several Defense Commands are separately described below.

Records.--The records of the Defense Commands are discussed in the separate entries below.

Eastern Defense Command [1086]

The Northeast Defense Command, established in March 1941, became the Eastern Theater of Operations in December 1941 and the Eastern Defense Command (EDC) in March 1942. It was responsible for the defense of the eastern seaboard Stales from the Canadian border to Key West, Fla., and of certain bases in the North Atlantic outside the United States. Its commander until September 1943 was the commanding general of the First Army, and the headquarters of both the Command and that Army were at Governors Island, New York City.

The Command's activities included planning against possible invasion or air attack, cooperation with the Navy in antisubmarine operations, administration of the program for excluding enemy aliens from certain areas, the technical training of certain ground-combat units not assigned to the Army Ground Forces, and collaboration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Office of Civilian Defense, other Federal agencies, and State and local authorities in internal-security activities.

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The Eastern Defense Command was assigned the responsibilities of the discontinued Central Defense Command in January 1944 and those of the Southern Defense Command in December 1944. Both these commands are described below. In March 1946 the Eastern Defense Command was discontinued.

Records.--A few records of the Eastern Defense Command's headquarters are in the Kansas City (Mo.) Records Center, AGO, but most of its records and those of the predecessor headquarters are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. In the latter depository are several series of general files, 1940-45; series relating to the Command's island bases, including those in Newfoundland, 1940-45, Bermuda, 1941-45, Greenland, 1944-45, Iceland, 1944-45, and the Azores, 1944-46; and records of the Public Relations and Civil Affairs Sections and other sections. Interfiled among the records of the Command are records of Headquarters First Army, 1941-43. Earlier records of this headquarters, which were kept separately, are also in the Center at Kansas City.

Records relating to the Command are among the central records of the War Department, in the AGO; see the project files entitled "Northeast Defense Command," 1941-42, "Eastern Theater of Operations," 1941-44, and "Eastern Defense Command," 1942-45. In the Departmental Records Branch, AGO, are a three-volume unpublished history of the Eastern Defense Command, 1942-45, and documents assembled by the Command's Historical Section, including defense plans, operations reports, rosters of officers, and civil-affairs policy documents.

Sectors [1087]

In 1939 Coast Artillery Districts were responsible for defensive combat operations along the Atlantic coast. In June 1941 these Districts were replaced by Frontier Defense Sectors (later known simply as Sectors). In December 1941 these Sectors consisted of the New England, New York-Philadelphia, Chesapeake Bay, and Southern Sectors; and in March 1944 they were consolidated into the Northeastern Sector and the Southern Sector. In January 1945, after the Southern Defense Command was discontinued and its responsibilities were transferred to the Eastern Defense Command, its area became the Southwestern Sector of the Eastern Defense Command.

In general, each Sector supervised within its area the operations of Army Air Forces units and mobile land units and participated with the Navy in the operation of harbor defenses and harbor-entrance control posts at each major harbor. The Sectors were also responsible for the control of the civilian population, the protection of local utilities and communications, the employment of State Guard units and local law-enforcement agencies, and the segregation and evacuation of enemy aliens from the vicinity of vital defense installations in what was called (for civilian-control matters) the Eastern Military Area. Air units were provided by the First Air Force for coastal patrols, air defense, and the operation of the Aircraft Warning

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Service; and additional antiaircraft defense was provided by the Antiaircraft Artillery Command.

Records.--The records of most of the Sectors and the predecessor Coast Artillery Districts, 1939-45, are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. The type of records is exemplified by the records of the 2d Coast Artillery District and the successor New York-Philadelphia Sector; these records consist of general files, a wartime history of the organization, and several series of orders, memoranda, and instructions. The records of the Southwestern Sector are interfiled with records of the predecessor Southern Defense Command, described below. Also at St. Louis are the general files of the Antiaircraft Artillery Command, 1942-44. The records of the Eastern Military Area have not been identified as a separate body of records. Some records of the subordinate military area organization at Richmond, Va., however, are in the Kansas City (Mo.) Records Center, AGO. Some correspondence relating to local Harbor Defense Boards is in the central records of the War Department, in the AGO; see index sheets filed under AG 334, Oct. 1941-Oct. 1942.

Base Commands in the North Atlantic [1088]

As the war progressed, the Eastern Defense Command's jurisdiction was extended to include the Army's several island base commands in the North Atlantic. These commands served as way stations along the sea and air lanes to Europe, provided base facilities for antisubmarine operations in the North Atlantic, and stood by to undertake defensive operations against enemy attack.

The Newfoundland Base Command was established in December 1940, and its ground, air, and service troop units were placed under the Eastern Defense Command in December 1941. The Bermuda Base Command, established in January 1941, was transferred to the administrative control of the Eastern Defense Command in December 1941, but tactically its ground troops were under the Atlantic Fleet for most of the war. The organization in Iceland originated in July 1941, by an agreement between the Governments of Iceland, the United States, and the United Kingdom; it consisted at first of Marine Corps troop units from the Atlantic Fleet; later it was supplemented by Army air and ground units; and in September 1941 it was designated the Iceland Base Command. Subsequently it was assigned to the War Plans Division of the War Department General Staff; later, in June 1942, to the European Theater of Operations; and finally, in July 1944, to the Eastern Defense Command. In Greenland the first garrison, established in July 1941, consisted of Engineer troop units for building air bases and other military installations there and of Coast Artillery troops for defense. Later, Army Air Forces units and other troops were assigned to the area for operational duty, and in August 1942 the force was designated the Greenland Base Command. It was placed under the Eastern Defense Command in 1944. The base command in the Azores, which was known as the Western District, North African Theater of Operations, United States Army, was renamed United States Army Forces in the Azores in

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May 1944 and was transferred to the Eastern Defense Command. In 1946 the base commands were discontinued, and their postwar functions were taken over by the Air Transport Command, chiefly by its Atlantic Division.

Records.--Apparently none of the wartime records of the headquarters of these base commands are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. They may be interfiled with records of the Atlantic Division of the Air Transport Command, some of which are in the Kansas City (Mo.) Records Center, AGO. Other records of the commands are, however, in the Center at St. Louis, including the records of troop units serving under the commands, 1941-45; orders of the Iceland Base Command's Tactical School, 1942; and case files on claims by Icelanders against the Army, 1941-46, which were handled by Foreign Claims Commission No. 15. Records relating to each of the base commands are among the records of Headquarters Eastern Defense Command. The Air Intelligence Library contains copies of "Weekly Intelligence Summaries" of the Bermuda Base Command, 1943, and the "History and Development of the Keflavik Project," by the Iceland Base Command. In the central records of the War Department, in the AGO, are project files for each of these base commands.

Central Defense Command [1089]

This Command, established in March 1941, was headed at first by the commander of the Second Army, with the headquarters of both at Memphis, Tenn. It extended from Canada on the north to the Southern Defense Command on the south, and westwardly from Ohio and Eastern Tennessee to Wyoming and Colorado. It engaged in a variety of defense-planning activities, civilian-defense activities, and special protective activities, such as guarding the Sault Ste. Marie locks and other important facilities. The Second Army conducted training maneuvers. In January 1944 the Central Defense Command was transferred to and became a sector of the Eastern Defense Command.

Records.--The headquarters records of the Command are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis, interfiled among the records of Headquarters Second Army, 1941-45. They include central files; records of the Judge Advocate General, Signal, Quartermaster, and Medical Sections; records of the Maneuver Director and of the Ranger School; and several series of orders, memoranda, circulars, and bulletins. An unpublished history of the Second Army, 1932-45, is in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.

Southern Defense Command [1090]

Established in March 1941, this Command was headed at first by the commanding general of the Third Army, with the headquarters of both at San Antonio, Tex. Its jurisdiction extended in general over the areas of the United States adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico. Its special programs included liaison and collaboration with the headquarters of the Mexican Army and with Mexican tactical commands stationed across

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the border from Texas. In December 1944 the Southern Defense Command was transferred to and became a sector of the Eastern Defense Command.

Records.--The interfiled records of the headquarters of the Command and of the Third Army, 1936-45, are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. They include several series of general files; a number of series of orders, bulletins, and circulars; and a copy of the Command's unpublished history. The Command's case files concerning the alien exclusion program, 1942-45 (10 feet), are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.

Caribbean Defense Command [1091]

The organization of the Caribbean Defense Command (CDC) as the Army's major tactical force in the Caribbean was planned during the early months of 1941 and its headquarters was established on May 29, 1941, at Quarry Heights, C.Z. The new Command provided unified Army control over the ground and air tactical forces in the Panama Canal Department and the Puerto Rican Department (later the Antilles Department), and over the island commands that were then being established in Trinidad, Jamaica, the Bahamas, and elsewhere in the Caribbean area. The tactical jurisdiction of the Command also extended to Army forces in the French and Dutch colonial possessions in this area and in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and the republics of Central America. This extensive area was divided, for purposes of future ground operations, ground training and supply services, and intelligence and other services common to ground and air forces, into three Sectors: The Panama Sector, roughly the area served by the Panama Canal Department; the Puerto Rican Sector, the area served by the Puerto Rican Department; and the Trinidad Sector, the area of Trinidad, neighboring islands, Venezuela, and the Guianas. Air operations were divided between two major air forces--the Panama Canal Department Air Force (later the Sixth Air Force) and the 13th Composite Wing (later the Antilles Air Command).

On December 1, 1941, the Caribbean Defense Command, which had been responsible to the War Plans Division, War Department General Staff, for both tactical and administrative matters, was transferred to the jurisdiction of the General Headquarters United States Army; and in March 1942, when that Headquarters was discontinued, general administrative control passed to the Operations Division, War Department General Staff. Tactical or operational control over antisubmarine and other defense operations was a responsibility of unified Army-Navy commands in the Caribbean. From December 19, 1941, to December 1942, the Panama and Pacific approaches were under the Caribbean Defense Command, while the Antilles and Atlantic approaches were under the Navy's Caribbean Sea Frontier; from late in 1942 the Caribbean Defense Command directed both the Panama Sector and the Panama Sea Frontier, while the Caribbean Sea Frontier directed both its own naval units and the Army's Puerto Rican Sector. The Caribbean Defense Command remained, however, administratively

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responsible to the Operations Division, War Department General Staff, on such nontactical matters as supply, construction, personnel, and training.

After May 1945 the Caribbean Defense Command became a major training and staging command for the retraining and redeployment of Army troop units released from Europe for combat duty in the Pacific. In September 1945 it was renamed the Caribbean Command, and after September 1947, when the Army Air Forces was separated from the Army, the ground and service organization in the Caribbean was renamed the United States Army, Caribbean.

Records.--The central files of Headquarters Caribbean Defense Command, 1941-45, and the records of its general-staff and special-staff sections are in the custody of Headquarters United States Army, Caribbean. The wartime records of the major subordinate commands of the Caribbean Defense Command are separately described below. The noncurrent wartime records of Army troop units assigned to the Caribbean Defense Command are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis.

The central records of the War Department, in the AGO, contain papers relating to the Caribbean Defense Command; see the project files entitled "Caribbean Defense Command," 1941-45, and "Caribbean Theater of Operations," 1943-45. Copies of many of the Command's monthly "Operations Reports," Sept. 1943-July 1945, are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO; and unpublished monographs by the Command's Historical Section on antisubmarine operations (1 vol.), on military missions and other activities in Peru and Chile (2 vols.), on construction and real estate activities (2 vols.), on lend-lease activities (1 vol.), and on supply and transportation activities (1 vol.) are in the Army's Historical Division.

The location of the records of the Sixth Air Force is unknown. Correspondence and reports of its headquarters, including operational and intelligence reports, are in the records of Headquarters Army Air Forces; histories of the Air Force and its subordinate commands are in the Air Historical Group. Records of the Antilles Air Command and its predecessors are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. They include central files, 1940-45, and orders and memoranda.

Panama Canal Department [1092]

The Panama Canal Department (PCD), which antedated the war, served from 1939 to May 1941 as a major territorial command responsible directly to the War Department in Washington, particularly to the War Plans Division of the War Department General Staff. It had tactical responsibilities for air and ground defense of both the Atlantic and Pacific approaches to the Canal. In May 1941 it was made one of three regional commands under the newly established Caribbean Defense Command, and the area of its tactical operations was called the Panama Sector. Both PCD Headquarters and CDC Headquarters were at Quarry Heights, C.Z., and some of their staff sections served in a dual capacity in both headquarters. After December 17, 1942, the Panama Canal Department had

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tactical control both over ground and air forces and over the Navy's task forces in the Canal Zone area (the Panama Sea Frontier).

The Panama Canal Department, besides being responsible for defense operations, participated during the war in some of the Caribbean Defense Command's nontactical programs, including the construction of air bases, the military training of Latin-American nationals, the training of United States troops for warfare in the jungle, and the redeployment training and staging of United States troop units en route from Europe to the Pacific in July and August 1945.

Records.--The central files and other records of Headquarters Panama Canal Department, 1939-45, are in the custody of the successor Headquarters United States Army, Caribbean. Copies of the Panama Canal Department's "G-2 Periodic Reports" are in the Air Intelligence Library; copies of its "Monthly Statistical Reports" are in the central records of Headquarters Army Air Forces (in the "bulk" files, under 319.1); and a copy of its report on Operation "Transit" (the redeployment program), July-Aug. 1945, is in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. The Panama Canal Department's historical unit prepared monographs on wartime organizational problems (1 vol.), training (2 vols.), construction (2 vols.), supply (2 vols.), and transportation (2 vols.), and on the Corps of Engineers (2 vols.) and the Ordnance Department (2 vols.) in the Panama Canal Department during the war; copies of these are in the Army's Historical Division.

Antilles Department [1093]

The Puerto Rican Department was established by the War Department in May 1939 to assume the responsibility, previously that of the Second Corps Area, for the defense of the Puerto Rico area and for conducting Corps Area administrative, intelligence, training, supply, and other Army services, including the administration of National Guard affairs, in Puerto Rico. In May 1941 the Department was made a regional defense command under the newly established Caribbean Defense Command, and for tactical purposes its territory was regarded as the Puerto Rican Sector. Army forces in the Department were under the operational control of the Navy's Caribbean Sea Frontier. On June 1, 1943, the Puerto Rican Department was renamed the Antilles Department, and its territorial limits were extended to include the bases in the British West Indies and British Guiana leased by the United States from the United Kingdom in September 1940. The area of these bases was collectively called, for tactical purposes, the Trinidad Sector, and in January 1944 it was extended to include the Aruba-Curaçao subsector and territory in Venezuela west of Caracas. The Headquarters of the two successive Departments was at San Juan, P.R.

The Department's major combat organizations in Puerto Rico were its Coast Artillery troop units, reorganized as the Antilles Coast Artillery Command, and its air defense and air service organization, which developed into the Antilles Air Command (AAC). In October 1943 the AAC withdrew from tactical operations and became essentially an air training command. Outside of Puerto Rico, the Antilles Department's major forces at

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the island bases consisted of garrison forces, which were trained for ground defense operations, if necessary; construction and maintenance troops; and other service troops. These forces were under the general regional supervision of the Trinidad Sector and Base Command, known as the Trinidad Base Command after May 1, 1944. The other island forces were the Antigua Base Command, the Aruba Defense Command, United States Army Forces, Bahamas, the British Guiana Base Command, the Curaçao Defense Command, United States Army Forces, French Guiana, United States Army Forces, Jamaica and (later) the Jamaica Base Command, the Santa Lucia Base Command, and United States Army Forces, Surinam.

By October 1943 combat operations in the Antilles area came to a successful close, and the Antilles Department's activities during the remainder of the war were redirected toward tactical air and ground training. After the war the Antilles Department was renamed the United States Army Forces, Antilles.

Records.--The central files and other records of Headquarters Puerto Rican Department and Headquarters Antilles Department, 1939-45, are in the custody of the successor United States Army Forces, Antilles.

The central records of the War Department, in the AGO, contain some correspondence on the island forces and base commands mentioned above; see the project files for each of them. Unpublished historical reports prepared in the Antilles Department include the following: Monographs on the Department's organization, 1941-46 (1 vol.), on the war plans and defense measures of the Puerto Rican Department before May 1941 (1 vol.), and on real estate activities (1 vol.), and a history of the Trinidad Sector and Base Command, in the Army's Historical Division; a history of the Antilles Air C ommand, 1940-45, in the Air Historical Group; and histories of United States Army Forces, Surinam, Sept. 1941-Sept. 1942, and of the Jamaica Base Command, 1944, in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.

Western Defense Command [1094]

On March 17, 1941, the War Department established the Western Defense Command (WDC), under the direction of the commanding general of the Fourth Army, to provide for the defense of the west coast of the continental United States. The Command had jurisdiction over Army tactical units along the Pacific coast and eastward as far as Utah, Idaho, and Montana. On December 11, 1941, the War Department placed the Western and Alaska Defense Commands under the newly established Western Theater of Operations, with theater command vested in the commanding general of the "Western Defense Command and Fourth Army." On October 27, 1943, shortly after the end of the campaign against the Japanese in the Aleutian Islands, the War Department terminated the Western Theater of Operations, and on November 1, 1943, the Alaska Defense Command was separated from the Western Defense Command and renamed the Alaskan Department. From November 1943 until March 1946, when it was discontinued, the Western Defense Command continued to function as one of the two major continental defense commands of the Army.

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Records.--The wartime records of Headquarters Western Defense Command and Fourth Army are divided among the AGO records depositories in St. Louis, Kansas City, and Washington. The Western Defense Command's general files, 1941-45, a special series on Mexico, 1941-45, records on "Balloon Sightings and Related Incidents," 1945, and the records of the Quartermaster and Ordnance Sections were in 1947 at the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. Other records of the Command are in the Kansas City (Mo.) Records Center, AGO. Most of the records of Headquarters Fourth Army, June 1941-Sept. 1943, are interfiled with the records of Headquarters Western Defense Command. A separate series of the Fourth Army's maneuver records, 1937-41, is in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis.

The Western Defense Command's records relating to the exclusion of enemy aliens (Japanese and non-Japanese) and of Americans of Japanese descent, 1942-46, are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. They include policy and procedural files, sets of exclusion orders, correspondence about individual exclusion hearing boards, transcripts of hearings, selected case files for individuals excluded, and personnel records for individual military and civilian employees engaged in the exclusion program. Copies of reports that were assembled as the final signed report (cited below) of the commanding general of the Western Defense Command and the Fourth Army on the evacuation of Japanese-Americans from the west coast and of exhibits accompanying the report, 1941-43 (5 feet), are in the National Archives.

A three-volume unpublished "History of the Western Defense Command," prepared by the Command's Headquarters in 1946, is in the Army's Historical Division. Selected documents relating to the Command and the Fourth Army are in the historical-reports files of the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. They include partial sets of the Command's organization charts, station lists, and field orders; a Fourth Army report on "Harbor Defenses of Los Angeles--Anti-Submarine Action, 24-25 December 1941"; reports on the Attu landings and the Aleutian Islands campaign, May-Sept. 1943; and periodic intelligence reports of the G-2 Section, Headquarters Fourth Army, Sept. 1944. The central records of the War Department, in the AGO, contain some of the correspondence of the General Staff and other agencies in Washington with and about the Western Defense Command; see index sheets (8 linear feet) filed under AG 322 Fourth Army, 1940-45, and the project files for "Western Defense Command," 1941-45, and "Western Theater of Operations," 1942.

The Final Report: Japanese Evacuation From the West Coast 1942 (1943. 618 p.), by the Western Defense Command and the Fourth Army, contains a description of the exclusion program and copies of selected documents from the records of the Western Defense Command.

Sectors [1095]

The operations of the Western Defense Command were carried 1095 on by the following five Sectors, established in December 1941: The Alaska Sector, with headquarters at Fort Richardson, Alaska; the Northwestern

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Sector, with headquarters at Fort Lewis, Wash.; the Northern California Sector, with headquarters at San Francisco; the Southern California Sector, with headquarters at Los Angeles; and the Southern Land Frontier Sector, for the areas adjacent to the Mexico-California-Arizona border, with headquarters at Phoenix, Ariz. Each Sector was responsible for the Army-ground, air, and service troop units assigned to it, for the support of the forces of the Naval Districts operating adjacent to or within its area; and for the internal security of important industrial, military, and other installations in the area. From December 1941 to September 1943, the Sector forces included units of the Fourth Army, the Fourth and Eleventh Air Forces, the Fourth Antiaircraft Command, and the Harbor Defenses at Puget Sound, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. These Harbor Defenses, which were manned by Coast Artillery units and Coast Guard units, remained under the Western Defense Command until the end of the war.

Each Sector also participated in the exclusion program on the west coast. It provided escorts for enemy-alien evacuees from prohibited military areas, supervised the security measures of Assembly Centers, helped to enforce proclamations and restrictive orders issued by the Civil Affairs Division of the Western Defense Command, and conducted removals of Japanese and Japanese-Americans to War Relocation Centers. In January 1944, after the threat of war on the west coast had receded, the Sectors were given jurisdiction over the Army components of the three Joint Operations Centers, which had been established in December 1941 at Seattle, San Francisco, and San Diego to provide joint "command posts" for the Army's Western Defense Command and the Navy's Western and Northwestern Sea Frontiers. After January 1944 these Centers became Joint Information Centers, which were used for exchanging intelligence information among the ground, naval, and air forces and for coordinating joint training exercises and maneuvers.

Records.--Most of the records of the four Sector headquarters in the continental United States are in the Kansas City (Mo.) Records Center, AGO. In 1947 a part of the central files of the Southern Land Frontier Sector, 1941-43, was in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. Also in that Center are records of the Harbor Defenses and of the Army troop units that served under the Sectors. The records of the Alaska Sector headquarters are described below as records of the Alaska Defense Command.

Wartime Civil Control Administration [1096]

This agency of the Western Defense Command was established on March 11, 1942, to provide for the immediate evacuation and temporary resettlement of Japanese and Japanese-Americans from the strategic areas on the Pacific coast. The Administration determined requirements for the evacuation and resettlement project; generally supervised all aspects of the evacuation operations, including property protection, social service, and medical care for evacuees; enforced the Western Defense Command's orders and instructions relating to evacuation; supervised the several Civil Control Stations and Assembly Centers, to which evacuees were first removed; supervised the site selection and construction of facilities that were later used

--725--

by the War Relocation Centers; and handled the transfer of evacuees to the jurisdiction of the War Relocation Authority, which was responsible for the relocation, maintenance, and supervision of the evacuees. The Administration cooperated with other agencies participating in the evacuation program: The Federal Security Agency, the War Manpower Commission, the Farm Security Administration, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the Department of Justice, and the American National Red Cross.

On March 15, 1943, the Civil Control Administration was discontinued, and its continuing functions were transferred to the Civil Affairs Division of Western Defense Command Headquarters.

Records.--The records of this agency form part of the Western Defense Command's segregated "exclusion program" files, which are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.

Alaska Defense Command [1097]

The Alaska Defense Force, established in July 1940, was reorganized and renamed the Alaska Defense Command (ADC) in May 1941. The new Command, with headquarters at Fort Richardson, Alaska, was responsible for planning the Army's air and ground defense in the Territory of Alaska and, under the command of the Navy's North Pacific Force, directing the participation of ADC troop units in the Aleutian Islands Campaign against the Japanese, June 3, 1942-August 24, 1943. The Eleventh Air Force was under the administrative jurisdiction of the Alaska Defense Command and the operational control of the North Pacific Force.

The Alaska Defense Command also participated in the cold-weather testing of equipment and troop units in Alaska and assisted in the shipping of lend-lease matériel from the United States to the Soviet Union by way of Alaska. On November 1, 1943, the Alaska Defense Command was renamed the Alaskan Department. After the war the Department was reorganized and renamed the United States Army, Alaska.

Records.--The wartime administrative records of the headquarters of the Command (60 feet), records of the bases at Attu and Shemya, and a few records of the base at Adak are in the Kansas City (Mo.) Records Center, AGO. They include general files, 1940-45, weekly and daily intelligence reports of the G-2 Section, 1942-46, and several series of orders and other directives. Copies of the Command's historical reports entitled "The Enemy on Kiska," "Battle of the Aleutians," and "The Alaskan Highway" are in the Army's Historical Division. Reports of the Alaskan Department's Experimental Board, 1943-44, and of its Artillery Board on Permanent Seacoast Defense, November 1944, are in the Department Records Branch, AGO. In the central records of the War Department, in the AGO, are project files •entitled "United States Troops in Alaska" and "Alaskan Department," 1940-45 (1 foot).
[See HyperWar for accounts of operations in Alaska. --HyperWar]

Records of the Eleventh Air Force were in 1947 in the custody of its postwar successor, the Alaskan Air Command. A considerable quantity of records selected by its Historical Section is in the Air Historical Group; and correspondence of its headquarters is in the central records of Headquarters

--726--

Army Air Forces and in the central records of the War Department in the AGO (see index sheets filed under AG 322 Eleventh Air Force, 1942-45).

United States Army Forces in Central Canada [1098]

The "Crimson Project" was established by the War Department on July 27, 1942, to construct and operate air bases and auxiliary installations in Central Canada, Baffin Island, Labrador, and the regions north of these areas. On March 9, 1943, the Crimson Project was divided; and the Eastern Sector, responsible for activities in Baffin Island and Labrador, was assigned to the North Atlantic Division of the Air Transport Command. The Western Sector remained under the direct control of the War Department General Staff, and on July 1, 1943, it was renamed the United States Army Forces in Central Canada (USAFCC). This command, which was classified by the War Department as a "theater of operations" for administrative purposes, included Army air installations in the provinces of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario, the district of Keewatin, and the areas directly north as far as the North Pole. On October 1, 1945, the command was discontinued.

Records.--Records of the command and its predecessor, 1942-45, are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. They include the central files of the headquarters of the Western Sector, 1942-43, all pertaining to the Crimson Project (2 feet); and the central files of Headquarters USAFCC, June 1943-Apr. 1945 (16 feet), which include papers on air facilities in the Arctic and subarctic areas, an unpublished volume of "Reports by Dr. A. Bajkov," 1944 (containing translations of Russian studies on the Arctic), and extensive transcripts of telephone conversations between United States and Canadian military and civil officials at the headquarters at Winnipeg and Churchill, Manitoba, 1943-45. Other records of Headquarters USAFCC (35 feet), also in the Center at St. Louis, are series of administrative orders; blueprints of airfields in central Canada; and records of the Transportation, Engineer, Chemical Warfare, Ordnance, Signal, Medical, Quartermaster, Judge Advocate, and other Sections of Headquarters.

A history of USAFCC (1945. 32 p.) is in the Army's Historical Division. Copies of some of the command's orders, construction reports, and maps are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. Correspondence of and about USAFCC, 1943-45, is in the central records of the War Department, in the AGO; see the project files entitled "USAF Eastern Canada," 1943-44; and "USAF Central Canada," 1943-44.

United States Army Forces in the South Atlantic [1099]

This command, known also as USAFSA, was established in November 1942, with headquarters at Recife, Brazil, as a non-combat command for conducting programs of construction, mapping, intelligence, and training in South America, some of which had been handled since

--727--

May 1942 by the South Atlantic Wing and predecessor commands of the Air Transport Command. USAFSA was responsible directly to the Operations Division of the War Department General Staff.

USAFSA's construction responsibilities included the building of air bases and airfields in northeastern Brazil and the Guianas. It carried on Army Air Forces photo-mapping projects in the same area. It had responsibilities for liaison between the Brazilian Army and air forces on the one hand and United States agencies on the other, including the American Intelligence Command, the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, the Defense Supplies Corporation, and the Rubber Development Corporation. It was responsible also for the United States Military Mission to Paraguay in 1944 and for the United States delegation to the Joint Brazil-United States Military Commission at Rio de Janeiro in 1945. In its intelligence activities it took over the work of the American Intelligence Command in August 1943 and continued the program of compiling and transmitting to Washington information about enemy espionage and pro-Axis political activities in Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay. USAFSA assisted the Brazilian military establishment in training and organizing the Brazilian Expeditionary Force and moving it overseas for duty in Italy. It also provided a defense force for Ascension Island.

USAFSA was discontinued on October 31, 1945. Its bases in Brazil and Ascension Island were transferred to the South Atlantic Wing of the Air Transport Command; its military missions and photo-mapping projects in Paraguay and Uruguay were transferred to the Caribbean Defense Command; and the Joint Brazil-United States Military Commission was returned to the control of the Joint Brazil-United States Defense Commission in Washington.

Records.--Most of the records of Headquarters USAFSA are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. They include central files, 1942-45; the command's "Final Report" (with 25 annexes), Nov. 1945; lend-lease records, 1945, and reports of Staff conversations with Brazilian, Paraguayan, and Uruguayan officers; general and special orders and bulletins; records of the G-2, Inspector General, Judge Advocate General, and Surgeon Sections; records of the Engineer Section and 38 regional Engineer offices and of the Army Exchange sections or offices; and records of the Recife Military Area, 1945. The records of the following other staff sections were transferred to other custody in October 1945. The records of the G-4 Section, the Fiscal Director, the Chaplain, the Censor, the Quartermaster Section, the Ordnance Section, and the Petroleum Section were transferred to the South Atlantic Wing of the Air Transport Command; the records of the Air Staff were divided among that Wing, the Caribbean Defense Command, the Operations Division of the War Department General Staff, and the Military Attache at Rio de Janeiro; and the film library (about 15,000 prints) of the Signal Section was transferred to the Joint Brazil-United States Military Commission, at Rio de Janeiro.

Papers relating to USAFSA are in the central records of the War Department, in the AGO; see the project files entitled "USAF South Atlantic," 1943-45, "USAF South America," 1943-45, "South Atlantic Area,"

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1943-45, and "USAF Ascension Island," 1942. Copies of the USAFSA "Final Report," 1942-45, and a history of the Recife Military Area, Apr.-Oct. 1945, are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.

Sea Frontiers [1100]

As early as 1927 the Navy's plans for the coastal defense of the United States and its Territories and possessions provided for the establishment of Naval Coastal Frontiers that would be larger operational commands than the individual Naval Districts. On July 1, 1941, the Chief of Naval Operations formally established several Naval Coastal Frontiers; on February 6, 1942, these were renamed Sea Frontiers. Each Frontier was a geographic area, usually comprising a number of Naval Districts but including in addition the outer shipping lanes in its sea area. The land areas of the Frontiers corresponded roughly to the Army's Defense Commands, but the boundaries were not identical. The Frontier Commander was usually also the commandant of a Naval District within the Frontier. The chief responsibilities of the Sea Frontiers during World War II were operational; Frontier forces engaged actively in scouting for enemy forces, particularly submarines, and in attack on any enemy units within their boundaries. Toward the end of the war the Frontiers were assigned administrative and logistic functions in addition to their operational responsibilities.

The Sea Frontiers were organized into sectors, each of which as a rule corresponded to a Naval District and was a subcommand under the Frontier commander. Frontier bases, most of which had formerly been Naval District bases, furnished logistic support to the Frontier forces and to units of the fleet within Frontier waters. A very important element of the Frontier organization was the Joint Operations Center, sometimes called the Joint Intelligence Center. In such centers the current position of friendly and enemy warships, aircraft, submarines, and merchantmen in Frontier waters was shown on magnetic or graphic-display boards, with Army and Navy officers in constant attendance to evaluate such intelligence, report it to the proper quarters, and coordinate action for any emergency.

The naval operating forces of the Frontier included the Sea Frontier Forces, which consisted of ships and aircraft allocated by the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, directly to the Frontier Commander, and the local defense forces of the Naval Districts, which were allocated by the Chief of Naval Operations to the Naval Districts and which after June 1942 were put under the Frontier Commander. As commanding officer of the Sea Frontier Forces the Frontier Commander served as a task-group commander of the fleet that operated in the waters adjacent to his Frontier, and he was thus responsible both to the commander in chief of that fleet and the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet. The Naval District Commandants, who were in immediate command of their local defense forces, became in June 1942 task-force commanders under the operational command of the Sea Frontier Commanders. In April 1943, during the period of intense antisubmarine operations in the Atlantic, the Frontier Commanders and District

--729--

Commandants involved in these operations were assigned to the command of the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, in his capacity as Commander of the Tenth Fleet (the antisubmarine force).

The Sea Frontiers within the American Theater are separately discussed below. Those Frontiers that were not within that Theater are described under the appropriate theaters. The makeup of the Sea Frontier Forces and the local defense forces and the command relationships of the Frontier Commander with his superiors and with the Naval District Commandants are not, however, recapitulated for each Sea Frontier.

Records.--Wartime records of each Sea Frontier include war diaries of Frontier headquarters and of land-based naval commands within the Frontier; action reports of operations against enemy forces; correspondence of the Frontier Commander; and records of the Assistant Commandant (Logistics), the Operations Officer, the Joint Operations Center, and the frontier bases and stations. Most of these records have been transferred to naval records management centers.

Naval Districts [1101]

On May 7, 1903, several Naval Districts were established for the purpose of providing both regional administration of the naval shore establishments and naval defense of the continental United States. Besides an assigned land area, each District included coastal waters and the coastwise shipping lanes. It was responsible for defending its section of the coast with local defense forces assigned by the Chief of Naval Operations and for coordinating the shore establishments within its area.

The operational functions of most of the Naval Districts in World War II were in the defense of their coasts. Their local defense forces were augmented by other naval vessels and aircraft and by Coast Guard units. Local defense forces consisted of such units as the offshore patrol, the inshore patrol, harbor-entrance control posts (operated in conjunction with the Army), short-range air patrols, beach patrols, coastal pickets or coastal lookouts, shipping-control units, mine and bomb disposal units, and net and mine defense units. The Naval Operating Bases and Naval Air Stations in each District were commanded by the District Commandant.

Because of his dual role as an operational commander under the Frontier commander and as commander of the naval personnel in shore facilities and coordinator of the facilities within his District, the District Commandant usually delegated his operational functions to an officer called by some such title as Assistant Commandant (Operations) or District Operations Officer; his logistic functions were carried out through the Assistant Commandant (Logistics), a position established in several Districts early in the war and made uniform throughout the Districts in 1943. Although throughout the war the Naval District Commandants had command authority over the shore establishments in their Districts and in this respect were not responsible to the Sea Frontier Commanders, the Naval Districts are identified in this volume under the Sea Frontiers of which they were a part. The Second

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Naval District, which was inactivated long before World War II, is not discussed.

Records.--The World War II records of Naval Districts consist of headquarters records and records of subordinate commands and offices. Among the most important records are the correspondence files of the Commandant; records of the Assistant Commandant (Logistics), the War Plans Office, the Operations Office, the Intelligence Office, and the Public Works Office; and war diaries of District headquarters and of subordinate command units, such as inshore patrol section bases. The location of specific records is given in the separate entries below.

The administrative history of the Naval Districts and the wartime command relationships between them and the Sea Frontiers are discussed in Office of Naval History, "The Development of the Naval Districts, 1903-1945" (September 1945. 65 p., processed).
[See HyperWar for description and boundaries of Naval Districts --HyperWar]

Ninth Naval District [1102]

In World War II the only Naval District that did not have coastal defense functions was the Ninth. This District, with headquarters at Great Lakes, Ill., included the Great Lakes except Ontario and consisted of 13 interior States in the upper Mississippi Valley. It was important in the procurement and training of officers and men, the provision of naval material, and the construction and delivery of vessels.

Records.--The general correspondence of the Commandant Ninth Naval District, 1941-45, is in the Naval Records Management Center at New Orleans. His correspondence, 1939-40, is in the National Archives. An unpublished three-volume history of the District is in the Division of Naval Records and History.

Eastern Sea Frontier [1103]

This Frontier, established as the North Atlantic Naval Coastal Frontier, became the Eastern Sea Frontier in 1942. Its headquarters was in New York City and its Commander was until June 1942 the Commandant of the Third Naval District. As originally established, it extended from the Canadian border to the southern extreme of Hatteras Inlet. It included the First Naval District, which consisted of the United States naval establishments in Newfoundland and the New England States except Connecticut; the Third Naval District, which consisted of Connecticut, New York, and northern New Jersey; the Fourth Naval District, which extended south of the Third to the northern border of Maryland; and the Fifth Naval District, which extended from that border to Hatteras Inlet. In 1942 the Frontier was enlarged by the transfer to it of the Sixth Naval District, and its southern boundary was thus extended to include the Jacksonville area of Florida. Joint Operations Centers in the Frontier were located at Boston; New York City; Cape May, N.J.; Charleston, S.C; and Jacksonville.

The Frontier was concerned chiefly with the control and protection of merchant shipping within its area of responsibility, the security of its ports from enemy minelaying and submarine attacks, the defense of the Atlantic Coast, and the support of the Atlantic Fleet. The Frontier controlled and routed

--731--

shipping in accordance with directives from the Tenth Fleet, the antisubmarine command, which operated from Headquarters of Commander in Chief, United States Fleet. Other activities of the Frontier were surface and air patrol of the shipping lanes; attack on enemy forces within the Frontier, in cooperation with the Atlantic Fleet and the forces of allied powers; air-sea rescue; maintenance of the Lighthouse Service and coastal lookout stations within its area; and support of the Army's Eastern Defense Command.

The Commander Eastern Sea Frontier served as a task-group commander of the Atlantic Fleet. He commanded the task forces under the Naval District Commandants; each of these forces was divided into the ship-lane patrol, the air patrol, and the local defense force.

Records.--Wartime records of the Frontier, including general administrative files, war diaries, and logs, are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa. Most of the wartime records of the First Naval District are in the Center at Garden City, N.Y.; they include the Commandant's correspondence, 1943-46, general administrative records, war diaries of the Assistant Chief of Staff (Operations), and correspondence of the Operations Office relating to security matters. The general correspondence of the Commandant, 1939-42, is in the National Archives. Records of the Third Naval District, 1941-45, including the Commandant's files, historical narratives of the organization and operations of the District, and administrative records of its headquarters offices, are in the Center at Garden City. War diaries of the Fourth Naval District, 1941-45, are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg. The general correspondence of its Commandant, 1939-45, is in the National Archives. The general correspondence of the Commandant Fifth Naval District for 1939-43 is in the National Archives, and that for 1944-45 is in the Center at Mechanicsburg. Wartime records of the Sixth Naval District, including the correspondence of the Commandant, are in the Naval Records Management Center at New Orleans. Unpublished histories of the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Naval Districts are in the Division of Naval Records and History.
[See also History of the Eastern Sea Frontier (Organizational and Operational) --HyperWar]

Potomac River Naval Command [1104]

This Command, established on December 8, 1941, included the Potomac River up to Great Falls, the District of Columbia, and adjacent counties in Maryland and Virginia. The Commandant of the Washington Navy Yard was its Commandant, and its headquarters was at the Yard. The Command was a geographic and command unit within the Eastern Sea Frontier. Its operations were much like those of the Naval Districts except that it had no responsibility for coastal defense. It was responsible for the internal security and passive defense of the area and the control of its waterways. The Command's local defense forces, under the Commandant, consisted of certain Coast Guard patrol boats, which operated as the Potomac River Patrol, the antiaircraft batteries of any ships that might be in port, and a provisional battalion of Marines from the base at Quantico, Va.

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The defense of the area, however, rested almost entirely with the Army. On May 9, 1942, unified command over the Potomac River Area was vested in the Commanding General, Military District of Washington. The Army and Navy commands in the area maintained close liaison in intelligence, joint discipline, ceremonies, and other matters.

Records.--Wartime records of the Command are in the Naval Records Management Center at Arlington, Va. An unpublished history of the Command is in the Division of Naval Records and History.
[See also Narrative History of the Potomac River Naval Command --HyperWar]

Severn River Naval Command [1105]

This Command, established on December 8, 1941, comprised Anne Arundel County, Md. The Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy was its Commandant, and its headquarters was at the Academy. The Command was a geographic and command unit within the Eastern Sea Frontier. It was responsible for the active and passive defense of its area and for protection of the naval activities in it from sabotage, espionage, and other subversive action. Its local defense forces consisted chiefly of the midshipmen and a Marine detachment.

Records.--Wartime records of the Command are in the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md. An unpublished history of the Command is in the Division of Naval Records and History.
[See also Administrative History of Severn River Naval Command --HyperWar]

Gulf Sea Frontier [1106]

This Frontier, established as the Southern Naval Coastal Frontier, became the Gulf Sea Frontier in 1942. As first established, the Frontier stretched from the neighborhood of Cape Hatteras, N. C, to the western border of Texas. It included the Sixth Naval District, which consisted of most of North Carolina, all of South Carolina and Georgia, and the Jacksonville area of Florida; the Seventh Naval District, which consisted of the rest of Florida east of the Apalachicola River; and the Eighth Naval District, which included the western part of Florida, the Gulf Coast States, and the interior States of Tennessee, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. In February 1942 the Frontier was reduced by the transfer of the Sixth Naval District to the Eastern Sea Frontier.

The offshore limits of the Gulf Sea Frontier extended to certain defined points in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico and included the outer shipping lanes. Headquarters of the Frontier was successively at Charleston, Key West, and Miami. Joint Operations Centers were at Miami and New Orleans. On October 18, 1945, the Frontier was disestablished as a separate command and jurisdiction over it was transferred to the Commander Eastern Sea Frontier.

The primary task of the Frontier was to protect United States and friendly shipping in the Gulf of Mexico. Its greatest activity was in the antisubmarine warfare during 1942-43, when both German and Italian undersea craft operated in the Gulf. The Frontier was responsible for the control and routing of shipping in its area, surface and air patrol of the sea lanes,

--733--

escort of merchant ships, air-sea rescue service, and maintenance of close liaison with adjacent Army and Navy commands.

After the Sixth Naval District was transferred to the Eastern Sea Frontier the Commandant of the Seventh Naval District became Commander of the Gulf Sea Frontier. In this position he was a task-force commander of the Tenth Fleet, exercised command over Army and Navy antisubmarine operations in the Gulf, and was subject to orders from the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet. He also served as a task-group commander of the Atlantic Fleet. The local defense forces of the two Districts under his command were organized in the surface escort group, the surface striking group, and the naval air group. Another group under his operational control was the Army air task group, which patrolled shipping lanes and provided special escort, search, and striking forces.

In June 1944 the Commandant of the Seventh Naval District was assigned administrative control over the advance bases within the limits of the Gulf Sea Frontier. These bases were located at Walker Cay and Grand Cayman in the Bahamas and at Cayo Frances, La Fe, Santa Fe, St. Julian, and Camaguey in Cuba.

Records.--Records of the Frontier, 1941-45, including general correspondence, operational records, and war diaries, are in the Naval Records Management Center at New Orleans. Dispatch files, 1942-44, are in the Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa.

Records of the Sixth Naval District are discussed in entry 1103. Records of the Seventh Naval District, 1942-45, including the Commandant's correspondence and records of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Administration and Plans, are in the Naval Records Management Center at New Orleans. Records of the advance bases mentioned above and the central files of the Commandant of the Eighth Naval District, 1940-45, are also in that Center.

Unpublished histories of the Gulf Sea Frontier and the Seventh and Eighth Naval Districts are in the Division of Naval Records and History.

Caribbean Sea Frontier [1107]

This Frontier, established as the Caribbean Naval Coastal Frontier, became the Caribbean Sea Frontier in 1942. Its headquarters was at San Juan, P.R. Its Commander throughout the war was also Commandant Tenth Naval District, which had been established in January 1940. The land areas of the District and Frontier were identical. They included Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands; the submarine base at St. Thomas; and, after January 8, 1941, the six bases built by the United States on the British islands of Jamaica, Trinidad, Antigua, St. Lucia, and Great Exuma and in British Guiana. The more important shore activities of the District during the war were the Naval Operating Bases at Trinidad, B. W. I., and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; the Naval Air Stations in St. Lucia, Antigua, Trinidad, and British Guiana; and the Section Base facilities in San Juan, P.R.

The sea area of the Caribbean Sea Frontier included the portions of the Caribbean and the Atlantic that were part of the Tenth Naval District and

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waters farther offshore. During the first 3 years of the war the Frontier was divided into the Guantanamo, Trinidad, and Puerto Rico Sectors; in January 1944 the Curaçao-Aruba Sector was established.

The primary duty of the Frontier was to protect shipping within its area; its chief objective was to seek out and destroy enemy submarines. Its other operations included escort of merchantmen, patrol of the sea lanes, and air-sea rescue. In these activities the Frontier forces operated as part of the Tenth Fleet, subject to the command of the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, and cooperated with the Caribbean Defense Command of the Army. The Joint Operations Center was set up at San Juan. The Frontier Commander was in command of Army and Air Forces units assigned for operations in the Frontier. One of these was the Antilles Air Task Force, which hunted out enemy submarines and did escort, patrol, and rescue work. Air operations in the Frontier were directed by the Commander Fleet Air Wing Eleven, a unit of the Atlantic Fleet's Air Force that operated in the Caribbean under the Frontier Commander.

Records.--Most of the wartime records of the Frontier are in the Naval Records Management Center at New Orleans. They include headquarters central correspondence and war diaries, dispatch files of the Joint Operations Center, war diaries of Sector commands and other subordinate commands, a history of Fleet Air Wing Eleven, organization manuals, and maps, charts, and other records relating to antisubmarine warfare. Records of a few naval air facilities in the Frontier are in the National Archives. Records of the Tenth Naval District, also in the Center at New Orleans, include general correspondence of its Commandant, 1940-44, wartime records of the Caribbean Patrol and of Headquarters Inshore Patrol, and records of the Caribbean bases. Unpublished histories of the Caribbean Sea Frontier and the Tenth Naval District are in the Division of Naval Records and History.

Commander All Forces Aruba-Curaçao [1108]

By an agreement made with authorities of the Netherlands a Dutch-American command was established in the Aruba-Curaçao area on April 1, 1942, and was assigned to a United States naval officer as Commander All Forces Aruba-Curaçao. Under this command, with headquarters at Willemstadt, the Dutch forces in the area operated under Dutch commanders and United States forces under United States officers. The command was responsible to the Commander Caribbean Sea Frontier.

Records.--Fragmentary records of the command are in the Naval Records Management Center at New Orleans.
[See also Aruba-Curaçao Command Headquarters, Commander All Forces --HyperWar]

Panama Sea Frontier [1109]

This Frontier, established as the Panama Naval Coastal Frontier, became the Panama Sea Frontier in 1942. The Commander of the Frontier was also the Commandant Fifteenth Naval District, with headquarters at Balboa. The Frontier included the Fifteenth Naval District (the Canal Zone) and United States possessions and naval reservations and activities in Central America, Colombia, and Ecuador: the islands

--735--

in the Caribbean southwest of the boundary of the Caribbean Sea Frontier; and the islands in the Pacific off Central America and the northwestern coast of South America. It also included the waters within these areas and the sea lanes outside but near its western and southern boundaries. The Joint Operations Center in the Frontier was at Cristobal, C.Z. On November 5, 1947, the Frontier was disestablished.

The duties of the Frontier were to defend its area against enemy attack or penetration; destroy enemy forces or communications within and near it; protect, control, and route shipping; establish and maintain strategic air facilities; give operational support to the Atlantic Fleet and the Panama Canal Department of the Army's Caribbean Defense Command; and furnish air-sea rescue service.

In accordance with a decision of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on December 17, 1942, unified command in this area was vested in the commanding general of the Army's Panama Canal Department. The Commander Panama Sea Frontier was under the operational control of the commanding general and was designated as Commander All Naval Forces Available in Panama Sea Frontier. He served as a task-group commander of the Atlantic Fleet and a task-force commander of the United States Fleet. The Sea Frontier Forces were divided into the sea forces, naval air forces, and local defense forces. They included the usual Naval District vessels, submarines and PT boats from the Atlantic Fleet, and planes of the Atlantic Fleet's Air Force.

Records.--Wartime records of the Frontier and the Fifteenth Naval District are in the Naval Records Management Center at New Orleans. Unpublished histories of the Frontier and the District are in the Division of Naval Records and History.

Western Sea Frontier [1110]

This Frontier, established as the Pacific Southern Naval Coastal Frontier, became the Western Sea Frontier in 1942. It comprised the Eleventh Naval District, which included the six southern counties of California, the States of New Mexico and Arizona, and Clark County, Nev.; and the Twelfth Naval District, which included northern California, Nevada except Clark County, and Colorado and Utah. The Frontier's western boundary was some 600 miles offshore in the Pacific Ocean. In April 1944 the Thirteenth Naval District became the Northwestern Sector of the Western Sea Frontier and the Frontier's northern boundary became the Canadian border. Headquarters of the Frontier was at San Francisco, and Joint Operations Centers were at San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle.

The Commander Western Sea Frontier, who was also Commandant of the Twelfth Naval District for most of the war period, was responsible for the defense of the Frontier; patrol and action against enemy submarines; and the servicing of units of the Pacific Fleet coming into the Frontier ports. As Principal Shipping Control Officer, he had supervisory control of coastal and overseas shipping leaving west coast ports. The Sea Frontier Forces under his command consisted of a surface task group and an air task group for

--736--

each sector of the Frontier and the local defense forces of the component Naval Districts.

As the character of the war in the Pacific changed and the danger of attack on the Frontier lessened, the patrol and defense functions of the Frontier diminished and its logistic activities in support of the Pacific Fleet became more important. In November 1944 authority over all west-coast shore activities of the Navy was given to the Commander Western Sea Frontier.

Records.--Records of the Frontier, 1941-45, including general administrative and operational records, are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa. Most of the wartime records of the Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Naval Districts are in the Naval Records Management Center at San Bruno, Calif. In the National Archives are records of the Commandant of the Eleventh Naval District, 1939-43, including general correspondence, legal correspondence, and a diary of transactions; and records of the Commandant of the Thirteenth Naval District, 1939-40, including correspondence, registers of letters received and sent, logbooks, and a diary of transactions. Unpublished histories of these Naval Districts and of the Western Sea Frontier are in the Division of Naval Records and History.

Northwest Sea Frontier [1111]

This Frontier, established as the Pacific Northern Naval Coastal Frontier, became the Northwest Sea Frontier in 1942, with headquarters at Seattle. Its Commander was also Commandant of the Thirteenth Naval District, and its land area coincided with that of the District, which until April 1944. included Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming. For administrative and operational purposes the Frontier was divided into the Northwestern and the Alaskan Sectors. In conjunction with the Army the Frontier maintained the Joint Operations Center at Seattle.

The Frontier Commander was responsible for the naval defense of the Frontier, the protection of merchant shipping and the detection and destruction of enemy forces operating within the Frontier waters, the security of harbors within its area, and the routing and control of convoys originating within the Frontier and of shipping moving through Frontier waters. As Commander Northwest Sea Frontier Forces he was responsible to the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet. In 1942 and 1943 the Frontier, particularly its Alaskan Sector, participated with Army units in the campaign to drive Japanese forces from Attu and Kiska. In these combat operations both Army units and Sea Frontier Forces were under the command of the Commander North Pacific Force, Pacific Fleet. For these and other operations involving coordination or cooperation between the Sea Frontier Forces and Pacific Fleet units the Frontier Commander was responsible to the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet.

On April 15, 1944, the Seventeenth Naval District, which consisted of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, was established, and the Northwest Sea Frontier was abolished. Its Alaskan Sector became the Alaskan Sea Frontier, and its Northwestern Sector became part of the Western Sea Frontier.

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Records.--Records of the Northwestern Sea Frontier are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa. Wartime records of the Thirteenth Naval District are discussed immediately above; those of the Seventeenth Naval District are discussed below.

Alaskan Sea Frontier [1112]

From before the war until the establishment of this Frontier in 1944, Alaska and the Aleutian Islands constituted the Alaskan Sector of the Thirteenth Naval District and (after 1941) of the Pacific Northern Naval Coastal Frontier and the successor Northwest Sea Frontier. After the establishment of the Army's Alaska Defense Command close liaison was maintained between it and the Alaskan Sector.

In October 1942 the North Pacific Intelligence Center was established, with headquarters at Kodiak and later at Adak. This Center, controlled operationally by the Commander North Pacific Force, Pacific Fleet, gathered and disseminated information on the movements of surface vessels and aircraft, coordinated intelligence reports, interpreted photographic intelligence, and handled captured enemy documents.

The Alaskan Sea Frontier was established on April 15, 1944. The Commander North Pacific Force, who was in command of all United States forces in the area, was also the Frontier Commander. The land area of the Frontier consisted of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands and corresponded to the area of the Seventeenth Naval District, which was established at the same time. Headquarters of both the Frontier and the District were at Adak. The Frontier Commander was responsible for the defense of the Frontier, the detection and destruction of enemy forces operating in its waters, the security of its harbors, support of the North Pacific Force, and the routing and control of shipping within the Frontier. He directed the Sea Frontier Forces and the District local defense forces, which were under the immediate command of the District Commandant.

Records.--Records of the Alaskan Sea Frontier, interfiled with those of the Seventeenth Naval District, are in the Naval Records Management Center at San Bruno, Calif. Records of the predecessor Alaskan Sector of the Northwest Sea Frontier are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa. Records of the Thirteenth Naval District, which included Alaska until April 1944, are in the Center at San Bruno. Unpublished histories of the Alaskan Sea Frontier and the Thirteenth and Seventeenth Naval Districts are in the Division of Naval Records and History.

Atlantic Fleet [1113]

After existing intermittently since 1906, the Atlantic Fleet was reconstituted by a general order of February 1, 1941, and replaced the former Patrol Force. The Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet, was for a time under the authority of the Chief of Naval Operations; after December 8, 1941, he was under the authority of the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet. Wartime command of the Atlantic Fleet was held successively

--738--

by Admiral Ernest J. King, Vice Admiral Royal E. Ingersoll, and Admiral Jonas H. Ingram.

The responsibilities of the Atlantic Fleet included patrol of the shipping lanes and protection of shipping within those lanes; control and protection of the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, the Panama Canal Zone, and western Atlantic waters; and readiness to control and cover the exits from the Mediterranean. The intercontinental nature of these responsibilities resulted in operations by units of the Atlantic Fleet in the Mediterranean and European Theaters of Operations. Command over those units was vested in United States Naval Forces, Northwest African Waters, and United States Naval Forces, Europe. These commands are discussed under the Mediterranean and European Theaters of Operations.

In addition to commanding the forces afloat in that part of the Atlantic Ocean that was within the American Theater, the Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet, had over-all command of the Naval Operating Bases established in Newfoundland, Greenland, Iceland, and Bermuda. The subordinate units of the Atlantic Fleet that operated in the American Theater are discussed below.

Records.--Wartime records of the Atlantic Fleet and its component type, task, and other subordinate commands are in the Division of Naval Records and History of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and in the naval records management centers at Arlington, Va., and Mechanicsburg, Pa. They are divided among these repositories according to their character. (1) The action reports, war diaries, patrol reports, battle reports, and other operational records (which were forwarded during the war directly to Headquarters of Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, and were assembled from day to day by the Office of Naval Records and Library) are in the Division of Naval Records and History. (2) The flag files of the Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet, are in the Center at Arlington. (3) Flag files of the subgroups of the Fleet, such as task forces and type commands, are in the Center at Mechanicsburg.

Most of the ships' files of the Atlantic Fleet are in the Naval Records Management Center at New Orleans; some are in the Center at San Bruno, Calif.

A two-volume unpublished history of Headquarters of Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet, is in the Division of Naval Records and History.

See Marshall W. Fishwick, "A Note on World War II Naval Records," in American Historical Review, 55: 82-85 (Oct. 1949).

Type Commands and Task Forces [1114]

In accordance with plans drawn up by the Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet, in April 1941, the Atlantic Fleet was organized in task forces and type commands. The task-force organization, into which vessels of different types were grouped for the purpose of carrying out specific operational objectives, provided maximum tactical control. The many operational task forces of the Atlantic Fleet are not discussed in this section. Most of the type commands consisted of vessels of a special type and were

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established primarily for administrative and training purposes. For convenience in communications, type commands were also designated as task forces, even though some of them had no operational functions.

The type command called Destroyers, Atlantic Fleet, established in April 1941, was responsible for the administrative control and material upkeep of destroyers; trained destroyer personnel for antisubmarine warfare and escort service; provided destroyers to maintain patrol and task groups; and trained the personnel and maintained the vessels of the Support Force, discussed below. Training areas for destroyer personnel were established at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and near Londonderry, Northern Ireland; headquarters for the work of Destroyers, Atlantic Fleet, with the Support Force was at Casco Bay, Maine.

The type commands called Cruisers and Battleships, which were combined in 1945 into the single command Battleships-Cruisers, Atlantic Fleet, performed similar functions of training and administration for those two types of vessel. The Fleet Operational Training Command, Atlantic Fleet, established in March 1943, scheduled and supervised the operational training of officers and men to be attached to newly commissioned ships, directed their "shakedown" training, and provided refresher training for the forces afloat. In May 1945, when the Amphibious Training Command, discussed below, was disestablished, the Fleet Operational Training Command took over its functions and facilities.

Other type commands that had some operational responsibilities are separately discussed below.

Records.--Wartime records of the type and task-force commands of the Atlantic Fleet are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa. Unpublished histories of Destroyers, Atlantic Fleet, and of the Fleet Operational Training Command are in the Division of Naval Records and History.

Submarines, Atlantic Fleet [1115]

When the Patrol Force became the Atlantic Fleet in February 1941, the command previously known as Submarines, Patrol Force, became Submarines, Atlantic Fleet. This command administered the procurement and training of personnel for submarine vessels and bases and assisted in training surface-ship and aircraft personnel for antisubmarine warfare. It also furnished submarine patrols and service for antisubmarine operations of the Atlantic Fleet.

Units of the submarine command operating in the American Theater consisted of three Submarine Squadrons. Submarine Squadron One, based at New London, Conn., furnished submarines for the Submarine School at New London, the Fleet Sonar School at Key West, Fla., and the antisubmarine forces that were trained at Casco Bay, Maine. Submarine Squadron Three, operating chiefly from Coco Solo, C.Z., was under the operational command of the Commander Panama Sea Frontier except during its operations from St. Thomas, Trinidad, and Guantanamo Bay, when it operated under the Commander Caribbean Sea Frontier. Submarine

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Squadron Seven, based in Bermuda, operated under the Commandant Naval Operating Base, Bermuda, but after April 1943 it was administered for training purposes by the Fleet Operational Training Command.

Records.--Records of Submarines, Atlantic Fleet, are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa. A three-volume unpublished history of the command, which includes a history of Submarines, Pacific Fleet, is in the Division of Naval Records and History.

Amphibious Training Command, Atlantic Fleet [1116]

This Command, organized on March 16, 1942, as the Amphibious Force, succeeded to the functions of the First Corps, Provisional, which was composed of the First Marine Division and elements of the Army's First Infantry Division, under command of Maj. Gen. Holland M. Smith, U.S. M. C. The Amphibious Force was both a force preparing for aggressive operations and an organization that trained Army, Navy, and Marine units for amphibious landings. Its command staff was divided into the forward echelon, which has occasional operational duties, and the rear echelon, which directed amphibious training. The forward echelon, operating as Task Force 34, conducted the amphibious landings at Dakar in October 1942. Task Force 34 was dissolved the following month. In August 1943 the forward echelon became the Sixth Amphibious Force, Atlantic Fleet, and the rear echelon became the Amphibious Training Command, Atlantic Fleet. The Sixth Amphibious Force was dissolved in November 1943. On May 25, 1945, the Amphibious Training Command was disestablished, and its functions, shore activities, and fleet units were assigned to the Fleet Operational Training Command.

Records.--Wartime records of the Amphibious Training Command are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa. An unpublished history of the Command is in the Division of Naval Records and History.

Air Force, Atlantic Fleet [1117]

This command, established on January 1, 1943, constituted a regrouping of units formerly assigned to Carriers, Atlantic Fleet; Carrier Replacement Squadron, Atlantic Fleet; and Fleet Air Wings, Atlantic Fleet. As type commander of all aircraft and aircraft carriers in the Atlantic Fleet, the Commander Air Force was responsible for the development, training, and logistic support of aircraft units ranging from two-plane units to aircraft carriers complete with their different types of squadrons. This command also formed and trained many aircraft units for duty in the Pacific.

Under Commander Air Force were three subordinate commands, two of which had operational duties. Fleet Air Quonset, which was organized on January 1, 1943, formed, trained, and supported air groups and squadrons of carrier-based aircraft within the Eastern Sea Frontier north of Norfolk and in Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland, it had administrative control over scout-observation arid carrier air units based ashore in its area.

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Fleet Air Norfolk, organized on October 1, 1943, operated in the area south of Fleet Air Quonset. It administered aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft and squadrons assigned to Air Force, Atlantic Fleet, coordinated the "shakedown" training of carriers newly constructed for the Fleet, and had operational control of the carrier-plane Guard Vessels assigned to the Fleet's Air Force. Fleet Air Wings, previously known as Patrol Wings, were assigned to the Air Force, Atlantic Fleet, on January 1, 1943. Most of the Wings served as task groups under the commanders of Sea Frontiers or Fleet units. Their headquarters were located at different points along the eastern seaboard of North and South America. They provided air coverage and convoy escort, did patrol duty, and operated in antisubmarine warfare.

Records.--Records of the Air Force, Atlantic Fleet, are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa. An unpublished history of the command is in the Division of Naval Records and History.

Service Force, Atlantic Fleet [1118]

This Force, named the Service Force on March 1, 1942, was the successor to the former Atlantic Fleet force known as the Train. The Service Force supplied and distributed enlisted personnel to the Fleet; arranged for the interchange of personnel between Fleet and shore activities; administered disbursing activities of the Fleet; coordinated the Fleet's logistic policies with those of the United States Fleet, the Navy Department, and the shore establishment; maintained repair facilities afloat; and coordinated repair facilities ashore.

Records.--Wartime records of the Service Force are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa. An unpublished history of the Force is in the Division of Naval Records and History.

Support Force [1119]

This Force was established on March 1, 1941, as successor to the Northeastern Escort Force. Its main element was Task Force 4, later Task Force 24, of the Atlantic Fleet. It was originally intended that this Force should convoy merchant shipping across the Atlantic, and for a brief period it commanded destroyer and aircraft bases at Gare Loch and Loch Ryan, Scotland, and Londonderry and Lough Erne, Northern Ireland. The intense activity of enemy submarines in North Atlantic waters, however, caused the Support Force to concentrate its activity in the sector of the transatlantic convoy routes between Newfoundland and Iceland. It escorted convoys and other shipping in conjunction with the navies and air forces of Britain and Canada, attacked enemy forces encountered, supplied hunting groups for antisubmarine warfare, defended Greenland, and furnished weather information to the Fleet.

The Commander of the Support Force also commanded the Naval Air Base at Quonset, the Destroyer Base at Casco Bay, and the first United States

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forces in Iceland. The organization of the Force varied; in March 1942 it consisted of the Mid-Ocean Escort Group, destroyer flotillas, the Air Group, the Home-Base Group, and the Greenland Patrol.

Records.--Wartime records of the Support Force are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa. An unpublished history of Task Force 24 is in the Division of Naval Records and History.

Greenland Patrol [1120]

Patrol and survey operations in Greenland and its surrounding waters began in May 1940. For a time two patrols operated in the Greenland area: The Northeast Greenland Patrol, which was under the direction of the Commander Northeastern Escort Force, Atlantic Fleet, and the South Greenland Patrol, which operated under orders from the Chief of Naval Operations. On October 25, 1941, these patrols were consolidated as the South Greenland Patrol, which operated under the over-all command of the Chief of Naval Operations. On January 12, 1942, the South Greenland Patrol was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet as the Greenland Patrol, to serve as a task group under the Commander of the Support Force. The Patrol was made up of Coast Guard vessels.

The Greenland Patrol and its predecessors protected the cryolite mine at Ivigtut and the sea communications between Greenland and North America, escorted shipping between Greenland and the United States, patrolled the Greenland fjords, patrolled and guarded the approaches to Narsarssuak Air Base until the Army was ready to take over, operated weather stations and a weather-reporting service, and observed and reconnoitered floating ice masses.

Records.--Records of the Patrol are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa. Included in the history of Task Force 24, mentioned above, is a history of the Patrol. Another history entitled "Greenland Patrol" (1945. 210 p., processed) is Part II of "The Coast Guard at War," by the Coast Guard's Historical Section.
[See also unpublished history in the Division of Naval Records and History. --HyperWar]

Naval Operating Base, Iceland [1121]

This Base was commissioned on November 6, 1941. Its commanding officer served as a task-group commander under the Commander Support Force, Atlantic Fleet. The Base supported combat vessels, established a communications service, improved port facilities, maintained a repair service, and stocked supplies of fuel, munitions, provisions, and other materials. Naval activities under its administrative supervision were the Fleet Air Base at Reykjavik, salvage and fuel depots and storage facilities in the Hvalfjordur area, a cable and radio censorship unit, a mobile base hospital, and the Magnetic Channel Calibration Range. In the latter part of 1945 the Base was placed in caretaker status.

Records.--Records of the Base are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa. An unpublished history of the Base is in the Division of Naval Records and History.

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Naval Operating Base, Bermuda [1122]

This Naval Operating Base was commissioned on April 7, 1941, after the British Government granted to the United States Government the use of Bermuda as a base. For a time the Base operated under the Commandant Fifth Naval District, but on November 10, 1942, it was designated as a unit of the Atlantic Fleet and its Commandant was put directly under the administrative and Operational control of the Commander in Chief of that Fleet. The Operating Base consisted of the Naval Air Station, the Submarine Repair Facility, a mobile hospital, and several storage facilities.

Unified command in Bermuda was vested in the Commandant, Naval Operating Base, Bermuda. He served as Base Commandant, as a Convoy Group Commander of the Atlantic Fleet, and as Commander of the Combined Naval Local Defense Forces and the Combined Army and Naval Local Defense Forces. Thus he had under his command both British and United States Army and Navy forces in Bermuda.

The Naval Operating Base, Bermuda, served the operational, logistic, and recreational needs for a heavy force of the Atlantic Fleet based there. As an advance base for aircraft and surface vessels it played an important part in the antisubmarine warfare in the Atlantic.

Records.--Records of the Base are in the Naval Records Management Center at New Orleans. An unpublished history of the Base is in the Division of Naval Records and History.

South Atlantic Fleet [1123]

The South Atlantic forces of the Atlantic Fleet originated as Task Force 3 of that Fleet. On March 24, 1941, Rear Admiral Jonas Ingram received orders to take Task Force 3 to the South Atlantic on neutrality patrol along the triangle formed by Trinidad, the Cape Verde Islands, and the bulge of Brazil. In February 1942 the Force was renamed Task Force 23; in September 1942 it was designated as the South Atlantic Force; and in March 1943 it became the South Atlantic Fleet (the Fourth Fleet). In April 1945 the Fourth Fleet was designated also as Task Force 27 of the Atlantic Fleet; its commander, Vice Admiral William R. Munroe, who had succeeded Vice Admiral Ingram, retained the title of Commander South Atlantic Fleet. In January 1943 headquarters of the South Atlantic Fleet was transferred from the flagship of the Fleet to Recife, Brazil, where it remained for the rest of the war.

This Fleet directed the operations of its own forces and of Allied forces under its command, controlled the South Atlantic subarea, cooperated with Brazil in the defense of the Brazilian coast, operated and protected merchant convoys between Trinidad and Brazilian ports, intercepted and destroyed enemy raiders and blockade runners, and cooperated with United States Army Forces South Atlantic. In September 1942 the Brazilian Navy was put under the Commander South Atlantic Fleet. Late in that same month the Commander was given control of all Brazilian defense forces.

Effective December 1, 1942, the United States naval operating bases in Brazil came under the control of the Commander South Atlantic Fleet.

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These included the bases at Recife, Bahia, and Rio de Janeiro; seaplane bases and airfields; and the destroyer-repair base, storage warehouses, dispensary, and spare-parts distribution center in the vicinity of Recife.

Records.--Records of the South Atlantic Fleet are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa. Records of many of the Navy's shore establishments in Brazil are in the Center at New Orleans. An unpublished history of the South Atlantic Force is in the Division of Naval Records and History.

North Pacific Force [1124]

Early in 1942, to strengthen the defenses of Alaska, the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, directed Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, to create the North Pacific Force, which should include the Northwest Sea Frontier Forces and commands and such Western Sea Frontier Forces and fleet units as Admiral Nimitz might direct. In accordance with this order, Admiral Nimitz sent Task Force 8 of the Pacific Fleet to Alaskan waters late in May 1942. Its assigned task was, in coordination with the Army, to oppose the advance of the enemy in the Alaskan-Aleutian area. Because of the necessity of radio silence, Headquarters was removed from the flapship of the Task Force on August 3, 1942, to Kodiak; and in March 1943, in order to be closer to operations, it was relocated at Adak.

On March 15, 1943, Vice Admiral Frank J. Fletcher, Commander Task Force 8, was designated as Commander North Pacific Force and North Pacific Area, and was thus given command of all naval forces in the Alaskan-Aleutian region and operational authority over the Army's Alaska Defense Command. At the same time Task Force 8 was redesignated as Task Force 16 of the North Pacific Force; later this Task Force became Task Force 94. After January 1943 command of the Force and of the Northwest Sea Frontier was assigned to Admiral Fletcher. In April 1944, when the Northwest Sea Frontier was replaced by the Alaskan Sea Frontier, he became the Commander of the new Frontier. Through this centralization of command, control of both the Frontier and the tactical area was combined. The Commander North Pacific Force was responsible to the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet.

Records--Records of the North Pacific Force are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa. An unpublished history of the Force is in the Division of Naval Records and History.

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS [1125]

The term European Theater of Operations came to be used during the war to designate the area of operations of the United States air, ground, naval, and supply forces that joined the British forces after December 7, 1941. The Theater area eventually stretched from the British Isles to Eastern Germany and from the Scandinavian countries south to the Pyrenees, the Mediterranean, the northern border of Italy, and the Balkans.

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American military planning agencies had been continuously at work in the United Kingdom before the Theater was established. In May 1941 a joint Army-Navy team, called the Special Observers Group, was stationed in London to observe the combat performance of American lend-lease matériel in use by the British. This Group also studied the development of British matériel and tactics and continued the staff conversations that had been begun earlier in 1941 between an Army-Navy staff committee and a committee representing the British military staffs. In January 1942 the Group became part of the newly organized planning, supply, and tactical command known as the United States Army Forces in the British Isles. This command was given control over United States troops in the United Kingdom, and it was replaced on June 8, 1942, by the European Theater of Operations United States Army (ETOUSA).

Until June 6, 1944, ETOUSA was concerned primarily with building up ground and supporting forces for the invasion across the English channel. The preinvasion period was also, however, a time of active combat for air and naval forces and for those Army forces that participated in the African invasion in November 1942 and were under the administrative control of ETOUSA until February 1943.

In April 1943 the previously informal British-United States collaboration in the European Theater was strengthened by the establishment in London of a formal planning headquarters called Chief of Staff Supreme Allied Command, or COSSAC, and in February 1944 this headquarters was replaced by the final interallied headquarters for the Theater--Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF). Under SHAEF, headed by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the elaborate activities of planning, supply, training, and military-diplomatic consultation went forward to prepare for the forthcoming invasion.

The subsequent campaigns, from the landings in Normandy on June 6, 1944, to the German surrender on May 8, 1945, were collectively called Operation "OVERLORD"; the initial assault in June 1944 was called Operation "NEPTUNE"; and the final operations after May 8, 1945, were called Operation "ECLIPSE." The component campaigns were later renamed by the Army, for battle-honors purposes, the Normandy Campaign, June 6-July 24, 1944; the Northern France Campaign, July 25-September 14, 1944; the Southern France Campaign, August 15-September 14, 1944; the Rhineland Campaign, September 14, 1944-March 21, 1945; the intervening Ardennes-Alsace Campaign, December 16, 1944-January 25, 1945; and the Central European Campaign, March 22-May 11, 1945. The Navy named its campaigns the Invasion of Normandy, June 6-25, 1944; and the Invasion of Southern France, August 15-September 25, 1944.

The interallied commands in the European Theater in which American forces were represented and the chief United States commands are discussed below.

Records.--See the separate entries for the major commands, below. Data for United States ground-combat units in the Theater appears in the single-volume "Order of Battle of the United States Army, World War II, European

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Theater of Operations; Divisions," prepared by the Historical Section of ETOUSA.

Combat operations in the European Theater are lucidly summarized in Gen. George C. Marshall's Report as Chief of Staff to the Secretary of War, 1943-45, p. 27-53; and in Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, 220-426 (New York, 1948), and Eisenhower's Own Story of the War; The Complete Report by the Supreme Commander on the War in Europe (New York, 1946. 122 p.). Naval operations in the Theater are summarized in Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King, U.S. Navy at War, 135-142, 207-211 (Washington, 1946), and in Walter Karig, The Atlantic War, 289-407 (New York, 1946).

Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces [1126]

In February 1944 this Headquarters, known also as SHAEF, replaced and absorbed the planning group called the Chief of Staff Supreme Allied Command, or COSSAC, that had been established in April 1943. COSSAC and SHAEF successively had the task of integrating the British forces and the American forces, which began to arrive in England in January 1942 and which subsequently built up their manpower and matériel for operations on the Continent. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was designated as the Supreme Allied Commander, Allied Expeditionary Forces, and on his arrival in England from the North African Theater in January 1944 he became also the commanding general of the European Theater of Operations United States Army (ETOUSA).

The staff organizations of SHAEF and ETOUSA were, however, distinct. Each headquarters as a rule had its own staff sections manned by separate personnel. The staff organization in SHAEF was headed by the Chief of Staff and had as an important officer the Secretary of the General Staff. The staff divisions of SHAEF are discussed below. SHAEF directed the operations of several subordinate interallied headquarters, including separate commands for ground, air, and naval operations. These headquarters and the United States forces they directed are separately discussed below.

SHAEF was located at London until August 1944; at Versailles, August 1944-May 1945; and at Frankfurt, May-July 1945. On July 14, 1945, SHAEF was discontinued, and its civil-affairs and military-government functions were assumed by the Allied Group Control Council, in Berlin. Some of its United States components continued in Headquarters United States Forces, European Theater.

Records.--On May 20, 1945, the Combined Chiefs of Staff directed the Supreme Allied Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force (and the Supreme Allied Commanders elsewhere), to insure that records of a combined nature would be available for release to the governments of both the United Kingdom and the United States. Such records were microfilmed; each of the two governments received a copy of the microfilm; and one government received the original records as well. The original records of the Chief of Staff Supreme Allied Command, May 1943-Feb. 1944, and of SHAEF, Feb. 1944-July 1945 (1,200 feet), are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO, where they constitute a single body of records. One of the microfilm copies of the

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"combined" records in the European Theater of Operations, made by the Combined Administrative Liquidating Agency in 1945-46 (1,970 rolls), is also in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.
[See also The Supreme Command, a volume in the U.S. ARMY IN WORLD WAR II series. --HyperWar]

The general records, 1943-45, contain records both of SHAEF and its predecessor. Other records of the earlier command are among the records of the G-2 and G-3 Divisions of SHAEF. Among the important records of SHAEF are several series of its orders and memoranda, 1944-45; the war diaries of its divisions, which contain chronologies of important decisions, correspondence, reports, and transactions, with related documents; a "Summary of Decisions," 1944-45 (2 vols.), which was kept for the Chief of Staff, SHAEF; and records of the Secretary of the General Staff, which include important papers of the Supreme Allied Commander, the Deputy Supreme Commander, the Chief of Staff, and the Deputy Chiefs of Staff. The records of the Secretary of the General Staff include general records; "geographic projects" files, pertaining chiefly to civilian supply functions in Europe; "staff papers," most of which antedate Feb. 1944 and relate to Allied planning for the invasion of Europe; logs of incoming and outgoing radio messages, Apr. 1944-May 1945; individual personnel records for United States, British, and French general officers; and war diaries, Jan. 1944-July 1945. The records of the Historical Section, Secretary of the General Staff, SHAEF, were transferred in 1946 to the Secretary of the General Staff, United States Forces, European Theater.

General-Staff Divisions [1127]

The five general-staff divisions of SHAEF, G-1 to G-5, functioned according to the United States War Department General Staff pattern.

Records.--Records of the staff divisions are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO, except for one series noted below. The records of each division include war diaries. For the G-1 Division, there are records and reports pertaining to personnel problems of the Allied Expeditionary Force and records of the Prisoner of War Executive, pertaining to the repatriation of Allied prisoners of war. (G-1 records relating to the investigation of war crimes are in the Office of the Judge Advocate General.) For the G-2 Division, there are records of the Joint Intelligence Collecting Agency; records relating to the Combined Intelligence Objectives Subcommittee, the Technical Intelligence or "T" Force, and the Field Information Agency, Technical, all dealing with the capture and exploitation of enemy documents and equipment; and records of the Censorship and the Operational Intelligence Subdivisions. For the G-3 Division, there are records of its Plans, Operations, Organization and Equipment, Airborne, Meteorological, and Map and Survey Sections (or Subsections). For the G-4 Division, there are central files, 1943-45. For the G-5 Division, there are records relating to civil affairs and military government; and records of the Internal Affairs Branch, the Supply and Economic Branch, the Financial Branch, and the Displaced Persons, Refugee, and Welfare Branch.

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Special-Staff Divisions [1128]

The staff organization of SHAEF comprised several special-staff divisions, including the Adjutant General, Public Relations, Psychological Warfare, Signal, Engineer, Medical, and Air Defense Divisions; and the Headquarters Command, which provided certain administrative services.

Records.--The following records of the special-staff divisions are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. Records of each division include war diaries. Records of the Psychological Warfare Division include central files, 1943-45, and copies of United States and Axis propaganda leaflets. Records of the Air Defense Division include a small series on defense against German V-weapons, 1944-45. Records of the Engineer Division include files on airfield construction, camouflage, and electric power; weekly reports, Nov. 1943-July 1945; and daily summaries of incoming correspondence, July 1944-Apr. 1945. Records of the Signal Division include records concerning plans and operations. Records of the Medical Division include records relating to military-medical and public-health matters. Records of the Public Relations Division include central files, 1943-45; communiques and press releases; rosters of Allied prisoners of war; and reports on German atrocities in France. Records of the European Allied Contact Section include a small series concerning the establishment of contacts with representatives of liberated and neutral countries, 1944-45. Records of the Headquarters Command include war diaries, June 1944-July 1945; central files, 1944-46; and orders and memoranda, 1944-45. Other records of the Headquarters Command are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis.

The work of the Psychological Warfare Division of SHAEF is discussed in Daniel Lerner, Sykewar: Psychological Warfare Against Germany, D-Day to VE-Day (New York [1949]. 463 p.).

SHAEF Missions [1129]

During 1944 and 1945 missions were established in liberated nations to represent the Supreme Allied Commander and to maintain contact with these countries without interfering with military operations. These missions were located in France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway. As combined organizations they were disbanded in July 1945 with the termination of SHAEF, but as national missions some of them continued as late as 1947.

Records.--The following records are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO: Fortnightly progress reports of all the missions, 1944-45; the records of the Mission to France, including records of the Air Component, the Navy Division, and the Joint Rearmament Committee, Allied Force Headquarters, 1942-45; and records of the Mission to Denmark, 1944-45, and the Mission to Norway, 1944-45.

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Ground Commands [1130]

Three interallied ground commands known as Army Groups had operational control, under SHAEF, of the British, French, and United States Armies in the European Theater. These Army Groups are discussed below in the order of their establishment. Some of the United States Armies that operated in the Theater were shifted from group to group as the combat situation demanded. Each Army is discussed below under the Army Group of which it was a part at the end of the war. Although the Army Groups had operational control of United States Armies, administrative control of those Armies was vested in European Theater of Operations United States Army, which is discussed below.

Records.--See entries below.

Twenty-first Army Group [1131]

This Army Group, which consisted of the British and Canadian forces in the United Kingdom that were assigned for the invasion of Europe, was established in London in July 1943. In December 1944 Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery was designated as its commander. In the preinvasion period the commanding general of the Twenty-first Army Group was responsible jointly with the Allied naval and air commanders for planning and executing the "initial joint plan" for the Normandy invasion, including the over-all plan for the assault, the building up of Allied forces, and civil-affairs planning. In this work Headquarters Twenty-first Army Group was assisted by the staffs of the First United States Army Group and of the United States First Army.

On June 6, 1944, General Montgomery directed the seaborne and airborne assault on the Continent. Under his command were the British Second Army, with the British 6th Airborne Division attached, and the United States First Army, with the United States 82d and 101st Airborne Divisions attached. Subsequently he commanded these two Armies and the United States Third Army and the Canadian First Army during the battle of Normandy and the advance to the Seine. On September 1 the Twenty-first Army Group was relieved of operational control of the United States Armies, and these Armies became the chief components of the new Twelfth Army Group.

The Twenty-first Army Group, also called the Northern Group of Armies, operated in Northern France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland, and Germany. In March 1945 it crossed the Rhine; at the end of April it crossed the Elbe and occupied Wismar on the Baltic coast. After this operation the Twenty-first Army Group commander negotiated with the German high command for the capitulation of enemy forces in Holland, northwestern Germany, the Frisian Islands, Heligoland, Schleswig-Holstein, and Denmark.

After the surrender, the Group's headquarters deployed its forces within the British Zone to carry out occupational duties while the Allied Group Control Council was being set up in Berlin. On August 25, 1945, the Twenty-first Army Group was terminated as a combined command, and its forces were reorganized as the British Army of the Rhine.

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Twenty-first Army Group Headquarters, which was primarily British in composition, was organized on the British staff pattern.

Records.--Most of the records of the Twenty-first Army Group are in British custody. Some of its records (2 feet), selected by the Combined Administrative Liquidating Agency after the war, are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. They include copies of conference notes, operations reports, "After Action Reports" of participating United States troop units, and a history of the Group. Copies of some of the Group's operations plans and reports, June 1944-May 1945, are in the historical-reports files in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.

After the war Field Marshal Montgomery's final report on the Twenty-first Army Group was published under the title Despatch . . . Describing the Part Played by the 21st Army Group, and the Armies Under His Command, From D Day to VE Day (New York, 1946. 79 p.); see also his Normandy to the Baltic (London [1947]. 226 p.).

Twelfth Army Group [1132]

The Headquarters of the Twelfth Army Group was established in London on July 14, 1944, and was given operational control of the United States First and Third Armies on August 1. Its commanding general was Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley, who was also commanding general of the First United States Army Group. This Army Group had been established on October 19, 1943, to plan United States participation in the forthcoming invasion, and although its staff was largely transferred to the Twelfth Army Group in July 1944 it continued to exist on paper as a deception device until its inactivation on October 18, 1944. The Twelfth Army Group, known also as the Central Group of Armies, was under the operational control of General Montgomery of the Twenty-first Army Group from August 1 to September 1, 1944, and under the Supreme Commander, General Eisenhower, thereafter. On September 5, 1944, the United States Ninth Army was assigned to the Twelfth Army Group. For a short time in late 1944 and early 1945 the First and Ninth Armies were detached for duty with the Twenty-first Army Group. In the midst of the Ardennes counteroffensive the United States Fifteenth Army was assigned to the Twelfth Army Group. It remained with that Group until the end of the combat period. At the time of the surrender of the German forces in May 1945 the four Armies of the Twelfth Group-- the First, Third, Ninth, and Fifteenth--were disposed on a continuous front stretching over. 550 miles across Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Austria. These Armies are separately discussed below.

Twelfth Army Group Headquarters was entirely American in composition. It was organized in 5 general-staff sections, and in 19 special-staff sections, among which was a section for psychological warfare. From mid-August 1944 to mid-May 1945, the headquarters operated on the Continent in three echelons: The Tactical Headquarters, which was the usual command post of the Group; the Main Headquarters, which contained most of the general-staff and special-staff sections; and the Rear Headquarters, for supply and services. After the surrender, the staff sections were concentrated in the

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Main Headquarters, from which they exercised operational control of the Armies until the Group was disbanded on August 1, 1945.

Records.--Most of the records of Headquarters Twelfth Army Group, 1943-45 (218 feet), and of the First Army Group are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. They include correspondence, radio messages, several sets of administrative and operational orders and memoranda, conference notes, diaries and journals of staff sections, charts, and maps.

Reports by the Twelfth Army Group are in the historical-reports files in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. Included are monthly historical reports, 1944-45, of the general-staff sections and of the following special-staff sections: Antiaircraft, Artillery, Armored, Inspector General, Finance, Judge Advocate General, Provost Marshal, Chaplain, Special Service, Quartermaster, Ordnance, Engineer, Chemical Warfare, Signal, Medical, and Transportation Sections.

Among the general combat evaluations made by the Twelfth Army Group after the war is the "Report of Operations (Final After Action Report)" (14 vols.), a copy of which is in the Air Historical Group.

First Army [1133]

This Army was established on October 1, 1943, with its command post located initially at Bristol, England. Its headquarters directed the training of United States forces committed for the initial assault upon the Continent, under the general supervision of the First United States Army Group, to which it was assigned for administrative purposes; prepared studies on supply and equipment requirements for Headquarters European Theater of Operations United States Army; and directed the United States Army's share in an orientation program to promote understanding between United States and British troops. Under the Twenty-first Army Group commander it prepared the United States portion of the "initial joint plan" for the invasion of Europe, and during the initial assault it participated in the Build-Up Control Organization, which consisted of British and American military and naval representatives at Portsmouth who supervised the flow of troop units across the Channel.

The First Army's forces participated in the initial assaults along the Normandy coast on June 6, 1944, the capture of Cherbourg, the Battle of Northern France, the Battle of the Rhineland, and the crossing of the Rhine; and they finally advanced to Grimma on the Mulde. Besides combat operations, Headquarters First Army directed civil-affairs and military-government activities successively from beachhead operations in France, through Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Germany, and finally in Czechoslovakia. Late in May 1945 the First Army was transferred to the United States, where its headquarters was relocated at Governors Island, N.Y.

Records.--Most of the administrative records of Headquarters First Army for the period of its operations in the European Theater, 1943-May 1945 (175 feet), are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. They include general records and the records of some of the staff sections. The general records comprise central files, 1943-45, a series of battle casualty

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reports, and 19 series of orders and bulletins issued by the command, 1943-45, among which are "Engineer Intelligence Memoranda," Mar. 1944, "Artillery Memoranda," July-Aug. 1944, "Chemical Warfare Bulletins," Jam-Mar. 1945; and "Armored Bulletins," Feb.-Apr. 1945.

Records of general-staff sections include the G-1 Section's activity reports and strength reports; the G-2 Section's activity reports and other records; the G-3 Section's situation reports, "build-up tables," and maps; the G-4 Section's activity reports, tonnage reports, and other records; and the G-5 Section's records relating to the occupation and military government of Germany. Separately maintained records of the Artillery, Quartermaster, Ordnance, Engineer, and Signal Sections are relatively small and usually contain less documentation on the work of the sections than do the general records described above.

The combat records of the First Army include its "Report of Operations, 20 October 1943-1 August 1944," with 20 annexes that contain copies of plans, station lists, and reports by all general-staff and special-staff sections; "Report of Operations," Aug. 1, 1944-Feb. 22, 1945, with comparable annexes; "Combat Operations Data, 1944-1945"; and monthly historical reports of all sections, 1944. These reports are in the historical-reports files in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO; copies of some of them are in the Army's Historical Division.

Third Army [1134]

This Army, which originated in the United States before the war, served as one of the major ground combat commands in Europe from March 1944, when its headquarters and troops arrived in England, until after the end of the war in 1945. Commanded by Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., the Third Army joined in the combat in Normandy in July 1944, took Brittany in August, fought the Battle of the Moselle in September, conducted the Metz offensive in October and November, and took part in the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 and January 1945. In March 1945 it crossed the Rhine, and in April it drove through Bavaria and pursued the enemy across the Altmühl, Danube, and Isar Rivers. By May it had entered Linz, in Austria. After the German surrender the Third Army became an occupation force, and in March 1947 it was disbanded in Europe and reestablished in the continental United States, with headquarters at Atlanta, Ga.

Records.--Most of the administrative records of Headquarters Third Army, Mar. 1944--Mar. 1947, are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis, part of a larger body of records that includes the records of the Third Army in the continental United States before and after the war. The records include central files, 1944-46; radio messages, 1943-44; historical reports; and many series of orders, directives, memoranda, bulletins, and circulars, 1944-45, among which are "Civil Affairs Memoranda," "Signal Memoranda," "Aircraft Identification Bulletins," "Air Observer Post Bulletins," "Prisoner of War Bulletins," "Provost Marshal Bulletins," "Ordnance Bulletins," and "Engineer Bulletins." Records of the G-3, and G-4,

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and G-5 Sections, and the Antiaircraft Artillery, the Inspector General, Judge Advocate General, Special Service, Quartermaster, Chemical Warfare, and Signal Sections consist of small separate files.

Most of the combat reports by the Third Army are in the historical-reports files in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. Included are the Third Army's periodic "After Action Reports," 1944-45; its over-all "After Action Report, 1 Aug. 1944-9 May 1945" (2 vols, and supplement), which contains a summary of pre-August 1944 planning and training, a summary of the subsequent combat operations, reports on all the staff sections, and a map supplement; "Intelligence Summaries" and other reports by the G-2 Section; "Situation Reports" and other reports by the G-3 Section; reports by the Engineer Section and by the Naval Task Force Unit on the crossing of the Rhine River; and "Notes on Tactical Effects of Bombing," Sept. 1944-Jan. 1945.

Ninth Army [1135]

On September 5, 1944, this Army, under the command of Lt. Gen. William H. Simpson, entered combat during the siege of Brest and other French ports that the Germans had heavily garrisoned before retreating from Normandy. In October the Ninth Army fought near the First Army around Aachen and by December it reached the Roer River. After the German counterattack of that month the Ninth Army resumed the offensive in February 1945 and reached the Rhine at Dusseldorf. On March 23 it crossed the Rhine, and by the end of April it had closed on the line of the Elbe-Munde, the forward limit that had been agreed upon with the Soviet Union.

Records.--The following administrative records of Headquarters Ninth Army are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis: Central files, 1944-Oct. 1945; radio messages, 1944-45; several series of orders, circulars, and memoranda, 1944-45; and records of the Judge Advocate General and Ordnance Sections. Combat reports and other documents of this Army, assembled by the Historical Section of ETOUSA, are in the historical-report files in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. They include annual histories of the Ninth Army; four general combat narratives, Aug.-- Nov. 1944, by the 4th Information and Historical Service; and monthly "After Action Reports," Sept. 1944-June 1945, with supporting documents of different staff sections. Correspondence with and about the Ninth Army is in the central records of the War Department, in the AGO; see index sheets filed under AG 322 Ninth Army, 1944-45 (1 linear inch).

Fifteenth Army [1136]

The Fifteenth Army was activated at Fort Sam Houston, Tex., in August 1944 and was moved to England in November of that year. On January 9, 1945, it was relocated on the Continent, and its initial responsibility was to supervise ground troop units being prepared for combat. In March and April 1945, under the command of Lt. Gen. Leonard T. Gerow, it participated in the Rhineland Campaign, operating under the Twelfth Army

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Group. It held the west face of the pocket along the Rhine while the First and Ninth Armies drove into the Ruhr and encircled the German forces, pressing them west toward the Rhine. After May 1945 the Fifteenth Army became an occupation force, and in January 1946 it was inactivated.

Records.--The records of Headquarters Fifteenth Army in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis, include central files, 1944-46; radio messages, 1944-46; several series of orders and bulletins; and records of the G-2, Judge Advocate General, Provost Marshal, Post Exchange, Engineer, and Surgeon Sections.

Reports of the Fifteenth Army, in the historical-reports files in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO, include monthly narrative reports by the general-staff sections, Mar-May 1945, most of them accompanied by copies of journals and other documents; and a general history of the Fifteenth Army, Aug. 21, 1944-July 11, 1945. A history of the activation of Headquarters Fifteenth Army in the continental United States, prepared by the Historical Section of Headquarters Army Ground Forces, is in the Army's Historical Division.

Sixth Army Group [1137]

This Army Group, also known as the Southern Group of Armies, was commanded by Lt. Gen. Jacob L. Devers. It consisted of the French First Army under General de Lattre de Tassigny and the United States Seventh Army under Lt. Gen. Alexander M. Patch. Its headquarters, activated on August 1, 1944, by Allied Force Headquarters of the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, was at first responsible for completing plans for the invasion of southern France. On September 15, 1944, a month after that invasion was launched, Headquarters Sixth Army Group was made responsible to SHAEF and was given tactical control over the Allied ground and service forces in southern France. The Group's operations progressed into the area of the High Vosges, across the German frontier, and finally to western Austria and the Lake of Constance.

In addition to directing the United States Seventh and French First Armies, Headquarters Sixth Army Group exercised tactical control over the First Airborne Task Force, established on September 24, 1944, and its successor Alpine Front Command, established on March 1, 1945, which provided defense and maintained security along the international boundaries of France, Switzerland, and Italy. The Group negotiated the capitulation of the German Armies facing south in the Alps, and it was responsible for enforcing the terms of surrender in its area of occupation. It was in charge of military government in the Munich-Berchtesgaden-Salzburg area until the responsibility of military government was transferred to the United States Forces European Theater and the United States Army Forces in Austria. The Sixth Army Group was discontinued on July 14, 1945.

Sixth Army Group Headquarters was organized in the United States Army staff pattern, with five general-staff sections and special-staff sections corresponding to the Technical and Administrative Services. The headquarters

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staff included a Secretary of the General Staff and French missions for liaison with the First French Army and the French forces in the West.

Records.--Most of the records of Headquarters Sixth Army Group, 1944-45 (84 feet), are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. They include correspondence, radio messages, orders and memoranda, conference notes, operations reports, and maps and overlays. In the historical-reports files in the Departmental Records Branch are a history of the Sixth Army Group, in 11 installments, each of which consists of a narrative and supporting documents; the Groups "After Action Reports," Aug. 1944-May 1945; and copies of staff-section reports, including G-1 statistical reports, G-2 "Weekly Intelligence Summaries," and G-4 journals. Another report issued by the Group in 1945 was its "Weekly Civil Affairs/Military Government Summaries."

Some records of the First Airborne Task Force, 1944-45 (3 feet), are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. They include central records, miscellaneous correspondence, orders and other documents issued by the command, and operations reports.

Seventh Army [1138]

This Army, activated in July 1943 at Bizerte, Tunisia, served in the North African Theater until August 1944 and thereafter in the European Theater. Its commanders were Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., July-December 1943, Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark, January-February 1944, and Lt. Gen. Alexander M. Patch, March 1944-May 1945. Its headquarters in July 1943 absorbed the headquarters of Force 343 and the I Armored Corps; a predecessor of the I Armored Corps was the Western Task Force. The Seventh Army invaded and captured Sicily in July and August 1943. On August 15, 1944, its advance units landed on the southern coast of France. Part of the Army's forces went up the Rhone Valley and part went through the Belfort Gap to capture Grenoble and then turned northwest to the Rhone. In October and November the Army fought in the Vosges Mountains, by December it had crossed the German frontier, and in late March and early April of 1945 it breached the Rhine barrier at Worms. In May 1945 part of the Army reached Berchtesgaden, and other elements drove southward through the Brenner Pass. Having made a junction with the Fifth Army in Italy, the Seventh Army received the surrender of the German forces in its area on May 5, 1945.

Records.--The administrative records of Headquarters Seventh Army, July 1943-Mar. 1946, in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis, are part of a larger body of records that contains records of this Army's predecessors--the I Armored Corps, Apr. 1941-Sept. 1942, and Jan.-July 1943; Task Force "A," Sept.-Oct. 1942; and the Western Task Force, Oct. 1942-Jan. 1943. The records consist chiefly of central files, 1942-46; radio messages, 1943-44; historical reports and other documents, 1942-46; translations of captured documents, 1943-46; reports to and from the United States consul at Algiers, 1942; and many series of orders and informational bulletins issued by these successive commands. The records also include records of the

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G-1, G-2, G-3, and G-4 Sections and of 12 special-staff sections, among which are the Antiaircraft Artillery Section, and the Chemical Warfare, Signal, and Surgeon Sections. Other and usually more extensive records relating to the staff sections are in the central files noted above.

Copies of combat reports by the Seventh Army, which were assembled by the Historical Section of Headquarters ETOUSA, are in the historical-reports files in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. Included are aerial photographs of fortifications along the Siegfried line; planning documents relating to the invasion of southern France, Jan.-Oct. 1944; a report of the Army's operations in the Sicilian Campaign; the general "History of the Seventh Army," Jan. 1944-May 1945, with supporting documents; and documents of staff sections, chiefly for the period Jan. 1944-May 1945.

European Theater of Operations United States Army [1139]

The top administrative headquarters over the United States Army's combat and service forces and troop units in the European Theater of Operations during the war was known as Headquarters United States Army Forces in the British Isles, or USAFBI, from January 1942 to June 8, 1942, and as Headquarters United States Army European Theater of Operations, or ETOUSA, from June 8, 1942 to July 1, 1945. These headquarters had noncombat responsibilities for all Army troops, matériel, and facilities. The headquarters participated in the operational planning, in 1942 and 1943, for the forthcoming continental invasion. It performed the functions of its predecessors, the Army component of the Special Observers Group and United States Army Forces in the British Isles. In 1943 it contributed most of the United States component of the Chief of Staff Supreme Allied Command. At the same time ETOUSA built up and trained United States troop units, planned the United States Army supply program for the Theater, and organized and extended the system of storage, distribution, and maintenance of matériel and the bases and facilities involved.

The supply, training, and administrative field establishment under Headquarters United States Army Forces in the British Isles and later under ETOUSA included the United States Army North Ireland Force, renamed the North Ireland Base Section in July 1942; the Army's forces in Iceland, renamed the Iceland Base Command in June 1942; Base Sections in the United Kingdom and later on the Continent; and, from November 1942 to February 1943, Base Sections in North Africa. ETOUSA also established and supervised many personnel centers, including the organization known successively as the Field Force Replacement System, the Replacement System, and the Reinforcement System, and several schools and training centers, chiefly for noncombat service troops. The staff sections of ETOUSA headquarters are separately described below. Some of these sections, especially those dealing with supply, were grouped from time to time under a subordinate headquarters known as Services of Supply United States Army Forces in the British Isles, May-June 1942, Services of Supply ETOUSA, June

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1942-June 1944, and Communications Zone (COM Z) ETOUSA, June 1944-May 1945.

On July 1, 1945, ETOUSA was renamed United States Forces European Theater (USFET), and its subordinate supply headquarters was renamed Theater Service Forces European Theater; in March 1946 the former absorbed the latter, and in March 1947 the headquarters was renamed the European Command.

Records.--Most of the records of Headquarters ETOUSA, 1942-45, are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis, part of a larger body of records, 1941-47 (6,000 feet), that includes a few records of commands preceding and following ETOUSA; and records of its Services of Supply and Communications Zone, 1942-45.

The general records of ETOUSA include several series of central files, 1942-46 (500 feet). Other records include radio messages, 1942-45; many series of orders, memoranda, bulletins, circulars, and informational documents, 1942-45; and records, 1942-44, of the Deputy Theater Commander.

Records of ETOUSA (2,700 feet) that were assembled by its Historical Section are in the historical-reports files in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. They include historical reports, "After Action Reports," "Situation Reports," journals, operational orders, and other documents, especially for ground-combat units such as the Army Groups, the Armies, and their subordinate commands in the European Theater; some documents relating to service troop units; reports of interviews with United States Army personnel and captured enemy personnel; and map and photograph "libraries." These records are described in Royce L. Thompson, "Preliminary Checklist of Operational and Historical Records, European Theater of Operations," issued by the Historical Records Section, War Department Records Branch, AGO, in April 1946. Records of air combat units in the Theater are in the Air Historical Group. The administrative records of ETOUSA's Historical Section are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. ETOUSA's over-all "Administrative and Logistical History of the European Theater of Operations" (11 vols.), is in the Army's Historical Division.

Records pertaining to ETOUSA are in the central records of the War Department, in the AGO; see the project files entitled "United States Army Forces, Great Britain," 1942; and "European Command," 1942-45 (4 linear feet). Radio messages to and from ETOUSA are in the master files of radio messages in the Office of the Chief of Staff (see entry 166); see especially those messages filed under "London USSOS," Jan. 1942-Aug. 1944; "London USAWW," Mar. 1942-Jan. 1944; "London," July 1942-Aug. 1944; "London USFOR," July 1942-Mar. 1944; "ETOUSA," Mar.-June 1944: "ETO" (and "E"), Jan.-May 1945; and "United Kingdom," Nov. 1944-May 1945.

Records of the General Board, United States Forces European Theater, which evaluated the wartime administrative experience of ETOUSA, consisting of its "Report" (135 vols.); office memoranda, 1945; and other records, are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. Copies

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of the "Report" are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO, and in the central records of the War Department, in the AGO.

General-Staff Sections [1140]

The general-staff sections of ETOUSA, G-1 to G-4, performed functions comparable to those of the similar sections of the United States War Department General Staff.

Records.--Records of the general-staff sections are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. G-1 records include central files, 1942-45; journals, 1942; monthly reports, 1942-45; and "Battle Experience" reports, 1944-45. G-2 records include central files, 1942-45; a history of G-2, 1942-45; journals, 1944-45; several series of intelligence instructions, notes, digests, and reports, 1944-45; records of its Censorship Division, 1942-45; and correspondence of its Military Intelligence Service, 1945. G-3 records include central files, 1942-45; "Battle Studies and Tours," 1944-47; the "G-3 Daily Summary," 1943-45; journals, 1943-45; and radio messages, 1944-45. G-4 records include central files, 1943-46, and records of the General Purchasing Agent, 1944-45. Some G-4 records may be in the Center at St. Louis, among the Logistics Division's records relating to reciprocal aid from the British, 1942-47, and the Procurement Section's correspondence, 1944-46. Both these agencies were postwar procurement agencies of United States Forces European Theater and the European Command.

Special-Staff Sections for Administrative Matters [1141]

These special-staff sections of ETOUSA had functions in headquarters comparable to those of the chiefs of Administrative Services in Washington and to the divisions of the War Department Special Staff. The Inspector General, Adjutant General, Chaplain, and Special Service Section of Services of Supply ETOUSA and Communications Zone ETOUSA were headed by the corresponding staff officers in ETOUSA headquarters.

Records.--Records of these sections are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. Records of the Inspector General Section include reports of investigations, 1942-46. Records of the Civil Affairs Section consist of a few wartime records, 1942-45; other and more extensive records for the postwar occupation period are also in the Center at St. Louis. Records of the Adjutant General Section include the Postal Division's central files, 1942-46, and historical reports, 1942-44. Records of the Judge Advocate General Section include central files, 1941-46; and court-martial records, 1944-45. Records of the Provost Marshal Section include central files, 1942-46; radio messages, 1943-45; journals, 1943-44; records relating to its Disarmament School, 1944; "Missing in Action Reports" of the Eighth and Ninth Air Forces, 1943-45; and lists of casualties, lists of prisoners of war, and reports on prisoner-of-war camps. Records of the Chaplain Section consist of a small series of reports, 1945. The records of the Special Service

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Section include central files, 1942-45; journals, 1943-45; and radio messages, 1945-46. Records of the Public Relations Section include central files, 1942-46; radio messages, 1943; and press releases, 1945-46. Records of the Fiscal Director Section include central files, 1942-45; and records of its Survey Division, 1943-45. This Section's basic accounting records are in the consolidated financial files in the Army Finance Center, St. Louis.

Special-Staff Sections for Technical Matters [1142]

These special-staff sections of ETOUSA had functions comparable to those of the chiefs of the Technical Services in Washington. These sections served in Services of Supply ETOUSA and in the successor Communications Zone ETOUSA. The head of each such section usually served as the corresponding Theater Service Officer in Headquarters ETOUSA and occasionally as adviser on technical matters to SHAEF.

Records.--Most of the records of these special-staff sections are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. The records of practically all sections include central files, radio messages, and the usual memoranda, orders, and bulletins; other records are noted below. The Quartermaster Section's records include several types of reports. Records of the Ordnance Section include historical and other reports, 1942-45. Among the records of the Engineer Section are real-estate records for Army installations in the United Kingdom, Africa, Belgium, France, and Luxembourg, 1942-47; histories of depot and hospital facilities in the United Kingdom, 1941-44; and several series of progress reports. Records of the Signal Section include journals, 1943-45; historical and other reports, 1942-45; and records relating to liaison with the British on equipment research, development, and testing. Records of the Surgeon General Section include records relating to the lend-lease program, 1942-46, and narrative and statistical reports on medical matters. The Transportation Section's records include historical reports, 1942-45; "Activity Reports"; and reports on convoy, port, barge, and harbor-craft operations, 1944-45.

Other Special-Staff Sections [1143]

Several other special-staff sections of ETOUSA were set up to handle problems pertaining to the Ground Forces.

Records.--Records of these special-staff sections are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. The Antiaircraft Artillery Section's records include central files, 1942-45; a history, 1942-44; and journals, 1944-45. Records of the Armored Fighting Vehicle and Weapon Section include central files and a historical report, 1944-45; and Information Memoranda, 1944-45. The Field Artillery Section's records include messages and journals, 1945. Records of the Seacoast Artillery Evaluation Board consist of general records, 1945-46; journals and logs, 1945-46; and office memoranda. A copy of this Board's report (7 vols.) is in the central records of the War Department, in the AGO.

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Base Sections [1144]

The major base sections that served under ETOUSA and under its Services of Supply and Communications Zone organization were analogous to the Service Commands in the continental United States. Each base section, within its region, performed the functions of matériel storage, maintenance, and distribution and handled other administrative and technical functions assigned to it by Headquarters ETOUSA. The base sections in the British Isles included the London command, which had several designations, 1942-45, the last of which was the United Kingdom Base; the North Ireland Base Section, 1942-44; and the Eastern and Southern Base Sections. Base sections on the Continent were the Advance Section Communications Zone; the Continental Advance Section; the Brittany, Normandy, Channel, Chanor, and Seine Base Sections; and, in southern France, the Continental and the Delta Base Sections, which were transferred from the Mediterranean Theater of Operations on November 1, 1944.

Records.---Records of the base sections in the European Theater are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. The records of a typical base section, the Advance Section Communications Zone, include central files, 1944-45; radio messages, 1944-45; about 15 series of orders and informational bulletins; and records of 12 general and special-staff sections. The records of this and other base sections are listed in the processing work sheets prepared by the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis, copies of which are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.

First Allied Airborne Army [1145]

On August 8, 1944, all British and American airborne forces and a Polish parachute brigade were placed under a single command, which was redesignated as Headquarters First Allied Airborne Army on August 16, 1944; it was under an American commander and a British deputy commander. The Airborne Army was employed in September 1944 in the capture of vital bridges over the Maas, the Waal, and the lower Rhine; and in March 1945 in transporting personnel and equipment to the east bank of the Rhine north of Wesel. It participated in the emergency air supply and transport of reinforcements to ground forces, particularly during the Ardennes battle, provided food to civilians isolated in combat areas, and evacuated casualties, prisoners of war, and displaced persons.

Headquarters was responsible for supervising the training of airborne troops; preparing plans for combat operations in collaboration with Air Staff, SHAEF, and Headquarters Twenty-first Army Group; resupplying ground troops with ammunition, weapons, food, clothing, and personnel; and controlling operations for the return of airborne troops to their rear bases when they had been relieved from combat. Though Headquarters functioned primarily in coordination and planning, it had tactical control over troop carrier elements when they were committed to an airborne operation and over airborne divisions before they were committed to ground combat. It consisted

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of a small integrated British-American staff, with an American Commander and a British Commander. It was responsible directly to SHAEF.

Records.--Those records of Headquarters First Allied Airborne Army that were regarded as of combined United States-British interest were microfilmed by the Combined Administrative Liquidating Agency after the war. A microfilm copy was transferred to the British; the original records, 1944-45 (4 feet), and a duplicate of the film are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. These records include correspondence, radio messages, directives, operations plans, and maps. Records that were considered to have only United States interest (8 feet) are in the Departmental Records Branch. These include general records, general and special orders, correspondence of the G-3 Section, and records of Signal troop units attached to Headquarters. Other records of the Airborne Army, which were assembled by the Historical Section of Headquarters ETOUSA, are in the historical-reports files in the Departmental Records Branch. They include "After Action Reports"; journals and summaries of general-staff sections; planning papers and radio messages, Sept. 1944-Mar. 1945; and reports on the Airborne Army's participation in operations in Holland, Belgium, and Germany. An almost complete set of the Army's "Semi-Monthly Record of Results," Jan. 1944-May 1945 (30 vols.), and copies of some of its operations reports are in the Air Historical Group.

See Lewis H. Brereton, The Brereton Diaries, 308-426 (New York, 1946).

Air Staff, SHAEF [1146]

The Allied Expeditionary Air Force, November 1943-October 1944,and the successor Air Staff, SHAEF, October 1944-July 1945,constituted the major subordinate interallied headquarters for directing the tactical employment of British and United States air forces in support of ground operations in continental Europe. These forces included the fighter and medium-bombardment elements of the Royal Air Force's Tactical Air Force and after December 15, 1943, the United States Ninth Air Force. Later, the Royal Air Force and the United States heavy-bombardment commands, which conducted the long-range "Combined Bomber Offensive" over Europe, were included in the elements supervised by this headquarters. Both the Allied Expeditionary Air Force and Air Staff SHAEF were headed by a Royal Air Force officer, with an Army Air Forces officer as Deputy. Air Staff SHAEF was organized in a rear and a main echelon, both of which had staff divisions for personnel, intelligence, current operations, future operations, and logistics. Air Staff SHAEF was discontinued, with the rest of SHAEF, in July 1945.

Records.--Most of the records of Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Air Force, 1943-44, were transferred to the British Air Ministry when this Headquarters was discontinued. A selection of the documents of combined interest was later made by a British-United States board; and a microfilm

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of these (40 rolls) is in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. Other records of this Headquarters became part of the records of Air Staff SHAEF in October 1944 and later. Records of Air Staff SHAEF, 1943-45, were divided between the two countries, and microfilms were made of those that were of interest to both. Some of the records in United States custody (34 feet) are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO, and some (35 feet) are in the Air Historical Group. They include correspondence, radio messages, directives, operational plans, minutes of meetings, and photographs.

United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe [1147]

The Army's air headquarters that directed the long-range strategic bombing of Axis-controlled Europe was, successively from January 1942 to August 1945, the VIII Bomber Command, the Eighth Air Force, United States Army Air Forces in the United Kingdom, and United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe, or USSTAF. Under the last two headquarters the Eighth Air Force continued as the major bombardment force based in England. USSTAF also controlled the strategic-bombardment operations of the Fifteenth Air Force, based in Italy, and it directed the "shuttle bombing" operations of the Eighth and Fifteenth Air Forces between their home bases and those that the Soviet Union made available to USSTAF's Eastern Air Command at Poltava. USSTAF had administrative control over the Ninth Air Force, which gave tactical support to ground forces on the Continent from June 1944 to May 1945, and it supervised supply and other technical activities relating to aircraft, air weapons, and airfield construction and other logistical matters peculiar to air operations. Supply activities were handled successively from January 1942 to September 1945 by the VIII Air Force Base Command; the VIII Air Force Service Command, USSTAF; and the Air Technical Service Command--Europe. This service command operated several regional or "Area" commands, which supplied the tactical and strategic air combat forces; the Engineer Command at St. Germaine, France; and air technical schools in the United Kingdom. In August 1945 USSTAF, renamed the Army Air Forces in Europe, became a tactical air force and service command in postwar Germany.

Records.--Part of the records of USSTAF and its predecessors are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. Among these records are general records of the Eighth Air Force, USSTAF, the VIII Air Force Service Command and its successor, and the Eastern Air Command; USSTAF's "Daily Railroad Raid Reports," 1944; and the Eastern Air Command's records relating to the United States Embassy in Moscow and the United States Military Mission to Moscow. Many records of USSTAF and its air commands, selected by its Historical Section, are in the Air Historical Group. They include combat records and records concerning logistics and administration. The personal papers of the USSTAF commander, Gen. Carl Spaatz, are in the Library of Congress; they are described in the Library's Quarterly Journal of Current Acquisitions, 6: 23-55 (May 1949).

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Allied Expeditionary Naval Force [1148]

This Force, also known as ANCXF, was established on October 25, 1943, as an operational command for British and United States naval forces that were to support the forthcoming operations of the Allied Expeditionary Force. The Allied Naval Commander in Chief, Expeditionary Force, was Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay, R. N., who was under the over-all command of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Forces. His staff was essentially British, with a small United States component, and its major activities were in connection with the assault on the Continent of June 1944. The command was discontinued in July 1945, with the rest of SHAEF. The United States naval forces that operated under the command are discussed below.

Records.--Most of the records of the command are in the custody of the British Government. Copies of its war diaries, June 1944-July 1945 (3 feet), and the "Report by the Allied Naval Commander-in-Chief, Expeditionary Force, on Operation 'NEPTUNE,' " 1944, which were transferred to the United States in 1946, are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. Later, a selection was made from other documents in the British Admiralty relating to the Allied Expeditionary Naval Force, and a microcopy (9 rolls) was prepared. This is also in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.

United States Naval Forces, Europe [1149]

This naval command was established in March 1942, with headquarters at London. It took over the liaison and planning activities previously carried on by the Special Naval Observer, who operated through the United States Embassy. Admiral Harold R. Stark served as Commander United States Naval Forces, Europe (ComNavForEu), throughout the war period. This Command was an administrative command over all United States naval forces assigned to British waters and the Atlantic coastal waters of Europe. It had administrative control over United States bases built in 1941 at Gare Loch and Loch Ryan, Scotland, and Londonderry and Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, and over those built later in southern England and on the west coast of France.

Early in September 1943 the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, created the Twelfth Fleet, which consisted of units of United States naval forces in Europe. The Commander United States Naval Forces, Europe, thereupon became also Commander Twelfth Fleet. On April 15, 1945, these forces were augumented by units transferred from the Commander United States Naval Forces, Northwest African Waters.

The Commander United States Naval Forces, Europe, was responsible for the maintenance and training of the United States naval units in his area. For the invasion of Europe he assigned the task forces of the Twelfth Fleet to the operational control of the Allied Naval Commander in Chief.

Records.--The flag files of the Commander United States Naval Forces, Europe, 1940-45, and the records of some of his subordinate commands are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa. Records

--764--

of many of the shore-based minor naval commands in the European Theater of Operations are in the Naval Records Management Center at New Orleans. The general operational files of the Naval Operating Base at Londonderry, Northern Ireland, 1942-44, and records concerning the construction of the naval bases at Londonderry and Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, and Gare Loch (Rosneath) and Loch Ryan, Scotland, 1942-43, are in the National Archives.

A seven-volume unpublished history of United States Naval Forces, Europe, is in the Division of Naval Records and History, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.

Western Naval Task Force [1150]

The United States naval forces that took part in the cross-channel invasion of France consisted of Task Force 122 of the Twelfth Fleet. This Task Force, designated as the Western Naval Task Force, was commanded by Rear Admiral Alan G. Kirk and was under the operational command of the Allied Naval Commander in Chief, Expeditionary Force. The assignment of the Task Force was to transport and land the United States First Army. The Task Force consisted of two assault forces, each of which was made up of the transports, bombardment ships, landing craft, escort craft, gunfire support craft, mine sweepers, and control craft necessary for the successful completion of its assignment.

Records.--The activities of the Task Force are documented in the records described in entry 1149
[in particular, volume V of the unpublished history, The Invasion of Normandy: Operation NEPTUNE --HyperWar].

United States Naval Forces, France [1151]

This command was established on September 10, 1944, with administrative headquarters at Paris and operational headquarters at Louveciennes, Seine-et-Oise. It provided naval representation to Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Forces, then located at Paris. Vice Adm. Alan G. Kirk was Commander United States Naval Forces, France (ComNavForFrance), which in the Fleet organization was designated as Task Force 122 of the Twelfth Fleet. He was under the administrative command of the Commander United States Naval Forces, Europe, and the operational command of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force.

Upon its establishment the command was given general control of all United States naval activities on the European continent except those operating under the Commander Twelfth Fleet in southern French ports. It directed the naval command, United States Ports and Bases, France, which had been established on July 10, 1944. On March 15, 1945, this subordinate command was disestablished, and its responsibilities were taken over directly by United States Naval Forces, France.

The functions of United States Naval Forces, France, included the clearing and rehabilitating of captured or liberated ports to provide for the uninterrupted flow of supplies and equipment for the United States Army and the planning and execution of operations assigned by Supreme Headquarters

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Allied Expeditionary Force and by the Allied Naval Commander in Chief, Expeditionary Force. Among its tasks were the development and operation of bridgeheads, the defense of assault and port areas, and the organization of landing-craft units for the Rhine crossings.

The Commander United States Naval Forces, France, exercised naval control in Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany and over ports in western and northwestern France. On July 1, 1945, this command was disestablished, and command over naval forces performing occupation duties or supporting the United States Army in the European Theater of Operations was transferred to the newly organized United States Naval Forces, Germany, discussed below.

Records.---The activities of the command are documented in the records described in entry 1149.

United States Naval Forces, Germany [1152]

This naval command was established on July 1, 1945, and to it were transferred the functions of the predecessor United States Naval Forces, France. Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley was appointed Commander United States Naval Forces, Germany (ComNavForGer). Its main headquarters was at Frankfort, Germany; rear headquarters at London performed routine logistics, administration, and operations. The command was under the administrative and logistic control of United States Naval Forces, Europe, operating as Task Force 124 of the Twelfth Fleet. For the first 2 weeks of its existence it was under the operational control of the Supreme Allied Commander and of the Allied Naval Commander Expeditionary Force. Upon the dissolution of SHAEF on July 14, 1945, United States Naval Forces, Germany, was put under the operational control of the Commanding General United States Forces, European Theater. Under this command the Commander United States Naval Forces, Germany, had operational control over all naval forces on the Continent assigned to occupation duties or to the support of the United States Army in the European Theater of Operations. The duties of the command included supervising the disposition of captured and surrendered enemy naval personnel, clearing port areas for incoming shipping, and operating shipyards and repair facilities for the repair of German and Allied ships.

Records.--The activities of the command are documented in the records described in entry 1149.

MEDITERRANEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS [1153]

On November 8, 1942, when the Allied forces invaded northwestern Africa, and for a time thereafter, that region was considered to be a part of the already existing European Theater of Operations. On February 4, 1943, however, after the Allies had reached Tunisia, the North African Theater of Operations was established. This Theater included roughly northwestern Africa from Dakar to Italian Libya; Italy; and the Mediterranean Sea and its islands as far east as the Adriatic. On November

--756--

1, 1944, the North African Theater was renamed the Mediterranean Theater of Operations and was expanded to include all of the Mediterranean Sea, Greece, and the Balkan nations, where American and British forces conducted air bombardment operations and provided support to anti-Axis resistance forces. Early in 1945 the Mediterranean Theater was diminished by assigning its African territory to the Africa-Middle East Theater.

Interallied military operations in the Theater were thoroughly integrated. Under Allied Force Headquarters, the highest command within the Theater, were interallied commands for air, ground, naval, and military government operations. These interallied commands and the United States Army and Navy commands in the Theater are discussed below.

The combat operations in the North African and Mediterranean Theaters of Operations from November 1942 to May 1945 have been officially defined in terms of the following nine major air-ground campaigns and nine major naval engagements. (1) The Algeria-French Morocco Campaign, November 8-11, 1942, was known in Navy terminology as the Algeria-Morocco Landings and the Actions off Casablanca. (2) The Tunisia Campaign, November 1942-May 13, 1943, included the Navy's Tunisian Operation. (3) The Sicily Campaign, May-August 1943, included the Navy's Sicilian Operation. (4) The Naples-Foggia Campaign, August 18, 1943-January 21, 1944, included the Navy's Salerno Landings. (5) The Anzio Campaign, January 22-May 24, 1944, included two naval engagements called the Anzio-Nettuno Advanced Landings and the Bombardments Formia-Anzio Area. (6) The Rome-Arno Campaign, January 22-September 9, 1944, included a naval engagement called the Elba and Pianosa Landings. (7) The Southern France Campaign, August 15-September 14, 1944, included the naval campaign called the Invasion of Southern France. (8) The North Apennines Campaign, September 10, 1944-April 4, 1945, and (9) the Po Valley Campaign, April 5-May 8, 1945, were essentially air and ground campaigns.

Records.--See the separate entries below.

Army operations in the North African and Mediterranean Theaters of Operations are lucidly summarized in Gen. George Marshall's Biennial Reports made as Chief of Staff to the Secretary of War, 1941-43, p. 18-27, and 1943-45, p. 14-26, 35-37; and in Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, 69-219 (New York, 1948). Naval operations are briefly discussed in Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King, U.S. Navy at War, 1941-1945, Official Reports to the Secretary of the Navy, p. 82-88 (1946), and extensively treated in Samuel Eliot Morison, Operations in North African Waters, October 1942-June 1943 (Boston, 1947. 297 p.).

Allied Force Headquarters [1154]

This Headquarters, known also as AFHQ, was the unified inter- allied command that planned and supervised ground, air, naval, and service operations and military government in the North African Theater of Operations and the later Mediterranean Theater. The decision to invade North Africa was made in July 1942 by Prime Minister Churchill and President Roosevelt, in consultation with the Combined Chiefs of Staff, and Gen.

--767--

Dwight D. Eisenhower was chosen as Allied Commander in Chief, Mediterranean (a title later changed to Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theater). United States and British staffs were set up in London to plan the operations with General Eisenhower, and in September the staffs were designated as Allied Force Headquarters. Before the invasion was launched, the command post of AFHQ was moved to Gibraltar; on November 9, the day after the initial assault, the Advance Echelon of Headquarters was set up at Algiers; and on November 25, the whole of Allied Force Headquarters was transferred to Algiers. In January 1944 General Eisenhower was recalled to London to plan the invasion of France. The subsequent commanders of Allied Force Headquarters during the period of hostilities were Gen. Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, January-December 1944, and Field Marshal Sir Harold R.L.G. Alexander, December 1944-September 1945. In July 1944 AFHQ was moved to Caserta, Italy.

Because the Supreme Commander was an American general, Allied Force Headquarters was organized until 1944 in the pattern of the War Department General Staff rather than in the British staff pattern. Its organization included the Command Group, two secretariats, four general-staff sections, and many special-staff sections, boards, and committees. Many of the staff sections were "integrated," with American and British personnel operating together in each section and with the chief from one nation and the deputy chief from the other. For administrative, personnel, and supply matters, however, it was necessary to set up "unintegrated" or parallel staff sections, one British and one American, because on these matters each had to deal with authorities in its own nation's capital.

Several subordinate interallied commands operated under AFHQ. The most important of these were the Allied Armies in Italy, also known as the Fifteenth Army Group; the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces; the Naval Commander in Chief, Mediterranean; the Allied Commission (Italy), which administered military government and civil affairs during the occupation period; and the Military Headquarters (Balkans), which supervised relief and rehabilitation operations in Greece, Albania, and Yugoslavia. All except the last of these are separately discussed below.

Under Allied Force Headquarters each nation had its own headquarters for the administration of its own armed forces. The United States Army Headquarters, called successively Headquarters North African Theater of Operations United States Army and Headquarters Mediterranean Theater United States Army, is discussed below. Beginning in February 1943 the American officer who was chief or deputy chief of a staff section in Allied Force Headquarters was chief of the corresponding section of this United States Army Headquarters. It should be noted that this Headquarters had administrative but not operational control of United States combat troops in the theater; these troops are therefore discussed in connection with the interallied commands under which they operated.

After the German surrender in May 1945 Allied Force Headquarters was concerned with the redeployment of forces to the Pacific areas, and in September 1945 it began to prepare for the discontinuance of the Mediterranean

--768--

Theater. On October 1 Headquarters Mediterranean Theater of Operations United States Army was formally separated from AFHQ, and most of the British staff members were separated and reestablished as General Headquarters, Central Mediterranean Forces. A small interallied staff remained to serve nominally as AFHQ for liquidation purposes, including the disposition of records through the Allied Force Records Administration. The skeletal AFHQ was moved from Caserta to Leghorn in April 1947 and was formally discontinued on September 17, 1947.

Records.--By a directive of the Combined Chiefs of Staff, Dec. 1, 1947, the records of Allied Force Headquarters and its subordinate interallied headquarters, 1942-47, were transferred in 1947 and 1948 to the Historical Section of the British Cabinet Office in London. A microfilm copy of these records (1,648 rolls), which was made for the United States before the transfer, is in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. The central records of AFHQ consist of annual series, 1942-47, which cover the range of the Headquarters' activities, including planning, administration, combat operations, and military-diplomatic relations with national and local authorities in the Theater. These records are discussed at greater length under the entries below. They are listed in Kenneth W. Munden, "Analytical Guide to the Combined British-American Records of the Mediterranean Theater of Operations in World War II" (Rome, Italy, 1948. 290 p., processed), issued by the Allied Forces Records Administration. Still more complete listings are in the "Catalogue of the Combined British-American Records of the Mediterranean Theater of Operations in World War II" (3 vols.). Copies of these two guides are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO; and a copy of the former is in the library of the National Archives.

Some series and fragments of AFHQ records (39 file cabinets) were transferred to the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis, apparently before the program of the Allied Force Records Administration was begun. These records apparently are either extra sets of documents that are also in AFHQ records or records of unintegrated United States staff sections. Copies of the St. Louis Center's processing work sheets for these records are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. A five-part "History of AFHQ," prepared by its Historical Section, is among its records. Parts 1-3 of this have been issued; copies of these are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO, and the library of the National Archives.

Command Group [1155]

This Group of Allied Force Headquarters included the Supreme Allied Commander, the Deputy Supreme Allied Commander, the Chief and the Deputy Chief of Staff, the Assistant Chief of Staff (British), the Secretary of the General Staff, the Interservice and Political Secretariat, the Political Committee of the Supreme Allied Commander, and the Chief Administrative Officer. In March 1945 the Secretariat and the office of the Secretary of the General Staff were combined to form the Supreme Allied

--769--

Commander's Secretariat. This Secretariat included the AFHQ Message Center, the Records Section, and the Historical Section.

Records.--Records of all the above offices except that of the Assistant Chief of Staff were filed in the Supreme Allied Commander's Secretariat or its predecessors. The central files and other records of the Supreme Allied Commander include record copies of the minutes of his conferences; papers concerning the negotiations for the German surrender in Italy; the original instrument of surrender and its German version; records of the Psychological Warfare Branch; records concerning French, Italian, and Balkan matters; and political reports and cables concerning Bulgaria, Rumania, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Austria.

Records of the AFHQ Message Center include "cable" or signal logs and radio messages received and sent, 1943-47. Records of the Historical Section include records relating to the preparation of the "History of AFHQ" and the record set of that work. Other records kept by the Historical Section are the Supreme Allied Commander's dispatches to the Combined Chiefs of Staff, which cover the campaigns in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Greece, and Yugoslavia, the invasion of southern France, and the Pantelleria operation.

Records of the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer, 1942-46, pertain primarily to logistical problems and civilian affairs. They include records concerning, and in some instances the original files of, the Allied Force Local Resources (Italian) Board, the Joint Military Finance Committee, the Mediterranean Shipping Board, the Joint Disposal Committee, and the North African Economic Board. Other records of the Chief Administrative Officer concern policy and general civil affairs; specific civil affairs in Italy, Austria, Greece, and Albania; the organization of the Allied Commission for Italy; the repatriation of Greek prisoners of war; and displaced persons and refugees.

General-Staff Sections [1156]

The G-2 (Intelligence)" and G-3 (Operations and Training) Sections of Allied Force Headquarters were combined British and American sections that continued in Headquarters from its inception to the end of hostilities. The G-1 (Personnel) Section from its beginning and the G-4 (Supply and Transportation) Section very early had parallel sections for British and American activities, and shortly after the French capitulation in North Africa the American sections became the corresponding sections of Headquarters North African Theater of Operations United States Army. Since these sections had practically no combined records, they are treated under that American headquarters below. The G-5 (Military Government and Civil Affairs) Section was established in May 1944. Before that time functions pertaining to such a section were handled by the Chief Administrative Officer of Allied Force Headquarters.

Records.--Records of the G-2 Section in the microfilmed records of AFHQ include periodic and special intelligence reports, policy records of its Executive Officer, planning papers on civil censorship and a history of the Civil Censorship Group, combat-intelligence records, and the records of

--770--

six security-intelligence units that were concerned with the security of Allied personnel, equipment, and installations and with counterintelligence. Records of the G-3 Section include extensive files on the strategy and tactics of combined combat operations, 1942-45; records relating to the Joint Planning Staff, 1943-45; records concerning the training in the Theater of ground and service troop units, French and British as well as American; and records of special operations by units of the Office of Strategic Services and the "AFHQ History of Special Operations." G-5 Section records (which contain some records of the Section's predecessors) include general records, 1943-47; and records of the Displaced Persons Division, 1944-47, the Financial Adviser, and the Economics and Supply Division, 1943-47, the last relating chiefly to the lend-lease program for civilian supply in liberated areas.

Special-Staff Sections [1157]

Many of the special-staff sections of Allied Force Headquarters were American in character and had as counterparts the similar "services" of the British. These "unintegrated" sections, organized nationally, gave technical advice to their nationals in the integrated sections of the General Staff, and each maintained close collaboration and consultation with the parallel section of the other nationality.

Records.--Among the AFHQ microfilmed records in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO, are substantial records of the Quartermaster, Petroleum, and Signal Sections. Records of the unintegrated Ordnance Section and the Engineer Section include a series on bomb disposal and a few records on airfield construction, bridging, and camouflage. The Engineer Section had one integrated subordinate unit, the Survey Directorate; its records, 1942-45, relate to the coordination of surveys and mapping and the production and distribution of maps. Records of other special-staff units that are among the records of AFHQ are those of the Logistics Plans Section, 1942-45; the Passive Air Defense and Civil Defense Section, 1942-45; the Antiaircraft Section and the successor Antiaircraft and Coast Defense Section, 1942-45; the Liaison Section, 1942-46, with records concerning each of some 20 countries whose troops were represented in the Allied Forces; the Psychological Warfare Branch and its predecessors, 1942-46; and the Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Center, 1943-45.

Boards and Committees [1158]

Many boards and committees were set up in Allied Force Headquarters to coordinate British and American action on combat and logistical problems. Among the agencies that dealt with combat activities were the Joint Planning Staff, patterned after the Combined Planning Staff of the Combined Chiefs of Staff; the Joint Intelligence Committee; the Combined Signal Board, which handled problems in collaboration with the Combined Communications Board in Washington; and the Advance Telecommunications Board, which controlled local communications throughout

--771--

Italy. Logistical committees were the North African (later the Mediterranean) Shipping Board and the General Purchasing Board and successor Allied Force Local Resources Boards for North Africa, Sardina, Sicily, and Italy. Another agency, the Allied Screening Commission (Italy), handled claims for compensation and recognition to Italians and Austrians who assisted Allied personnel behind the enemy lines after September 8, 1943.

Records.--Records of all the boards and committees mentioned above are among the microfilmed records of AFHQ in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. They include "Papers," 1942-46, of the Joint Planning Staff; a small file of "appreciations," 1943-45, of the Joint Intelligence Committee of this Headquarters; central records, 1943-46, of the Combined Signal Board; and records of the Advance Telecommunications Board, 1944-45, the Shipping Board, 1942-45, and the Purchasing Board and its successors, 1943-45.

Allied Commission (Italy) [1159]

The Allied Control Commission for Italy, which was renamed the Allied Commission (Italy) in November 1944, was established on November 10, 1943, at Brindisi, then the seat of the Italian Government. It assumed the duties of the Allied Military Mission that had been dispatched to Brindisi after the Italian armistice of September 3, 1943. The new Commission was chiefly concerned with enforcing the terms of surrender and insuring that Allied use of local transportation, communications, and other resources for combat purposes would be expedited. The Commission was intended to gradually replace the Allied Military Government; and on January 24, 1944, it was given command over all military-government areas in Italy.

Among its many duties, the Commission represented the Combined Chiefs of Staff and the United Nations in matters affecting the foreign policy of Italy; operated Allied Military Government courts and supervised the administration of justice by Italian courts; supervised the reconstruction of the Italian armed forces, local government, and the financial and economic life of Italy; advanced public health; restored education to normal operations; supervised the control, rehabilitation, and repatriation of displaced persons, refugees, and Italian prisoners of war in Allied hands; and supervised the protection and preservation of the monuments, art, and archives of Italy.

On July 15, 1944, the Commission's headquarters were moved to Rome. On December 31, 1945, all territory in Italy except Venezia Giulia and the Province of Udine (which were under the Allied Military Government) was returned to Italian administration. The Allied Commission was abolished on January 31, 1947, and its residual functions were assigned to the G-5 Section of Allied Force Headquarters.

Records.--Practically all the records of the Commission, 1943-47, are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. Its headquarters records (1,200 feet) include records of the Chief Commissioner, the Executive Commissioner, the Economic, Political, and Civil Affairs Sections, and the following

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subcommissions: Naval Forces, Land Forces, Communications, Displaced Persons and Repatriation, Education, Finance, Food and Agriculture, Industry, Public Works and Utilities, Labor, Local Government, Transportation, Shipping, Public Health, Public Safety, and Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives. Records of the Property Control Subcommission are in the American and British Embassies at Rome. The records of Headquarters Allied Military Government of the United States Fifth and British Eighth Armies and records of Allied Military Government city headquarters and the successor regional and provincial headquarters (1,690 feet) are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO, except for the records of Allied Military Government Venezia Giulia, which are in the custody of the Commander, British-United States Zone, Free Territory of Trieste. Besides the paper records noted above, there is in the Departmental Records Branch the microfilm copy of the records, made by the Allied Force Records Administration. All these records are described in the two guides mentioned in entry 1154. Another useful guide is "Sources for the History of Allied Military Government in Italy, 1943-47," which was issued in 1949 as Reference Aid No. 3 by the Historical Records Section, Departmental Records Branch, AGO.

Interallied Ground Commands [1160]

Under Allied Force Headquarters successive commands in North Africa and in Italy exercised operational control over the Allied ground forces in the North African and Mediterranean Theaters of Operations. These commands and the United States forces that operated under their direction are discussed below. Administrative control over such forces was exercised by separate British and American headquarters; the American headquarters are discussed in entry 1165.

Task Forces [1161]

Beginning on November 8, 1942, United States ground forces in North Africa operated in three task forces. The Western Task Force, also called Task Force A and the I Armored Corps, made landings at Casablanca. The Center Task Force, also known as the II Corps, landed at Oran. The Eastern Task Force, also called the Eastern Assault Force, a mixed British and American force, landed at Algiers. On January 3, 1943, these task forces were inactivated, and 2 days later the United States Fifth Army was activated and combat units of the task forces were assigned to it. The service units of these forces were assigned to the Atlantic and Mediterranean Base Sections. Later still, upon the activation of the Seventh Army, some headquarters personnel and troop units of the former Western Task Force were assigned to it.

Records.--The records of the Western Task Force are among the records of the successor Seventh Army, in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. No separate groups of records for the other two task forces have been identified among the unit records at St. Louis. Basic planning papers about all the task forces are in the records of Allied Force Headquarters

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and the records of the Operations Division, General Staff. Copies of orders, journals, and reports by those forces are in the historical-reports files in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.

Eighteenth Army Group [1162]

This Army Group was activated on February 18, 1943, pursuant to a decision of the Combined Chiefs of Staff at the Casablanca Conference in January 1943. The Group was composed of the British Eighth Army, which was advancing westward across Tripolitania, and the British First Army, the United States II Corps, and French units in Tunisia, which were advancing eastward after the North African landings. The Eighteenth Army Group was commanded by Gen. Sir Harold R. L. G. Alexander, who was also designated Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Allied Forces in North Africa. The Army Group served as the intermediate command between Allied Force Headquarters and the Armies and Corps for the Tunisian campaign, January-May 1943. The headquarters of the Group developed tactical plans and issued directives for operations in Tunisia; coordinated ground operations with air and naval operations; coordinated intelligence activities of the First and Eighth Armies; advised the Commanding General of the Group on supply factors affecting his operational plans; and interpreted his decisions, insofar as they affected supply, to Allied Force Headquarters and to Headquarters, Services of Supply, North African Theater United States Army. The Eighteenth Army Group was inactivated on May 15, 1943, at the end of the Tunisian campaign.

Records.--No records of the headquarters of the Group are among the microfilm copies of combined British-American records, 1942-47, in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO, or among the Mediterranean Theater records in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. Related papers may be in the combined records of the Headquarters Eighth Army (British), 1942-45, in the records of the Fifteenth Army Group, and in the records of Allied Force Headquarters, which are all on microfilm in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. The records of the II Corps are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis.

Fifteenth Army Group [1163]

The Fifteenth Army Group, also called Allied Armies in Italy or AAI, replaced the Eighteenth Army Group in July 1943 as the interallied command for ground operations in the North African Theater of Operations. It originated as a planning staff for the invasion of Sicily about May 1943, and until the beginning of that invasion on July 10, 1943, it was known as Force 141. The Group, headed by Gen. Sir Harold R. L. G. Alexander, included the United States Seventh and British Eighth Armies during the Sicilian campaign, July-August 1943. The Seventh Army was replaced by the Fifth Army as the American component for the invasion of the Italian mainland. Headquarters Fifteenth Army Group was organized on the British staff pattern, with a small integrated American contingent.

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It developed plans and issued directives for operations assigned to it by Allied Force Headquarters; directed assigned ground forces in the field; and, in collaboration with Allied Force Headquarters, developed plans for the movement of troops from the United States, the Middle East, and North Africa into the Sicilian and Italian mainland campaigns. The Group was in charge of the Allied Military Government in Occupied Territories (AMGOT) in Italy, May-October 1943.

On December 16, 1944, Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark was put in command of the Army Group. At this time the Group consisted of the United States Fifth and the British Eighth Armies, totaling 20 divisions. This divisional strength was augmented by armored, tank, infantry, antiaircraft, and other special brigades, battalions, and units. Troops of other national origins under the Fifteenth Army Group included Canadians, French, New Zealanders, South Africans, Poles, Indians, Brazilians, Italians, Greeks, Moroccans, Algerians, Senegalese, and a brigade of Jewish soldiers. The Group directed ground combat operations on the Italian front until the German surrender in Italy on May 2, 1945, and it kept operational control of the Fifth and Eighth Armies until the task of executing the terms of that surrender was well under way and the occupation of Venezia Giulia and the Val d'Aosta was settled with the Yugoslav and French Governments, respectively. On July 5, 1945, Headquarters Fifteenth Army Group was inactivated at Verona, Italy. Its American contingent became the nucleus of Headquarters United States Army Forces in Austria, at Salzburg.

Records.--Most of the records of Headquarters Fifteenth Army Group, 1943-45 (93 feet), were transferred with the records of Allied Force Headquarters to the Historical Section, British Cabinet Office, London; and a microfilm copy of these records is in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. The records consist entirely of records kept by the several staff branches, most of which dealt with combat operations or supply and administration. Among the records are basic planning papers on the many coded combat operations, combat reports, records relating to precombat training, directives, and periodic reports. For further description of these records see the two guides of the records of Allied Force Headquarters, mentioned in entry 1154. Other records of Headquarters Fifteenth Army Group are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. They include central files for 1945, which may represent part of the central records missing from the microfilmed collection; incoming and outgoing radio messages, 1945; and messages of the G-3 Section.

Fifth Army [1164]

This Army was activated on January 5, 1943, under the command of Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark, with headquarters at Oudjda, Morocco. It was composed of all United States ground-combat elements previously under control of the Western and Center Task Forces. Initially the Fifth Army's responsibilities were for noncombat operations in western French Morocco and Algeria, and for several months its major activity was training and planning for operations on the Italian mainland. On September

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9, 1943, it landed on the beaches along the Gulf of Salerno. From that time until the final surrender of the German forces in Italy on May 2, 1945, the fifth Army served as the highest command echelon for United States Army ground forces in Italy. Administratively it was responsible to Headquarters North African Theater United States Army and the successor Mediterranean Theater United States Army; for operations it was responsible to the Fifteenth Army Group. During the first half of 1944 the French Corps was attached to the fifth Army; in the fall of 1944 the Brazilian Expeditionary Force joined it. On December 16, 1944, Lt. Gen. Lucian K. Truscott, Jr., replaced General Clark as commander.

Fifth Army Headquarters was at first organized in 4 general-staff sections and 14 special-staff sections, the latter corresponding to the Army Service Forces' Administrative and Technical Services. Other sections were added as special needs arose. The G-5 Section was set up in September 1943 to deal with civil administration in occupied Italy. This Section had civil jurisdiction in the immediate vicinity of the Fifth Army's combat zone, while the Allied Control Commission for Italy administered civil affairs in the rear areas. The G-5 Section operated through 12 subsections, among which were those dealing with public safety; agriculture; refugees; the Partisans; archives, monuments, and fine arts; public health and welfare; and education.

After the surrender of German forces in Italy the Fifth Army was mainly concerned with the enforcement of terms of surrender, the disposition and use of German prisoners of war, the problems arising from the occupation of northern Italy, and the redeployment of units of the Fifth Army to the United States and the Pacific areas. The Fifth Army was inactivated on October 2, 1945.

Records.--The records of Headquarters Fifth Army, 1943-45 (344 feet), are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. They include central files, 1943-45; records concerning operations, 1943-45; the journal of the Chief of Staff; incoming and outgoing radio messages, 1943-44; several series of orders, memoranda, circulars, and bulletins, 1943-45; summary reports of weekly conferences of the commander, Jan.-Aug. 1945; and the separately maintained records of several staff sections. The records of the Judge Advocate General's Section include orders of Allied military courts, 1943-45. The records assembled by the Historical Section include staff journals of Headquarters, 1944-45, and histories and operational reports of component corps and other units, 1942-45. The Liaison Section's records, 1943-45, pertain to the disarming of German and Italian troops, German order of battle, French rearmament, Spanish affairs, and civilian affairs in Italy.

Administrative (noncombat) records of component corps, divisions, and lower troop units of the Fifth Army and records of three redeployment training areas and the Fifth Army's Tank Destroyer Training Center are also in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis.

The final report of the Airborne Training Center, entitled "Report of Airborne Operations 'Husky,'" Aug. 15, 1943, is in the Air Intelligence Library.

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Operational reports and other documents originating in the Fifth Army, selected by its Historical Section, are in the historical-reports files in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. Included are "After-Action Reports"; journals; activity reports of staff sections; situation reports, especially of G-2 and G-3; several series of operations instructions, field orders, statistical summaries, and troop lists; and a copy of the nine-volume unpublished history of the Fifth Army.

See Gen. Mark W. Clark, Calculated Risk (New York, 1950. 500 p.). A popular history, The Fifth Army at the Winter Line, covering the period Nov. 15, 1943, to Jan. 15, 1944, was published by the War Department's Historical Branch in 1945.

Mediterranean Theater of Operations United States Army [1165]

In the early months of the North African invasion, responsibility for supply, personnel, and administration of the participating United States Army units was vested in the European Theater of Operations United States Army. The North African Theater of Operations United States Army, known as NATOUSA, was established on February 4, 1943, and this command was renamed the Mediterranean Theater of Operations United States Army, or MTOUSA, on November 1, 1944. Headquarters NATOUSA and Headquarters MTOUSA had administrative control over all United States Army troops, equipment, and facilities in the Theater (successively the North African Theater of Operations and the Mediterranean Theater of Operations), but tactical control was exercised by Allied Force Headquarters and its subordinate Army Groups. Administrative control included responsibilities that related particularly to military personnel, supply, base services, and other nontactical matters, especially those of United States rather than interallied concern. From February 1943 to January 1944 Headquarters NATOUSA and Allied Force Headquarters were closely related. The two had the same commander, General Eisenhower, and many of the NATOUSA staff sections were composed simply of the United States personnel of the corresponding Allied Force Headquarters sections. All NATOUSA and MTOUSA staff sections supervised Army activities in the Theater and handled matters that required coordination directly with War Department agencies in Washington. Headquarters NATOUSA was located at Algiers, February 1943-July 1944, and at Caserta, Italy, July-October 1944. The successor Headquarters MTOUSA was located at Caserta until after the end of hostilities. General Eisenhower was succeeded as commander by Lt. Gen. Jacob L. Devers, January-October 1944, and Lt. Gen. Joseph T. McNarney, October 1944-October 1945.

After October 1944 the geographical jurisdiction of Headquarters MTOUSA was reduced. The base sections in southern France were transferred to the European Theater on November 20, 1944, and the Mediterranean Base Section in North Africa was transferred to the African-Middle East Theater on March 1, 1945. After May 8, 1945, Headquarters MTOUSA engaged in redeployment training and liquidating its affairs in the Theater, and on October 1, 1945, those of its staff sections that had been serving in a

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dual capacity in Allied Force Headquarters were withdrawn from that Headquarters. MTOUSA was inactivated on December 14, 1947.

Records.--Most of the records of NATOUSA and MTOUSA are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. They cover the period 1943-45 but contain papers of earlier and later dates. Headquarters records include central files, a microfilm copy of which is in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO; outgoing messages, on microfilm; several series of orders and bulletins issued by the command, 1943-47; redeployment progress reports, July-Sept. 1945; digests of teletype conferences, Apr.-Sept. 1945; central files, a history, and other records of the Secretary of the General Staff, MTOUSA; files of Gen. Joseph T. McNarney, 1944-45; and Gen. George D, Pence, 1944-45; records of the G-1, G-3, and G-4. Sections; and records of 11 special-staff sections. Some of these sections served as "parallel" sections in Allied Force Headquarters, and their records may contain some records of that command. An inventory, on microfilm, of the records as they were organized when shipped to St. Louis is in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. Lists that were prepared by the Center at St. Louis are in that Center and in the Departmental Records Branch.

The records of the Claims Service of the Judge Advocate General Section, MTOUSA, are in the Claims Division of the Judge Advocate General's Office, at the Holabird Signal Depot, Md. Records relating to war crimes investigated in the Mediterranean Theater, 1943-47, are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. Records of the MTOUSA Historical Section are in the historical-records files in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO; among these are some orders and bulletins; monthly statistical summaries, 1943-45; histories of some of the staff sections; and a general "Logistical History of NATOUSA-MTOUSA" (1945. 486 p.).

Communications Zone MTOUSA [1166]

From February 1943 to November 20, 1944, NATOUSA and MTOUSA decentralized the supervision of supply, maintenance, and related logistical services in the Theater and the direction of the base sections, discussed below, that conducted service operations in the field. From February 1943 to February 1944 these functions were performed by two subordinate headquarters: Services of Supply NATOUSA and the office called Communications Zone NATOUSA. On February 24, 1944, the two supply headquarters were combined in the single headquarters called Services of Supply NATOUSA, and that organization was enlarged to include four general-staff sections. The G-1 Section supervised the personnel replacement system, the disposition of prisoners of war, the maintenance of law and order in the Communications Zone, the graves-registration service, and other personnel-related activities. The G-2 Section was responsible for counter subversive, antisabotage, and security measures in the area, including postal and telegraph censorship and prisoner-of-war censorship. The G-3 Section was responsible for the organization, training, and equipment of service troop units, the selection of training sites, and the wire and radio communications systems in the noncombat area. The G-4 Section supervised the

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procurement, storage, distribution, and salvage of equipment and supplies, the acquisition and construction of supply, evacuation, and maintenance facilities, the operation of transportation and traffic control systems, the maintenance and repair of equipment, the hospitalization and evacuation of the sick and wounded, and the disposition of captured enemy equipment. On October 1, 1944, Services of Supply NATOUSA was renamed Communications Zone NATOUSA, and on November 1, 1944, it became Communications Zone MTOUSA. On November 20, 1944, the supply headquarters was discontinued, and its staff sections were combined with Headquarters MTOUSA.

Records.--Records of Communications Zone MTOUSA and its predecessors are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. They include central files, 1942-44; correspondence with and about such key officers as Maj. Gen. T. B. Larkin and Brig. Gen. N. H. McKay; supply planning data and operations reports, 1943-44, including a report on "Status of SOS Preparation for Operation Husky," June-July 1943; administrative orders, 1943-44; and incoming and outgoing radio messages, 1943-44.

Base Sections [1167]

These sections were regional service commands that operated in the North African and Mediterranean Theaters to supply services and equipment items to ground forces and services and items of common supply to ground, air, and naval forces. The first two base sections, established in December 1942, were at Casablanca and Algiers. They had been preceded by Services of Supply organizations of the Center and Western Task Forces, but upon activation as base sections they came under the control of Allied Force Headquarters. Shortly after the establishment of NATOUSA these two sections and a newly established section at Constantine were transferred to Services of Supply NATOUSA. As combat operations progressed, other base sections were established at Palermo, Naples, Marseilles, and elsewhere. In 1945 the Peninsula Base Section at Leghorn became MTOUSA's major agency for transferring stocks of war matériel and supplies to Army commands in the Pacific areas and the United States and for transferring supplies for civilian use to the Italian Government and the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.

Records.--Records of the base sections are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. Copies of their reports and histories of some of them are in the historical-reports files in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. The central records of the War Department, in the AGO, contain project files on the individual base sections.

Replacement and Training Command [1168]

This Command, at first called the Replacement Command, was activated on June 1, 1944, and was assigned to Services of Supply NATOUSA; in July it was transferred to Headquarters NATOUSA. It provided the Fifth and Seventh Armies with replacements, and it retrained replacements to fit the needs of those forces. Its headquarters, with general-staff

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and special-staff sections, was located at Fagianeria, Italy. The Command comprised five major depots, six specialized schools, two battalions, two conditioning companies, the University Training Command at Florence, and the Disciplinary Training Center. The six schools were the Engineer School, the Floating Bridge School, the Leadership and Battle Training School (which operated under other similar designations, 1944-45), the Armored Training School, the Signal School, and the Army Education Staff School.

One of the main activities of the Command was to give basic infantry training to "general-assignment" men, whose posts in rear echelons could be filled by "limited-assignment" men. Although the chief need in the Italian campaign was for infantry riflemen, smaller demands resulted in training programs for Field Artillery, Chemical Warfare Service, and mountain combat duties. "On the job" training was given to limited-assignment personnel in schools for postal clerks, clerk-typists, truck drivers, motor mechanics, military police, and cooks and bakers. Other activities of the Command included the processing of repatriated American air personnel, assistance in the organization of the Brazilian Replacement Depot, and the operation of hotels, rest camps, and other accommodations for officers and enlisted men awaiting transportation to the United States. The Command continued its activities until August 1945, when its remaining units were transferred to Headquarters MTOUSA.

Records.--Headquarters records of the Command, 1944-45 (35 feet), are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. They consist of central files; general and special orders; radio messages; and records of staff sections. Records of subordinate agencies of the Command are also in the Center at St. Louis. Copies of operational reports and other documents of the Command, selected by its historical officer, and histories of the Armored Training School, 1944, are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.

Mediterranean Allied Air Forces [1169]

Interallied air command in the North African and Mediterranean Theaters, 1942 45, was vested successively in the Acting Deputy Commander in Chief for Air, Allied Force Headquarters, December 1942; Headquarters Allied Air Forces, January-February 1943; Head-quarters Mediterranean Air Command, February-December 1943; and Headquarters Mediterranean Allied Air Forces, December 1943-July 1945. These commands planned and directed strategic bombardment operations in northwestern Africa, Italy, and southwestern Europe and tactical operations in support of ground forces in North Africa and Italy. The air campaigns in this theater were identical with the campaigns listed in entry 1153, with the addition of the bombardment operations in the Balkan and South European area, 1944.

The Mediterranean Allied Air Forces, known as MAAF, was under the command of Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur W. Tedder, Air Commander in Chief, Mediterranean, and comprised all Allied air forces in the Theater, including United States, British, French, and Italian air units. Grouped directly under

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the Air Commander in Chief in Headquarters MAAF were the staff sections, that had operational rather than administrative functions. The major staff section was that of the Director of Operations and Intelligence. Its three subsections collected and evaluated intelligence concerning the enemy's air capabilities and defenses and determined the targets for each of the air forces; made plans for use by the Joint Planning Staff of Allied Force Headquarters; and determined bombing policies and policies on airfield construction and assignment, coordinated joint operations of the different air forces and joint air operations with ground and naval forces, and coordinated such noncombat matters as the movement of aircraft, air-sea rescue, and routing, and recognition systems. Other sections of Headquarters MAAF included the Signals Section, which was a combined section with both American and British personnel; "parallel" sections for public relations, history, statistics, and liaison; and special organizations such as the Liaison Detachment stationed at Bucharest for the removal of American and British airmen forced down in the Balkans.

After the surrender of the German forces in May 1945 MAAF was concerned with the redeployment of personnel, units, and equipment. On July 31, 1945, MAAF was replaced by Headquarters Army Air Forces/Mediterranean Theater of Operations, discussed below, and Headquarters Royal Air Force, Mediterranean and Middle East.

The combat and reconnaissance air forces of the United States that served in the Mediterranean Theater were under the administrative control of the United States air headquarters organization. Their operations, however, were directed by MAAF, and they are discussed below under this operational command.

Records.--Records of the interallied air commands (200 feet) were divided between the United States and the United Kingdom after the war. In the Departmental Records Branch, AGO, are some original records and the microfilm copy of records of MAAF and its component units that was made by the Allied Force Records Administration. The microfilm records are listed in the two guides mentioned in entry 1154. Sets of an earlier microfilm copy (300 rolls), made in 1944 and 1945 by the MAAF Historical Section, are in the Departmental Records Branch and the Air Historical Group.

Records of MAAF Headquarters include several series relating to plans for air operations, 1943-45; bombardment targets, 1943-45; combat and security intelligence, 1943-45; photographic intelligence, 1943-45; intelligence about enemy signal operations, 1942-45; bombardment operations, movements of air units, and related operational subjects, 1943-45; airfields, tactics, and special operations, 1943-45; and aircraft accidents, navigational control, and flight control, 1943-45. Other Headquarters records include some records of the Signals Section, 1943-45, the Bucharest Liaison Section, 1944-45, and the Historical Section, 1944-45.

Copies of orders, reports, messages, and correspondence of Headquarters were assembled by the MAAF Historical Section in 1944 and 1945. These selected documents make up a large part of that Section's 54-volume "History" of MAAF, which is in the Air Historical Group. Included are copies of

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correspondence of the Air Commander in Chief, his daily journal, minutes of staff meetings, General Orders, directives, and reports concerning communications, intelligence, and operations. Also in the Air Historical Group are operational reports of subordinate MAAF components and copies of MAAF documents including "operations records books," planning documents, and many specific reports and studies.

Subordinate Interallied Headquarters [1170]

Among the commands subordinate to MAAF were the Mediterranean Allied Strategic Air Force, the Mediterranean Allied Tactical Air Force, the Mediterranean Allied Coastal Air Forces, the Mediterranean Allied Photographic Reconnaissance Wing, and the Mediterranean Air Transport Service, which is separately discussed below.

Records.--Records of these subordinate headquarters, all on microfilm, are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. The records of the Mediterranean Allied Strategic Air Force, 1943-45, consist of orders, intelligence summaries, and "Radar Bulletins." Those of the Mediterranean Allied Tactical Air Force, 1943-45, contain planning papers and operational reports and a set of its "Monthly Air Intelligence and Operations Bulletins." The records of the Mediterranean Allied Coastal Air Forces, 1943-45, consist of small series of records for the Air Officer Commanding, the Air Staff, the Intelligence Section, and the Signals Section. The records of the Mediterranean Air Photographic Reconnaissance Wing, 1943-45, include a set of its "Interpretation Reports" on harbors, towns, airfields, railways, and other target areas, and two "Surveys of Air Photographic Intelligence." All these records are further described in the two guides mentioned in entry 1154.

Mediterranean Air Transport Service [1171]

This Service, also known as MATS, was established at Algiers on May 25, 1943, by the Mediterranean Air Command and was given control over the transportation by air of supplies, personnel, and mail in North Africa. Beginning in November 1943 MATS gradually turned over its traffic within North Africa to the Army Air Forces' Air Transport Command and the Royal Air Force's Transport Command, and by January 1, 1944, its operations were limited to the area between North Africa and Italy and within Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. MATS ferried airplanes within the Theater from terminal points of the Air Transport Command and aircraft erection centers to air bases in the forward areas.

The Mediterranean Air Transport Service was under the operational control of the successive interallied air commands between 1943 and 1945. In August 1945 the British withdrew from participation in MATS, and the resulting United States organization was designated the AAF Mediterranean Air Transport Service. In January 1946 it was inactivated.

Records.--Most of the extant records of MATS are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. They include central records, message files, and daily journals; several series of orders and bulletins; monthly

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statistical summaries of operations, 1943-45; statistical reports on accidents, civilian labor, flights, flying time, and traffic and movement; consolidated traffic reports; and correspondence with the stations and units of MATS (35 feet). Other records of MATS, 1943-45 (1 foot), in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO, include tables of organization, reports of daily operations, records of conferences and meetings, and papers on airfields and air stations.

A microfilm copy of MATS records, prepared by the Allied Force Records Administration, is also in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. Sets of an earlier microfilm, prepared about 1944-45 by the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces' Historical Section, are in the Departmental Records Branch and in the Air Historical Group. Also in the Air Historical Group, not microfilmed, is the "Annual Report of MATS," May 1943-June 1944.

Twelfth Air Force [1172]

The Twelfth Air Force was activated at Boiling Field, D.C., on August 20, 1942, and soon moved to England. Much of its personnel, equipment, aircraft, and supplies was contributed, by the Eighth Air Force, also stationed in England, which controlled the Twelfth Air Force administratively until November 1942. In the early North African operations this Air Force supported the landings at Casablanca and Oran. By the reorganization of February 18, 1943, which for operational purposes combined the Allied air forces in North Africa into the Northwest African Air Forces, the Twelfth Air Force was continued as an administrative headquarters, but in effect both administrative and operational functions were largely taken over by Headquarters Northwest African Air Forces. On September 1, 1943, Headquarters Twelfth Air Force was reestablished as an active headquarters, and administrative control over the United States elements of the Northwest African Air Forces reverted to commands of the Twelfth Air Force.

In the operations in North Africa, Pantelleria, Sicily, and southern Italy, November 1942-October 1943, the Twelfth Air Force had both strategic bombardment and ground-support functions. Subsequently the Twelfth was transformed into a ground-support force. Its XII Tactical Air Command supported the Fifth Army in Italy until August 1944, when it was diverted to support the Seventh Army in southern France and was transferred to the European Theater of Operations. In September 1944 the XII Fighter Command began operations in support of the Fifth Army, and in October it was designated the XXII Tactical Air Command. It continued in support of the Fifth Army until May 1945. Headquarters XXII Tactical Air Command controlled operationally not only United States air units but also the 7th (later the 8th) South African Air Force Wing and the 1st Brazilian Fighter Squadron. After May 1945 the Twelfth Air Force was concerned primarily with the redeployment of its units to the Pacific areas. On August 31, 1945, it was inactivated at Florence.

Records.--The records of Headquarters Twelfth Air Force, 1942-45, in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis, include central records

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and other correspondence, 1941-45; administrative orders and bulletins, 1942-45; records concerning the Mediterranean Allied Tactical Air Force; historical studies of the Air Force's organization, operations, and subordinate commands; and records of the A-2, Judge Advocate, Surgeon, and Special Service Sections and the Headquarters Squadron. Other records of the A-2 Section, including target folders, 1943-45, are in the custody of the Strategic Air Command, Andrews Field, Md.

Reports and other historical material accumulated by the Historical Section of the Twelfth Air Force are in the Air Historical Group. Included are three histories of the Twelfth Air Force: A general history, with supporting documents, prepared in installments during the war; a seven-volume "Administrative History of the Twelfth Air Force," with supporting documents; and a history prepared by the historical officers of the Twelfth Air Force in 1946, which contains an extensive bibliography.

The records of subordinate commands of the Twelfth Air Force, in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis, include records of Headquarters XXII Tactical Air Command (16 feet), records of the 87th Fighter Wing (4 feet), and records of Headquarters XII Air Force Service Command and its predecessor, 1943-45 (56 feet).

Fifteenth Air Force [1173]

The Fifteenth Air Force was activated as a strategic bombardment force at Tunis on November 1, 1943, when the Twelfth Air Force was restricted to ground support and its bombing units were transferred to the Fifteenth. At first the Fifteenth was under the administrative control of the Twelfth Air Force, but in December 1943 it was made administratively subordinate to Headquarters Army Air Forces/North African Theater of Operations.

The Fifteenth Air Force was transferred to bases in southern Italy and was intended to provide, with the Eighth Air Force in the European Theater, a two-way striking force against the industrial plants and communications systems of Germany. For this purpose the two commands were placed under the operational control of the United States Strategic Air Forces in the European Theater. Control over the Fifteenth Air Force, however, was exercised in practice by Headquarters Mediterranean Allied Air Forces, with broad target directives given by the United States Strategic Air Forces. Until the spring of 1944 the Fifteenth Air Force operated against the German air force and German-controlled military installations in Italy, and in January 1944 it supported the ground forces at the Anzio beachhead. The Fifteenth resumed strategic operations in the spring with a series of attacks against industrial targets in the Balkans, especially the oil refineries and railway yards at Ploesti and Bucharest, Rumania.

Headquarters Fifteenth Air Force at first consisted of about 25 general-staff and special-staff sections; later most of the special-staff sections were realigned under the general-staff sections. In May 1945 redeployment to the United States, to the Pacific, and to the occupation forces in Europe was begun. Headquarters was inactivated on September 15, 1945, at Bari, Italy.

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Records.--Records of Headquarters Fifteenth Air Force, 1943-45, in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis, consist of both general records and records of staff sections. The general records include central files, 1943-45; messages; operational reports, chiefly statistical summaries, summaries of operations, and tactical mission reports; copies of "Radar Bulletins" and "Statistical Summaries" of the Mediterranean Allied Strategic Air Force; records concerning a field mission to Yugoslavia, November 1944; records concerning the escape or repatriation of United States and British air personnel from Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, the Soviet Union, Spain, Turkey, Switzerland, and Yugoslovia; and a report on supply and transportation matters affecting the Fifteenth Air Force, May 1945. Records of the A-2 Section, including target folders, intelligence summaries, and statistical reports, are in the custody of the Strategic Air Command, Andrews Field, Md. Records of other staff sections are in the Center at St. Louis.

Reports and other historical data accumulated by the Historical Section of the Fifteenth Air Force are in the Air Historical Group, Included are the official 60-volume history of the Force, with supporting documents. A 2-volume typewritten summary "History of the Fifteenth Air Force," completed in 1946 by former historians of that Air Force, is also in the Air Historical Group.

90th Photographic Wing, Reconnaissance [1174]

Photographic reconnaissance for the Twelfth Air Force in North Africa was originally provided by its 3d Photographic Group. In February 1943 this Group and No. 632 Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron RAF were combined as the Northwest African Photographic Wing. By the fall of 1943 the 5th Photographic Group had arrived from the United States and was combined with the 3d to form the 90th Photographic Wing, Reconnaissance, which served as the American component of the Northwest African Photographic Wing. This Wing and its successor, the Mediterranean Allied Photographic Reconnaissance Wing, functioned as the central unit for collecting and disseminating photographic intelligence in the Theater. On January 1, 1944, the 90th Photographic Wing, Reconnaissance, was placed under the control of Headquarters Army Air Forces/Mediterranean Theater of Operations. In September 1944 the 3d Photographic Group was again assigned to the Twelfth Air Force for administrative and operational control, while the 5th Photographic Group was assigned to the Fifteenth Air Force. From October 1944 to April 1945 the 90th Photographic Wing, Reconnaissance, was chiefly engaged in a mapping program over Europe. Upon its return to the United States later in 1945 the Wing Headquarters was attached to the AAF Training Command, and in October 1945 it was inactivated.

Records.--The central files and other records of the 90th Photographic Wing, Reconnaissance, are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. Other documents of the Wing, selected by its historians, consist of organizational histories and supporting documents; these are in the Air

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Historical Group. The operations of the 90th Wing are extensively documented in the microfilmed records of the Mediterranean Allied Photographic Reconnaissance Wing in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.

Army Air Forces/Mediterranean Theater of Operations [1175]

This command, established as Army Air Forces/North African Theater of Operations on December 10, 1943, and renamed on January 1, 1944, was the ranking United States Army air command in the Theater. It was responsible for training, supply, and other administrative and noncombat matters affecting United States air combat units, and it had administrative control over United States air combat and air service units in the Theater, while the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces had operational control, under Allied Force Headquarters, over the combat units. Headquarters Army Air Forces/Mediterranean Theater of Operations (also known as AAF/MTO), was composed of selected personnel that had served in the predecessor Headquarters and in Headquarters Twelfth Air Force, which from November 1942 to December 1943 had been the highest United States air headquarters.

Headquarters AAF/MTO was organized in 5 general-staff sections and 13 special-staff sections. The A-1 Section performed the usual personnel functions, and after February 1945 it assumed responsibility for the ground safety program and the repatriation of Army Air Forces personnel. The A-2 Section was responsible for noncombat intelligence such as security control, the indoctrination of security personnel, the supervision of censorship, the survey of installations, and counterintelligence, including the clearance of civilian personnel employed by Army Air Forces in the Theater and the investigation of sabotage, espionage, and subversive propaganda. Headquarters Mediterranean Allied Air Forces handled combat-related intelligence. The A-3 Section had responsibility for training and other personnel functions, and later for redeployment functions. The A-4 Section had supply and maintenance responsibilities. The A-5 Section dealt with plans and civil affairs. The major noncombat commands over which Headquarters AAF/MTO exercised control are discussed below. On October 15, 1945, AAF/MTO was inactivated.

Records.--Records of the Headquarters are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. They include central files, 1943-45, messages, orders, and records of all the general-staff sections and several of the special-staff sections. The records of the Air Surgeon Section include diaries and daily journals and medical studies. The records of the Communications Section, 1944-45, consist of central files and operational instructions and training literature pertaining to American and British signal activities. The Photo Section's records, 1945, consist of incoming messages and records pertaining to the "P-47 project" for using fighter airplanes in photographic reconnaissance; and the Operations Analysis Section's records include a set of its "Operations Analysis Reports," Nov. 1943-June 1944.

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Documents of Headquarters AAF/MTO, assembled by the Historical Sec-lion of Headquarters Mediterranean Allied Air Forces, are in the Air Historical Group. They include the following materials, which are part of the official "History of the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces" (54 vols.): Tables of organization, officers' rosters, general and special orders, reports by the general-staff and special-staff sections, committee reports on redeployment planning, and correspondence on personnel readjustment. Also in the Air Historical Group are files of the Chief of Staff, AAF/MTO, and papers relating to the German surrender.

Army Air Forces Service Command/Mediterranean Theater of Operations [1176]

From January 1944 to November 1945 this Command, also known as AAF Service Command/MTO, handled supply and distribution, maintenance and repair, and assembly and modification of aircraft and supplied other ground services to United States air units and Allied units that used American equipment. The predecessor command for such work, the XII Air Force Service Command, had successively supported the Twelfth Air Force in the North African invasion, served air installations and units from Casablanca to the Tunisian battle line, and served the Twelfth Air Force in Pantelleria, Sicily, southern Italy, Sardinia, and Corsica, as each of these areas was occupied by the Allies.

Headquarters AAF Service Command/MTO consisted of a Command Section and several general-staff sections that in March 1944 were replaced by the following staff divisions: Command, Air Maintenance, Air Supply, Personnel (later Administration), and Services. Eighteen special-staff sections were supervised administratively by the Personnel and the Services Divisions. By April 1945 the special-staff sections, increased to 32, included several sections for problems peculiar to the Mediterranean Theater, such as the Italian Liaison Section, which procured Italian troop units for use by all United States air commands in the Theater.

The AAF Service Command/MTO had an extensive field establishment of base depots, general depots, ammunition depots, aircraft erection (assembly) centers, and other installations that performed storage, supply, overhaul, and reclamation operations on aircraft and air equipment. The Command supervised AAF Rest Camps for officer and enlisted personnel at Capri, Posilipo, Naples, and Rome in 1944 and 1945.

A field organization of the AAF Service Command/MTO was the Allied Air Force Area Command, January 1944-April 1945. It administered that area in the province of Foggia, Italy, where the airdromes and other installations of the Fifteenth and Twelfth Air Forces were located. The Ferry Pilot Service of the AAF Service Command/MTO was transferred in April 1944 to the Mediterranean Air Transport Service, discussed above. The Adriatic Base Depot, also known as the Bari Base Depot, established in October 1943, supplied the AAF units in eastern Italy (an area assigned to British control) and performed other base-section functions that were not performed by the British No. 2 District. In March 1945 the Depot was transferred to the

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control of Communications Zone, Mediterranean Theater of Operations United States Army, and was renamed the Adriatic Base Command.

After May 1945 the AAF Service Command/MTO was concerned primarily with redeployment. On October 1 it was transferred to Headquarters MTOUSA, and in November 1945 it was inactivated.

Records.--The records of the Command and its predecessor, 1942-45, are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. They include central and other records, 1942-45; radio messages, 1943-45; daily diaries of staff divisions and sections; and records of the A-4 Section, Air Maintenance Division, Services Division, and special-staff sections. Documents of the two commands, selected by the Historical Section, are in the Air Historical Group. They include the unpublished histories of the two Commands (4 vols. each), the histories of subordinate units, historical monographs on special activities and problems, organizational orders and directives, rosters of officers, organization charts, and radio messages.

Records of subordinate commands, in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis, include records of the Allied Air Force Area Command, Foggia, and records of the Adriatic Base Command and its predecessors.

Army Air Forces Engineer Command/Mediterranean Theater of Operations (Provisional) [1177]

From January 1944 to September 1945 this Command, also known as AAF Engineer Command/MTO (Provisional), supervised the acquisition and construction of airfields in the Theater. The predecessor commands that successively performed such functions in 1942 and 1943 were Headquarters Twelfth Air Force, Headquarters North African Air Forces, and Headquarters XII Air Force Engineer Command (Provisional). Airfield construction and maintenance activities for the Air Transport Command in North Africa were handled by that Command, and British construction activities were supervised by Royal Air Force commands.

During the North African campaigns the British forces were responsible for forward airfields, while United States forces were responsible for construction and maintenance of airfields in the rear areas. Throughout the Sicilian and Italian campaigns, July 1943-May 1945, the British forces were responsible for airfields for the Desert Air Force (British) in Italy, while United States engineer units were responsible for other airfields in Italy and for those in Sardinia, Corsica, and southern France. Coordination of United States engineer activities with those of the British was the responsibility of the Engineer Section in Allied Force Headquarters. On January 1, 1944, after the Fifteenth Air Force had been activated and the need for airfield construction in Italy became pressing, the XII Engineer Command (Provisional) was expanded and renamed the AAF Engineer Command/MTO (Provisional). The Command was inactivated on September 25, 1945.

Records.--The records of Headquarters AAF Engineer Command/MTO (Provisional), 1944-45, and of its predecessor, 1942-43 (35 feet), are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. They include central files, 1943-45; correspondence with War Department headquarters agencies

--788--

in Washington and with other commands in the Theater; reports on airfield construction in the China and the India-Burma Theaters; histories and war diaries of the Commands; and reports of claims investigations, 1944-45. Records of staff sections include the A-1 monthly journal, 1945, and radio messages, 1943-45; A-2 intelligence files on enemy and Allied airfields in Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Albania, and Crete; A-4 records containing its daily journal (incomplete), matériel status reports, and records concerning other supply subjects; and records of the Inspector General, Judge Advocate, and Medical Sections.

Documents of these headquarters, selected by their Historical Section, are in the Air Historical Group. They include a "History of the Aviation Engineers in Mediterranean Theater of Operations," "A History of Policies Affecting Aviation Engineers in the Mediterranean Campaigns," and selected policy documents.

Commander in Chief Mediterranean [1178]

The unified command of Allied naval forces in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations was vested in the Commander in Chief Mediterranean, who was under the command of the Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean. Two British officers successively held this naval command: Fleet Admiral Sir Andrew Brown Cunningham, from the early fall of 1942 until October 1943, and Fleet Admiral Sir John H. D. Cunningham thereafter. Allied naval forces in the Mediterranean at first consisted only of British and United States naval units, but later they included French, Italian, Greek, and Dutch vessels as well. The unified Allied naval command originated in plans for the invasion of northwest Africa, which provided for participation by the United States and British navies under a naval commander in chief responsible for the sea security of the landing forces and supply lanes and for the naval support of the amphibious operations.

After the completion of the African landings and the consequent regrouping of forces, two separate interallied naval commands were established in the Mediterranean. Allied naval forces in the western Mediterranean continued under the Commander in Chief Mediterranean, who was responsible to the Allied Commander in Chief. Allied naval forces in the eastern Mediterranean were put under the Commander in Chief Levant, who was responsible to the British Chiefs of Staff. In November 1943 unification of naval command in the Mediterranean was accomplished by the extension of the authority of the Commander in Chief Mediterranean to include also the Levant naval command.

The United States naval commands that served under the Allied command are discussed below.

Records.--Records of the Commander in Chief Mediterranean, 1942-45 (15 feet), are in the Historical Section of the British Cabinet Office, London. Microfilm copies of them are among the microfilmed records of Allied Force Headquarters, in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. They are listed

--789--

in the guides mentioned in entry 1154. These records relate to the operation of British and United States fleets and French, Italian, Greek, and Dutch naval units; and to naval participation in the invasions of Africa, Sicily, the mainland of Italy, and southern France. The records consist principally of the war diaries of the Commander in Chief Mediterranean, submarine patrol reports, and material relating to convoys, landing operations, training, and mine sweeping and mine laying.

United States Naval Forces Northwest African Waters [1179]

This naval force had its origin in the Western Task Force, Task Force Thirty-Four, of the Atlantic Fleet, which conducted the amphibious landings of United States troops on the beaches of French Morocco in November 1942. Commander Task Force Thirty-Four was Rear Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt, Commander Amphibious Training Command, Atlantic Fleet.

On February 3, 1943, after the establishment of several naval bases and forces in Northwest Africa, the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, ordered the establishment of an over-all United States naval command, United States Naval Forces Northwest African Waters (ComNavNaw), to he effective March 1, 1943. This command was assigned to Admiral Hewitt, and its naval forces were designated as the Eighth Fleet. Administrative responsibility for the United States naval forces in the Mediterranean was transferred from the Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet, to the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, in Washington. ComNavNaw was under the operational command of the Commander in Chief Mediterranean and under the over-all command of the Supreme Allied Command. He bore also the operational title of Commander Western Naval Task Force to distinguish him from the Commander of the Eastern Naval Task Force, a British unit operating in the Mediterranean campaigns.

United States Naval Forces Northwest African Waters played an important part in the logistic, planning, and combat operations involved in the invasion of Sicily, the Salerno Campaign, the invasion of southern France, and other campaigns.

By order of the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, effective April 15, 1945, the ships and Navy-controlled shore establishments of United States Naval Forces Northwest African Waters and the Eighth Fleet became a task force of the Twelfth Fleet, under the Commander United States Naval Forces Europe.

Records.--The flag files of this command, 1942-45, are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa. Records of many of its shore-based subordinate commands, such as the Naval Operating Bases at Oran and Casablanca, are in the Naval Records Management Center at New Orleans, La. Among these records are general correspondence, operational reports, and war diaries.

Records relating to the naval unit of this command in Allied Force Headquarters, 1943-45, consisting of correspondence, reports, and plans pertaining primarily to naval participation in the Salerno campaign and the invasion

--790--

of Sicily and southern France, are among the microfilmed records of AFHQ in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.

An unpublished five-volume history of Commander United States Naval Forces Northwest African Waters, prepared as part of the Navy's administrative history program, is in the Division of Naval Records and History, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.

Moroccan Sea Frontier [1180]

Operational plans for the Northwest African landings called for the establishment of a Naval Operating Base at Casablanca, with a Naval Air Station at Port Lyautey and section bases at Safi and Fedala. The purpose of these shore activities was to open the ports at those places and to sustain the Western Task Force, which after the landings conducted antisubmarine patrols and escorted shipping in the areas adjacent to the Atlantic coast of French Morocco. This assignment was soon extended to include certain supply and maintenance services to transports and ocean escorts using Moroccan ports as a terminus. Known at first as Sea Frontier Forces, Western Task Force, this command's headquarters was established at Casablanca on November 19, 1942. The task organization of the Frontier Forces was broken into three main divisions: The escort unit; the air patrol, comprising the Naval Air Station at Port Lyautey and Fleet Air Wing Fifteen; and the base unit, consisting of the Naval Operating Base at Casablanca and section bases at Fedala and Safi.

Upon the establishment of United States Naval Forces Northwest African Waters, this command was renamed the Moroccan Sea Frontier. Its commanding officer was responsible to the Commander United States Naval Forces Northwest African Waters.

Records.--The activities of the Frontier are documented in the records of United States Naval Forces Northwest African Waters.

Advance Base Group [1181]

In the early months of 1943 many small naval bases were established along the North African coast west of Algiers. These bases, known as advance amphibious bases, operated under the Commander Advance Base Group as a Task Group of the Eighth Fleet. The function of the Advance Base Group was to furnish points for the discharge of inbound cargo, material, and personnel and to provide facilities for the training of personnel.

Records.--The general files, 1943-44, of the Advance Amphibious Training Bases at Port Lyautey, Morocco; Beni-Saf, Cherchel, Mostaganem, Nemours, and Tenes, Algeria; and Salerno, Italy, are in the National Archives.

AFRICA-MIDDLE EAST THEATER OF OPERATIONS [1182]

This Theater of Operations, also called the Middle East-Central Africa Theater, at first included roughly all of Africa except the part in the North African and the later Mediterranean Theater, Arabia, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and, for a time, Iran. Early in 1945 the Theater

--791--

was enlarged to take in the African part of the Mediterranean Theater, and on May 31, 1946, it was discontinued.

United States Army activities in the Africa-Middle East Theater began before the United States was at war. Even after the United States entered the war, however, its operations in the Theater were almost wholly supply activities. The only campaign in the Theater was the British Egypt-Libya Campaign, in which General Rommel's Afrika Korps was at first checked in its advance and then forced to withdraw. In this campaign the United States Ninth Air Force and a few troop units assisted. The successive agencies that were in charge of Army operations in the area and the supply organizations that they supervised are separately described below.

Records.--See the separate entries below. Records relating to the successive, military agencies in the Theater are among the records of the International Division, Headquarters Army Service Forces; the Operations Division, War Department General Staff; the Office of the Chief of Transportation; the Office of the Chief of Ordnance; and the State Department.

United States Military North African Mission [1183]

In the spring of 1941 military observers were assigned by the War Department to serve with the British air and ground forces in Egypt and Libya, particularly to observe and report on the performance of United States-produced tanks, airplanes, and other matériel in desert warfare. These observers, whose work was at first under the supervision of the United States Military Attache at Cairo, were in September 1941 made part of the newly organized United States Military North African Mission, which was located initially in Washington and after November 21, 1941, at Cairo. During the period when the British were resisting the Axis forces in their push toward Alexandria the Mission was mainly concerned with the construction of bases and installations for facilitating the delivery, maintenance, and servicing of lend-lease matériel and supplies being sent to the British. On June 17, 1942, the Mission was renamed the United States Army Forces in the Middle East.

Records.--Correspondence of the Mission (2 feet) is in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. Records relating to it are in the records of the North Atlantic Division, Corps of Engineers, and in the central records of the War Department, in the AGO; see index sheets filed under AG 334 United States Military North African Mission, 1941-42.

United States Army Forces in the Middle East [1184]

This command, successor to the United States Military North African Mission, continued nominally as the Army's lend-lease agency in the Middle East from June 1942 to March 1945. The major direction of the lend-lease and reverse-lend-lease programs in that area, however, was through the Middle East Supply Center, which, though it included representatives of this command, was dominated by the Foreign Economic Administration. United States Army Forces in the Middle East, also known as

--792--

USAFIME, became primarily a supply, maintenance, and base-services agency for the Air Transport Command in its operations of supply for the Mediterranean and China-Burma-India Theaters of Operations. It also provided some supply, intelligence, and administrative services to the Ninth Air Force, which operated under the tactical control of British forces in the Egypt-Libya Campaign from June 1942 to February 1943.

Headquarters USAFIME, located at Cairo, was organized in general-staff sections and the usual special-staff sections. Some of its special-staff sections were attached to a subordinate headquarters called Services of Supply USAFIME, November 1942-September 1943. Under the main headquarters were regional commands, which are discussed in entry 1186. The geographical jurisdiction of USAFIME, for supply and service purposes, was extended to the Dakar area in September 1943, and to Iran (see Persian Gulf Command) from June 1942 to December 1943. On March 1, 1945, USAFIME was renamed the Africa-Middle East Theater of Operations.

Records.--The records of Headquarters USAFIME are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis, interfiled with those of the successor command in the Theater. These joint records are described in entry 1185, below.

Africa-Middle East Theater of Operations [1185]

This command, established on March 1, 1945, was mainly concerned with the liquidation of the Army's property holdings and other interests in Africa, Palestine, and the Persian Gulf area. The North African installations of the Mediterranean Theater and its base commands at Casablanca were transferred to the new Theater in March 1945; the United States Army Forces in Liberia were transferred to it in April 1945; and the Persian Gulf Command was similarly transferred in October 1945. By February 1946 most of the regional commands had been inactivated, and on May 31, 1946, the Theater was discontinued. At that time a few remaining problems were transferred to a unit called Detachment United States Army Middle East and to several Residual Teams. The units and installations at Casablanca were turned over to United States Forces in the European Theater (USFET).

Records.--Records of Headquarters Africa-Middle East Theater of Operations and of the preceding Headquarters USAFIME, 1942-46, constitute a single body of records in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. Included are general records, 1942-46; messages, 1941-45; several series of orders, memoranda, circulars, and bulletins; and records of the Quartermaster, Engineer, Signal, Transportation, and Surgeon Sections; and of the Air, Fiscal, Judge Advocate, and Provost Marshal Sections.

Messages exchanged between these two headquarters and agencies of the War Department are in the extensive master files of messages (on microfilm) in the Office of the Chief of Staff. Intelligence reports of Headquarters USAFIME, including technical intelligence reports on German matériel and weekly summaries of Cairo press reports, are among the records of intelligence agencies in Washington. Ten volumes of documents selected from

--793--

the records by Headquarters Africa-Middle East Theater in 1945 are in the Army's Historical Division. A copy of a historical chart, "United States Army Forces in the Middle East," prepared in 1948 by the Army's Historical Division, showing the changing nomenclature, command responsibilities, locations of commands, and other basic data concerning the administration of the Theater and its regional commands, Sept. 1941-Mar. 1947, is in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.

Records relating to these headquarters are in the central records of the War Department, in the AGO; see the project files (2 linear feet) entitled "United States Army Forces in Egypt," ". . . in Middle East," and ". . . in Africa-Middle East"; "Middle East Theater of Operations"; and "Africa-Middle East Theater of Operations."

Regional Commands [1186]

In January 1942 three regional agencies, called Area Offices, at Asmara, Heliopolis, and Tel Aviv, were established under the United States Military North African Mission. The Area Office, Asmara, was soon renamed the Eritrea Service Command and kept that name most of the time until February 1944, when it became the Eritrea Base Command. The office of Heliopolis was known as the Delta Service Command, August 1942-February 1944, and the Middle East Service Command, February 1944-March 1946. The Tel Aviv office became the Palestine Area in July 1942 and the Levant Service Command in August 1942; it was discontinued in January 1944. Another regional command, the Libyan Service Command, December 1942-May 1943, was divided into the Tripoli and the Bengasi Base Commands, May-November 1943.

The United States Army Forces in Central Africa, a command at Dakar, was transferred to USAFIME in September 1943 and was renamed the West African Service Command; in July 1945 it was renamed the Southwestern Town Command. Other "Town Commands" were established at Tunis, Algiers, Oran, and Accra between March and July 1945, to liquidate the affairs of the Army in their areas. All these Town Commands and the United States Army Forces in Liberia were subsequently under the North African Service Command, which was the former Mediterranean Base Section, at Casablanca. By 1946 all except the agency at Casablanca were discontinued.

Records.--Some records of each of these commands are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. Processing work sheets prepared by that Center, which list the records of each, are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.

The records of the Palestine Area and its successor Levant Service Command, 1942-44, include central files, July 1942-Jan. 1944; radio messages, 1942-44; "Material Status Reports," 1943-44; and several series of orders and memoranda. The records of the Delta (later the Middle East) Service Command include central files, bulletins, and journals, 1943-46. The records of the Bengasi Base Command include general records, messages, intelligence bulletins, inspection records, and histories.

--794--

Persian Gulf Command [1187]

This Command and its predecessors, 1941-45, served as the overseas supply, transport, and service command that planned, supervised, and accomplished the movement of lend-lease matériel and supplies to Great Britain and the Soviet Union by way of ocean ports on the Persian Gulf and delivered matériel for the Soviet Union to transshipment points in northern Iran. The Command constructed and maintained roads in Iran; developed and operated the Trans-Iranian Railway and the port facilities at Khorramshahr and Bandar Shahpur; constructed and operated assembly plants for trucks, airplanes, and barges; operated a motor transport service; and recruited and trained Iranian labor for use in its facilities.

These functions were exercised between 1941 and 1945 by the following Army commands: The United States Military Iranian Mission, September 1941-June 1942; the Iran-Iraq Service Command, June-August 1942; the Persian Gulf Service Command, August 1942-December 1943; and the Persian Gulf Command thereafter. Its headquarters was responsible directly to the War Department from September 1941 to January 1943 and to Headquarters United States Army Forces in the Middle East from January to December 1943. On December 10, 1943, the newly named Persian Gulf Command was given the status of a separate theater of operations and was again made responsible directly to the War Department. On October 1, 1945, the Command, once more named the Persian Gulf Service Command, was assigned to the African-Middle East Theater.

Headquarters of the Command and its predecessors was located at Baghdad, November 1941-March 1942; at Basra, March 1942-January 1943; at Tehran, January 1943-September 1945; and at Khorramshahr, October-December 1945. Headquarters was primarily responsible for planning the Command's supply activities and supervising its field agencies. Headquarters maintained liaison with the Iran offices of the War Shipping Administration and the Foreign Economic Administration and with such agencies of other governments as the Iranian Army, the United Kingdom Commercial Corporation, and the Soviet Union's Iransovtrans.

The field agencies of the Command included four Areas and five Services that controlled the port, railway, motor-transport, and supporting service organizations within their regions. In April 1943 the Areas were replaced by three Districts. Each Area or District Headquarters was responsible for supply and administration. The five Services were responsible for operations. The Construction Service of the Command and the Iranian Engineer District of the North Atlantic Division, Corps of Engineers, did construction work; these organizations were discontinued in the spring of 1943 and their functions were taken over by the Command's headquarters. The Military Railway Service was responsible for rail transport; from April 1943 to June 1945 it operated the Iranian State Railway. The Motor Transport Service was responsible for highway transport; it operated trucks between the Iranian seaports and Kasvin. Port operations, chiefly at Khorramshahr and Bandar Shahpur, were handled by the Port Service and the 378th Port

--795--

Battalion, both at Khorramshahr; and four Port Companies, located at the two port areas. Communications were handled by the Signal Service.

Records.--The records of Headquarters Persian Gulf Command and its predecessors are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. They include central files and other records, 1942-45; and records of the Executive Office, the Operations Division, and the Military Railway, Procurement, Civilian Labor, Engineer, and Medical Branches (or Sections). Some records of the regional agencies and the troop units under the Command are also in the Center at St. Louis. A six-volume unpublished history of the Command, single-volume histories of its port and medical activities, and monthly historical reports by the Command, Jan. 1943-Dec. 1945 (10 feet), are in the Army's Historical Division. A history of the Motor Transport Service is in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. Important correspondence with and about the Command is in the records of the Director of Plans and Operations and the International Division, both of Headquarters Army Service Forces; the records of the North Atlantic Division, Corps of Engineers; the central records of the War Department, in the AGO (see the project file entitled "Persian Gulf Command," 1943-45); and the records of the President's Soviet Protocol Committee, in the National Archives.
[See also The Persian Corridor and Aid to Russia, a volume in the U.S. ARMY IN WORLD WAR II series. --HyperWar]

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA THEATERS OF OPERATIONS [1188]

The China-Burma-India Theater of Operations, established in March 1942 and known as the CBI Theater, included generally China, French Indo-China, Thailand, Burma, and eastern India. In October 1944 this Theater was divided into the China Theater and the India-Burma Theater. American activities in the region began with the establishment of the United States Military Mission to China before the formal entrance of the United States into the war; the combined British-American command was not established until 1943 and even then had no jurisdiction in China.

The main purpose of operations in the Theater was to support China in its resistance to Japan. In 1943 Chinese supplies and equipment were perilously low. The Japanese conquest of Burma had cut China off from supplies except those that could be brought in by the 500-mile airlift from northern Assam over the Himalayan hump to the Yunnan plateau. At the Quebec Conference in August 1943 it was decided to increase the capacity of the airlift and to provide an overland route and oil pipe lines from India, in order to supply China more effectively. This meant clearing the Japanese from Burma in a ground campaign with troops that had to be supplied almost entirely by air, often by parachute or free drop rather than by air landings. In addition to participation in these operations, United States Army activities in the Theaters included training Chinese air and ground forces in both China and India, providing air support to the Chinese Army, bombing Japanese bases and concentrations in the Theaters, and providing equipment and services to British and Indian forces operating in Burma and India.

The major campaigns in these Theaters are known, in the Army's nomenclature of battle honors, as the Burma 1942 Campaign, December 7, 1941-

--796--

May 26, 1942; the India-Burma Campaign, April 2, 1942-January 28, 1945; the Central Burma Campaign, January 29-July 15, 1945; the China Defensive Campaign, in China, Korea, and French Indo-China, July 4, 1942-- May 4, 1945; the China Offensive Campaign, in those same areas, May 5-September 2, 1945; and the Air Offensive Against Japan, April 17, 1942-September 2, 1945.

The combined commands and the major United States commands in the China-Burma-India area are discussed below.

Records.--Most of the records of United States Army commands in these Theaters are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. These records are described in the entries below. Copies of some of the reports of commands and troop units in the area, their correspondence with War Department agencies in Washington, and reports about them by observers sent to the area are among the records of headquarters agencies in Washington. Of general interest for all the major commands below is General Stilwell's final report entitled "History of China-Burma-India Theater, 21 May to 25 October 1944" (in 3 vols., one with 31 vols. of "Annexes"). Copies of this report are in the Army's Historical Division and in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.

Activities in the China-Burma-India area are briefly outlined in Gen. George C. Marshall's Reports as Chief of Staff to the Secretary of War, 1941-43, p. 28-30, and 1943-45, p. 56-62.

United States Military Mission in China [1189]

This Mission was established about July 1941 at Chungking. The Mission supervised the transfer, under the lend-lease program, of United States-produced matériel, equipment, supplies, and services to the military forces of the Republic of China and advised the Chinese on the maintenance and use of American matériel. After December 1941 the Mission prepared plans for joint United States-Chinese operations against Japan and assisted in the transfer of airmen from the American Volunteer Group (also known as the Flying Tigers) to the Army Air Forces, the Marine Corps, and the Navy. After the China-Burma-India Theater was established in March 1942, most of the Mission's supply functions were transferred to the Services of Supply, CBI, and its key personnel became staff members of Headquarters United States Army Forces, CBI. The Mission continued, however, to handle special problems. It supervised a civilian technical group investigating the Burma Road, about April 1942; assisted the United States Public Health Service in a malaria-control mission to China, about May 1942; arranged for the visit of Chinese officers to the North African Theater, about December 1942; and arranged for the training of Chinese officers in the United States, 1943-44. The Mission was discontinued by September 1944.

Records.--No separate group of the Mission's records has been identified among the records from the China-Burma-India Theater that are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. After March 1942 the Mission's

--797--

records were apparently interfiled among the records of Services of Supply, CBI, and of other commands in the Theater.

Papers relating to the Mission are in the central records of the War Department; see index sheets filed under AG 334 Military Mission to China, AG 334 Stilwell Mission, and AG 334 China Mission, July 1941-Sept. 1944 (6 linear inches). Some of the messages exchanged between the Mission and headquarters agencies of the War Department in Washington are in the master files of messages (on microfilm), in the Office of the Chief of Staff. A report on the "Magruder Mission" (named for the head of the Mission, Brig. Gen. John Magruder) and scattered correspondence and messages are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.
[The mission is described in the 3 volumes of the U.S. ARMY IN WORLD WAR II series covering the CBI Theater. --HyperWar]

Southeast Asia Command [1190]

This Command, also known as SEA and SEAC, was established by Prime Minister Churchill on June 18, 1943; it served as the combined command directing the campaigns from India into Burma. The Command was composed of naval, air, and ground forces of British, Indian, Chinese, and United States origin; it was headed by Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten as the Supreme Allied Commander, Southeast Asia. The Deputy Supreme Allied Commander was Lt. Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell; he also continued to serve as commander of the United States Army Forces, China-Burma-India Theater, discussed below. In February 1944 he was succeeded as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander by Maj. Gen. Raymond A. Wheeler.

Several operational commands comprised the Southeast Asia Command. The naval forces, primarily British, remained under the Commander of the British Eastern Fleet. The ground forces consisted of several commands that, beginning in November 1944, were consolidated under the newly organized Allied Land Forces, Southeast Asia. Air forces were under the over-all direction of the newly organized Eastern Air Command. There was no interallied command for supply and service; British and United States forces maintained their own ground-supply and air-supply organizations. The subordinate interallied commands under the Southeast Asia Command and the major units of American combat forces under their operational control are discussed below. These American forces were under the administrative control of Headquarters United States Army Forces of the successive theaters. These are also discussed in this chapter.

Headquarters of the Southeast Asia Command was established at New Delhi, India, in November 1943 and was moved to Kandy, Ceylon, on April 15, 1944. Since the Supreme Allied Commander was British, Headquarters was organized according to the British staff pattern. The Command was discontinued in November 1945.

Records.--The central records of Headquarters are in the Historical Section of the British Cabinet Office in London. Records in United States custody are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. They consist of a file of "war diaries" that are essentially a selection of minutes, messages,

--798--

conference notes, and other papers (107 vols.); copies of British and Japanese public announcements and propaganda disseminated to the civilian population in the combat zones; and files of newspapers, magazines, and other reference material. The following records of staff units of the Southeast Asia Command are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis: Records of the Command's Translation and Interrogation Center, including correspondence, Sept. 1943-Jan. 1946, messages, 1943-46, and intelligence reports, 1944-45; and records relating to the India Munitions Assignments Committee. Most United States records relating to the Command's activities are in the records of Headquarters United States Army Forces, CBI.

Copies of the Command's messages exchanged with War Department headquarters agencies in Washington are in the Department's extensive message files (on microfilm), in the Office of the Chief of Staff. Of special interest are the messages filed under the headings Copir (and Sopir), New Delhi; SEACOS; and SACSEA. Correspondence about the Command is in the central records of the War Department, in the AGO; see the project file entitled "South East Asia Command," 1944-45. Intelligence summaries of the Command, 1943-45, interpretation reports by its Combined Photo Interpretation Center, 1945, and the Supreme Allied Commander's operational and final reports, entitled "Despatches," are also in the central records of the War Department. Topographic-intelligence reports on Burma and Sumatra by the Inter-Service Topographical Detachment, a British agency attached to the Command, and the "Weekly Intelligence Summaries" of the Civil Affairs Staff of the British Twelfth Army, which was under the Command, were in 1945 among the records of the Office of Strategic Services. A copy of the "Final Report" of the Supreme Allied Commander, Southeast Asia, is in the Army's Historical Division.

See the Southeast Asia Command's official published report, The Campaign in Burma (London, 1946. 175 p.).

United States Army Section, Southeast Asia Command [1191]

This Section was activated on December 28, 1943, to effect co-ordination between the British and American forces operating in the area and to exercise staff responsibilities on behalf of General Stilwell, the Deputy Supreme Commander. The Section was headed by the Commanding General, Services of Supply, CBI, who was the Principal Administrative Officer and Chief of Staff of the Command.

Records.--Records concerning the Section are in the records of the Southeast Asia Command, discussed above. Records of the Section's Public Administration Office, 1943-45, are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. They include correspondence, messages, "Reports to Washington," minutes of meetings, and serial orders.

Allied Land Forces, Southeast Asia [1192]

In November 1944 the Supreme Allied Commander, Southwest Asia, established this command, with headquarters at Barrack-pore, India, to conduct ground operations in the Burma campaign. The

--799--

ground forces that composed this command from November 1944 to May 1945 included three British-Indian Corps, components of the Northern Combat Area Command, and elements of the Chinese Army in India. Headquarters at Barrackpore was organized in the British staff pattern and was headed by a British commander, Lt. Gen. Sir Oliver Lee, Sr., who reported to the Supreme Allied Commander, Southeast Asia. After January 1, 1945, the United States Army Section of Allied Land Forces Headquarters effected coordination between this headquarters and Headquarters United States Army Forces, India-Burma Theater, the Chinese Army in India, and the Northern Combat Area Command. Allied Land Forces, Southeast Asia, was discontinued in July 1945.

Records.--The general records of the command are in the Historical Section of the British Cabinet Office in London. The following records of the United States Army Section of Headquarters Allied Land Forces (2 feet) were in 1947 in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis: Radio messages, memoranda and orders, policy papers, personnel reports, records relating to motor transportation and logistical problems, and unit histories. Other records may be among the records of the participating United States commands, discussed below. Copies of some of the propaganda leaflets in Japanese, with English translations, disseminated by this headquarters were in 1946 in the Air Intelligence Library.

Northern Combat Area Command [1193]

On October 4, 1943, after Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek had approved the use of the troops known as the Chinese Army in India in clearing the Japanese forces from the Assam-Northern Burma area, United States Army Forces, China-Burma-India, established at Ledo the 5303d Headquarters and Headquarters Company {Provisional), Combat Troops. This Company commanded the British, Chinese, and American forces in the area. It was renamed the 5303d Headquarters and Headquarters Company (Provisional) Area Command on January 29, 1943, and the Northern Combat Area Command on February 1, 1944. The Command directed the Ledo Road campaign, and its headquarters moved with the campaign, from Ledo in October 1943 to Bhamo, Burma, on February 1, 1945. Its successive commanding generals were General Stilwell until October 1944, Lt. Gen. Daniel I. Sultan, who was also commanding general of United States Army Forces in the newly organized India-Burma Theater of Operations, October 1944-June 1945, and Maj. Gen. Raymond A. Wheeler, June-September 1945.

Headquarters consisted of the American commander; the Chief of Staff of Headquarters Chinese Army in India; integrated Chinese-American general and special staffs; and several American liaison groups, including command, signal, and medical detachments, which accompanied Chinese field units of the battalion level and above.

Several subordinate units of different national origins served under this command in the Burma campaign at different periods from January 1944 to January 1945. United States troops consisted of the American 5307th Composite Unit (see below), known popularly as Merrill's Marauders; the

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successor 475th Infantry Regiment; and the 5332d Brigade (Provisional), known also as the Mars Task Force.

When the Japanese were defeated at Wanting on January 17-18, 1945, the Command's combat responsibilities were ended, and its attention was directed to the movement of troops for combat elsewhere. Between March and May 1945 the Mars Task Force departed for the China Theater. On September 18, 1945, the Northern Combat Area Command was discontinued.

Records.--The following records of the Command, 1943-45 (72 feet), were in 1947 in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis: Central files; orders, memoranda, and situation reports; messages; miscellaneous records of liaison teams attached to Chinese units; a few records of the staff divisions for personnel, intelligence, and supply; and records of the Judge Advocate, Ordnance, and Quartermaster Sections. An unpublished history of the Command is in the Army's Historical Division. A report by the Command entitled "Troop Movement--Air Lift of Combat Units to China," Dec. 1944-Jan. 1945, is in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.

Chinese Army in India [1194]

In October 1942 this Army, which was composed of all Chinese ground troops in India, was put under the command of General Stilwell, the Commanding General of United States Army Forces, CBI, and the Chief of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's Joint Staff. After October 24, 1944, the Chinese Army in India was transferred to General Sultan, commanding general of the United States Army Forces, India-Burma Theater. It included eight Chinese divisions that participated in two major campaigns in Burma from December 7, 1941, to July 15, 1945, and Chinese troops stationed in India and Burma for supply and service activities and for training.

General Headquarters Chinese Army in India, a joint American-Chinese organization, was established at Ramgarh, India, in June 1942, and was moved to Ledo about December 1944. It was organized in the Chinese Army staff pattern, with the American theater commander as the Commanding General, a Chinese general officer as the Vice Commander until January 1943, and an American general officer as Chief of Staff for the General Headquarters.

The major field command under the Chinese Army in India was the Ramgarh Training Center, which was organized on June 20, 1942, to activate, train, and supply Chinese troop units required in both Burma and India. Headquarters Ramgarh Training Center was largely American in composition. Training of Chinese divisions in artillery and other heavy weapons was the primary duty of the Center from June 1942 to the fall of 1943. After that time the Center also gave armored force and special-unit training to both American and Chinese units. The Center was disbanded on May 15, 1945.

Records.--The following records of the American components of General Headquarters Chinese Army in India are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis: Central files, 1942-46; messages, 1942-45; and orders, memoranda, circulars, bulletins, and reports of operations and training. Records of Headquarters Ramgarh Training Center, Aug. 1942-May

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1945, are also in the Center at St. Louis; they include central files, records of staff divisions, and reports, administrative orders, and training memoranda.

5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) [1195]

This Unit was activated at Dibrugarh, India, on October 10, 1943,to participate in the Burma operations, in accordance with a decision made at the Quebec Conference in August 1943. By February 1, 1944,the three battalions comprising the Unit were organized, trained, and equipped for employment as the only American ground combat troops in the CBI area. Between February and May 1944 the operations of the Unit, which was known also by its operational code name "Galahad" and popularly known as "Merrill's Marauders," were closely associated with those of the Chinese 22d and 38th Divisions. These forces operated with the Chinese Army in India in a drive to recover northern Burma and clear the way for the construction of the Ledo Road, which was to link the Indian railhead at Ledo with the old Burma Road to China. The Unit participated importantly in defeating the Japanese in a campaign extending from the Hukawng Valley in northwestern Burma to Myitkyina on the Irrawaddy River. The Unit was disbanded on August 10, 1944.

Records.--The records of the Unit are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis.

See Merrill's Marauders (1945. 117 p.) a volume in the American Forces in Action Series, published by the Army's Historical Division.

Eastern Air Command [1196]

On November 19, 1943, operational control over the British and American air combat organizations that were committed to the Burma campaign was assigned to the newly organized Eastern Air Command, known also as EAC and ACSEA. This combined American-British command was headed by the Commanding General, United States Army Air Forces, India-Burma Sector, who was designated as the Air Commander, Southeast Asia, and who reported to the Supreme Allied Commander, Southeast Asia, on operational matters. Command headquarters, located first at New Delhi, India, and later at Hastings Mill, Calcutta, consisted of both American and British staff personnel. The Command's combat forces consisted of units belonging to the United States Tenth Air Force and the Royal Air Force's Bengal Air Command. The Royal Air Force units that were engaged in protecting the northeast frontier of India and patrolling the Indian Ocean and the Royal Air Force transport units that were not directly concerned with the supply of forces on the Burma fronts, did not, however, become a part of the Eastern Air Command. The India-China Wing of the United States Air Transport Command, which operated the supply line over the Himalayan "Hump" to China, was also outside the Command's jurisdiction. After several reorganizations, the air combat units under the Command, in June 1944, consisted of the following: The Tenth Air Force, entirely American in composition; the Third Tactical Air Force, made up of

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British and American units; the Strategic Air Force, also a combined British-American force; the 293d Wing, Royal Air Force, which was committed to the air defense of Calcutta and its industrial environs; and the Photographic Reconnaissance Force. On September 14, 1944, the newly organized Combat Cargo Task Force, a combined American-British force for air-supply operations in Burma, was added to the Command; and on December 1, 1944, the Third Tactical Air Force was dissolved. The Eastern Air Command was inactivated in June 1945.

Records.--The records of the Command are in the Historical Section of the British Cabinet Office in London. Records of the United States air commands noted above, which are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis, contain papers about the Eastern Air Command and reports of its combat operations. Selected copies of the Command's headquarters documents and copies of documents originating in the Combat Cargo Task Force and other constituent forces are in the Air Historical Group. Other copies of the Command's documents, such as its "Tactical Memoranda," were in 1945 among the records of the Office of Strategic Services. A report on the Command is part of the 32-voIume "History of China-Burma-India Theater," in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.

Tenth Air Force [1197]

This Air Force, activated in the United States in February 1942 and moved to India in March 1942, was the major United States combat air force operating from India during the war. It was under the tactical control of the Royal Air Force in India to August 1943 and the operational control of the Eastern Air Command thereafter to July 1945. It was under the administrative control of Headquarters United States Army Forces, CBI, to August 1943 and of Headquarters United States Army Air Forces, India-Burma Sector, from August 1943 to July 1945. On July 6, 1945, it was put under Army Air Forces, China Theater, for both tactical and administrative control.

The task of the Tenth Air Force was to support operations in China, assist in defending India, protect the "Hump Route" of air supply to China, and attack enemy troop concentrations and supply and transport facilities in Burma, Thailand, the Malay States, and the Bay of Bengal. It conducted air-transport operations over the Himalayas until December 1, 1942, when this responsibility was transferred to the India-China Wing of the Air Transport Command. Subsequently it continued to share, with the Fourteenth Air Force in China, the responsibility of protecting this route. In October 1942 the India-based air combat units of the Tenth Air Force were organized as the India Air Task Force, with headquarters at Barrackpore, India, and conducted operations in Assam and northern Burma. In 1943 this Task Force was discontinued and its constituent combat elements were transferred to the New Eastern Air Command.

Headquarters Tenth Air Force was located successively at several points, including New Delhi; Hastings Mill, Calcutta; Myitkyina, Burma; and Kunming, China. Its staff included the Chief and the Deputy Chief of Staff;

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general-staff sections for personnel, intelligence, operations, and supply; and a varying number of special-staff sections.

Records.--Records of Headquarters Tenth Air Force, 1942-46, are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. The earlier records, Feb. 1942-Mar. 1943, are interfiled with the records of Headquarters Army Air Forces, India-Burma Sector. The later records, which were kept separately, include central files, 1943-46; messages, 1943-45; memoranda, orders, and bulletins, 1944-45; operations reports; and survey material on target areas. Some separate records of the India Air Task Force are also in the Center at St. Louis.

Historical reports of the Tenth Air Force and some of its components, with supporting documents, are in the Air Historical Group. Extensive correspondence about this Air Force, including station lists and reports, is in the central records of Headquarters Army Air Forces. Intelligence reports of the Tenth Air Force, including reports on captured Japanese aircraft and air matériel, 1942, are in the Air Intelligence Library. Related papers are in the central records of the War Department, in the AGO; see index sheets filed under AG 332 10th Air Force, 1942-45.

United States Army Forces, China-Burma-India [1198]

Under Maj. Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell as Theater commander, the headquarters of these Forces, usually known as Headquarters USAF, CBI, was established at Chungking in March 1942. Several command posts of Headquarters were located near the scene of combat operations. From March to May 1942, during the first Burma campaign, the forward command post was located at Maymyo, the rear echelon was at Lashio, and headquarters detachments were at Kunming and Calcutta. In May 1942, when the American-Chinese forces were driven from Burma to India, the rear echelon was relocated at New Delhi, in order to direct United States forces in India and to operate supply lines in China; the forward echelon was set up at Chungking, to direct American military operations in China; and branch headquarters was located at Kunming. This Kunming branch was disbanded on December 31, 1943. On April 1, 1944, during the India-Burma campaign, the rear echelon at New Delhi was made the main Headquarters, and the forward echelon remained at Chungking. On October 24, 1944, after the China-Burma-India Theater was divided, the Headquarters at New Delhi was redesignated as Headquarters United States Army Forces, India-Burma Theater. The main Headquarters at New Delhi included the Deputy Commander, the Chief of Staff, and the Deputy Chief of Staff; general-staff divisions G-2 to G-4; the usual special-staff sections; and boards and committees that supervised special activities.

Between March 1942 and October 1944 several major subordinate commands were set up under this Headquarters. Some of these commands are described below; those that were continued in the India-Burma Theater or

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the China Theater are described under those theaters. Headquarters provided some administrative and supply services to the Office of Strategic Services Detachments in the area; the India-China Division of the Air Transport Command; the Joint Intelligence Collecting Agency, CBI, which operated under the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and the XX Bomber Command, which was controlled by Headquarters Army Air Forces.

Records.--The records of Headquarters USAF, CBI, 1942-44, are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. They include central files, 1942-44; messages, 1942-44; and General Orders, 1942-43. Other records are among the records of the two successor theater headquarters. Still others may be among the records of the Army Advisory Division of the postwar Joint United States Military Advisory Group to the Republic of China; the Division's records, also in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis, contain papers dating from 1942. Many papers interfiled in the records of the United States commands in the CBI Theater relate to General Stilwell's interallied and Chinese-Army activities.

Papers relating to the CBI Theater are in the central records of the War Department, in the AGO; see the project files entitled "China-Burma-India Theater of Operations," 1943-45, and "USAF, CBI Theater," 1942-45 (1 linear foot). An unpublished history of the CBI Theater is in the Army's Historical Division. A 32-volume "History of China-Burma-India Theater" is in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.

Services of Supply, China-Burma-India [1199]

This command, which was organized on March 9, 1942, operated the lines of communication from base ports in India to the forward railheads, riverheads, and air terminals on the China, Burma, and India frontiers; supplied the ground forces fighting in northern Burma; and expedited the movement to China of supplies procured under the lend-lease and the China Defense Supply programs. Headquarters of the command, originally at Karachi, India, was moved to New Delhi in May 1942. By November of that year it was handling most of the procurement, storage, and forwarding of matériel for the CBI Theater except aircraft and other air equipment. After April 1, 1944, it also had administrative and technical control in its area over the Military Police, the Army Postal Service, the Special Services, the Malarial Control organization, and the China Defense Supply organization. The Headquarters staff consisted of the Chief and the Deputy Chief of Staff, general-staff sections G-1 to G-4, the usual special-staff sections, and a varying number of assigned or attached units, boards, and committees. Between November 1943 and October 1944 the Commanding General of Services of Supply also served as Principal Administrative Officer for the Southeast Asia Command.

Records.--The records of the headquarters of this command, 1942-44, are interfiled with the records of Headquarters United States Army Forces, India-Burma Theater, in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis.

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Base and Advance Sections [1200]

Supply field activities, located at many stations in the CBI area, were at first supervised by the general-staff and special-staff sections of Headquarters. Beginning in May 1942, however, Headquarters decentralized control of these activities by establishing base and advance sections to supervise directly the installations and to supply the combat troops in their areas. Such sections were located at Karachi, Calcutta, Ledo, and Gaya, in India; Dibrugarh and Chabua in Assam; and Kweilin and Kunming in China. These sections, which supervised some service units and the depots for the storage and issue of supplies, existed until the inactivation of the China-Burma-India Theater in October 1944.

Records.--Records of the sections that were located in China are interfiled with the records of Headquarters Services of Supply, China Theater, 1942-45, which are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. Unpublished histories of some of the sections are in the Army's Historical Division.

Other Subordinate Service Commands [1201]

Other services in the field, especially those related to highway, water, and rail transportation, port operations, and heavy construction, were assigned to subordinate commands that operated directly under Headquarters Services of Supply, CBI. The American Barge Lines, established at Calcutta on November 2, 1943, operated transport on the inland waterways and performed harbor services in the Calcutta area. The Military Railway Service, activated on December 25, 1943, and supervised by the Chief of Transportation in Headquarters, operated a section of the Bengal and Assam Railway. Port facilities in the Bombay area were assigned to the Services of Supply Port of Debarkation, which was activated on December 31, 1943. Supervision over all these transport activities was consolidated on January 1, 1944, when the Services of Supply Transportation Service was established, with headquarters at New Delhi. In the same month the Engineer Construction Service was established under the Chief Engineer, Headquarters Services of Supply, and was made responsible for constructing military installations in Burma and India. On June 15, 1944, the American Delhi Military Area Command was activated at New Delhi to perform certain administrative services for Headquarters USAF, CBI, and other units in the province of Delhi. In October 1944, when the CBI Theater was replaced by two new theaters, these field organizations were appropriately divided and transferred to Services of Supply of the two theaters.

Records.--Records of these field agencies are among the records of Services of Supply of the India-Burma Theater and the China Theater, to which these agencies were transferred.

Y-Force Operations Staff [1202]

This Staff, activated on April 29, 1943, at Kunming, supervised the organizing, training, and equipping of the Y Force. This Force was composed of the Chinese Army units in the province of Yunnan,

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the Chinese Expeditionary Force, and the Yunnan Provincial Troops, which were scattered in southern China and along the French Indo-China border. The Staff consisted of headquarters and liaison groups attached to these Chinese troop organizations. It gave advice and assistance in training, supply, and operations, but it had no operational command over Chinese forces. Under its direct supervision were the Infantry Training Center at Kunming, the Field Artillery Training Center at Kunming, the Technical Service School at Kutsing, the Medical and Veterinary School at Tali, and the traveling instructional groups, which operated in the field beginning in July 1943. The Staff also controlled the Burma Road Engineers, a force organized on June 15, 1944, which engaged in construction and maintenance projects under the jurisdiction of the Yunnan-Burma Highway Administration of the Chinese Government. The Y-Force Operations Staff served as a branch headquarters of United States Army Forces, CBI, after December 1943; established priorities for the air movement of supplies and equipment to the Chinese organizations that composed the Y-Force; handled their supply requisitions to Headquarters USAF, CBI; and served as the chief liaison agency between these Chinese troop units and Headquarters. On October 24, 1944, the Staff passed to the control of the newly established China Theater; a month later it was disbanded and its functions were transferred to the newly organized Chinese Training and Combat Command.

Records.--Central files, policy papers on training and operations in China, station lists, orders, and other records of the Y-Force Operations Staff, 1943-44 ( 5 feet), were in 1947 in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. An unpublished history of the Staff is in the Army's Historical Division. Another history is part of the 32-volume "History of China-Burma-India Theater," in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. A compilation of historical, logistical, and operational data by the Staff, entitled "Reconstruction of Burma Road," Oct. 1944, is in the historical-reports files in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.

Z-Force Operations Staff [1203]

This Staff, an American military mission similar to the Y-Force Operations Staff, was organized at Chungking on December 20, 1943,and was moved to Kweilin in February 1944. It assisted Chinese commanders in the reorganization, retraining, and supply of provincial troops and elements of the Chinese Expeditionary Force. This Staff consisted of a headquarters at Kweilin and liaison groups attached to several Chinese field headquarters. It served as the liaison agency between these Chinese headquarters and Headquarters USAF, CBI, on training, supply, and operations; supervised training programs in the field; and advised on military operations against the Japanese in central and southeastern China. On October 24, 1944,the Staff became a component of the new China Theater; a month later it was disbanded and its functions were transferred to the newly organized Chinese Training and Combat Command.

Records.--No records of the Staff, 1943-44, have been identified among the records of the CBI Theater commands in the Records Administration

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Center, AGO, St. Louis. An unpublished history of the organization is in the Army's Historical Division. Another history is part of the 32-volume "History of China-Burma-India Theater," in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.

United States Forces, India-Burma Theater [1204]

This command, also known as USF, IBT, was established on October 24, 1944, under Lt. Gen. Daniel I. Sultan. In June 1945 Maj. Gen. Raymond A. Wheeler became commanding general. The command comprised the United States Army air, ground, and service forces (about 180,000 strong) that operated in India, Burma, Ceylon, Thailand, the Malay States, and Sumatra. It had tactical jurisdiction over most of the old China-Burma-India Theater except China itself and over the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and additional territory in Thailand. Its primary task was to continue the support of the Allied Forces in China. As the communications zone for the China Theater it provided security and maintenance for land lines to China and supplied services, matériel, and equipment for Allied operations in southern and central China. United States combat and service troop units of USF, IBT, also participated in and supported the operations of the Southeast Asia Command. They were under the operational control of that Command and under the administrative control of Headquarters USF, IBT. This Headquarters was discontinued in 1946.

Headquarters of this command was located at New Delhi from October 1944 until after the war. The organization of Headquarters included the Deputy Theater Commander, the Chief of Staff and the Deputy Chief of Staff; general-staff sections G-1 to G-4 and a general-staff section for plans; about 22 special-staff sections, including Historical and Public Relations Sections; and a varying number of attached boards and commissions, such as the local Foreign Claims Commission and the American Petroleum Committee. In May 1945 this Headquarters took over the functions and personnel of Headquarters Services of Supply, India-Burma Theater.

Records.--Records of Headquarters USF, IBT, 1944-46, including some records of the predecessor Headquarters USAF, CBI, were in 1947 in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. They included central files, 1944-46; messages, 1942-46; and several series of orders, circulars, and memoranda. Records of several special-staff sections, some of which contain records of predecessor staff sections of Services of Supply, China-Burma-India Theater and India-Burma Theater, are in the Center at St. Louis. Among these section records are records of the Fiscal Director, the Chemical Warfare Section, the Director of Rest Camps, the Signal Officer, the Engineer Section, and the Foreign Claims Commission. An inventory of Headquarters records, prepared about 1946, is in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.

Records relating to the India-Burma Theater are in the central records of the War Department, in the AGO; see the project files (8 linear inches) entitled "Burma-India Theater of Operations," 1944-45; "USAF Burma," 1942-46; "USAF India," 1942-46; and "USAF India-Burma Theater,"

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1943-46. An unpublished history of USF, IBT, is in the Army's Historical Division. A brief report, "India-Burma Highlights," by the Public Relations Section of Headquarters, issued in June 1945, is in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.

Services of Supply, India-Burma Theater [1205]

This command was organized shortly after the inactivation of the China-Burma-India Theater in October 1944. It inherited the functions of Services of Supply of the predecessor Theater, except for activities within China. Besides serving United States forces in India and Burma, Services of Supply, India-Burma Theater, operated as the rear echelon of supply or the communications zone for the China Theater. It directed local supply activities relating to the procurement, in-transit storage, and shipment of matériel and equipment, including lend-lease items, for military operations in the China Theater. It was responsible for the construction and maintenance of the Stilwell Road to Wanting on the Burma-China border; the establishment and operation of wire communications and a motor transport service on the road to Kunming; and the construction, maintenance, and operation of fuel lines from Burma to the Kunming area. Its headquarters, at New Delhi, consisted of general-staff and special-staff sections similar to those of the predecessor headquarters.

Base sections, advance sections, general and intermediate depots, and other field organizations were transferred to the new command from Services of Supply, China-Burma-India Theater, and some of them were later consolidated. These included the American Barge Lines, Calcutta; the Military Railway Service; the Engineer Construction Service, at Ledo; the Transportation Service, the American Delhi Military Area Command; and the Assam Area Command. On May 21, 1945, Headquarters Services of Supply, India-Burma Theater, was merged into Headquarters USF, IBT, and the commanding general of the Services of Supply became head of the G-4 Section of that Headquarters.

Records.--The records of Headquarters Services of Supply, India-Burma Theater, are among the records of Headquarters United States Army Forces, India-Burma Theater, in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. Unpublished histories of Services of Supply, India-Burman Theater, of the Transportation Service and the Construction Service, and of several base sections are in the Army's Historical Division. Records of subordinate field commands, including the American Delhi Military Area Command, 1944-46, and the Assam Area Command, 1942-46, are in the Center at St. Louis. Reports of some of the service units are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.

Army Air Forces, India-Burma Sector [1206]

This United States command was established by the Commanding General USAF, CBI, on August 10, 1943, to direct the subordinate commands and troop units of the Army Air Forces in the Theater, except the Fourteenth Air Force in China and the India-China Wing of the Air

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Transport Command. Headquarters Army Air Forces, India-Burma Sector, was located at New Delhi on August 10, 1943, and at Hastings Mill, Calcutta, after April 24, 1944. It included the Commanding General, the Chief of Staff, and the Deputy Chief of Staff; general-staff divisions A-1 to A-4; and the usual special-staff sections. This organization supervised the supply and maintenance of equipment for both air-combat and air-service units in Burma and India; organized, trained, and equipped air units for combat operations in Burma and India; and after November 19, 1943, provided the American staff members of the Eastern Air Command of the Southeast Asia Command.

Under this Headquarters for administrative purposes were the Tenth Air Force and the AAF Evaluation Board, India-Burma Theater. Among the noncombat organizations that it controlled were the India-Burma Air Service Command, the Northern Air Service Area Command, at Chabua, Assam, and units of the Army Air Forces Weather Service and the Army Airways Communications System. Other noncombat components of Army Air Forces, India-Burma Sector, were several training centers at Karachi, India, including the China-Burma-India Training Unit (Provisional), which trained both United States and Chinese troop units and individual aviation personnel; the Chinese School of Aviation; and the China-Burma-India Air Forces Training Command, which trained chiefly United States replacements.

Army Air Forces, India-Burma Sector, was inactivated in 1946.

Records.--Records of Headquarters Army Air Forces, India-Burma Sector, 1943-46, are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. They include central files, 1944-46; weekly diaries, 1943-45; a "year book" on operations, 1944; some historical reports, 1945-46; reports of the AAF Evaluation Board, India-Burma Theater, 1944-45; several series of orders, memoranda, and bulletins, 1942-46; and records of the A-1 and A-4 Divisions and of several special-staff sections. The following records of subordinate field commands are also in the Center at St. Louis: Some records of the India-Burma Air Service Command and its predecessors, 1943-45, interfiled with the above Headquarters records; and central files, messages, daily diaries, orders, and memoranda of the Northern Air Service Area Command.

Records relating to the Army Air Forces, India-Burma Sector, are in the central records of Headquarters AAF and in the Air Historical Group. Records in the Air Historical Group consist of historical reports of most of the air commands; reports of air bases at which combat and service troops were stationed; orders and informational documents issued by Headquarters Army Air Forces, India-Burma Sector; and operational reports, station lists, and other items selected by the Historical Section of that Headquarters during the war (20 linear feet).

United States Forces, China Theater [1207]

This command, known as USF, CT, was organized on October 24, 1944, as one of the two successors of United States Army Forces, China-Burma-India. Its commanding general, Maj. Gen. Albert

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C. Wedemeyer, was also made Chief of Staff to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. It comprised the United States Army forces, about 25,000 strong, on the mainland of China and the adjacent islands and in Indo-China. It continued the operations of its predecessor in that area, including the employment of United States air units for tactical, strategic, and ground-support operations, the training of Chinese troops, and the logistical support of Chinese air and ground establishments.

Headquarters United States Forces, China Theater, was located at Chungking. It continued in China the staff functions previously exercised by Headquarters United States Army Forces, China-Burma-India, March 1942-- March 1944, and by the forward echelon of that Headquarters, April-October 1944. General Wedemeyer was responsible to the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the control of all United States forces in China, including the commands discussed below. As Chief of Staff to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, he advised and assisted the Generalissimo and the Chinese general staff with respect to the training of Chinese troops and their employment against the Japanese forces in China. Headquarters USF, CT, collaborated with the corresponding headquarters in the India-Burma Theater on matters relating to supply, personnel replacements, and matériel in the China Theater and on matters relating to the Chinese Army in India.

Headquarters at Chungking included the Theater Commander, the Chief of Staff, general-staff sections G-1 to G-5; and the usual special-staff sections. The rear echelon of Headquarters (also called the advance section) operated at Kunming from December 13, 1944, to July 15, 1945; it too had general-staff and special-staff sections. The liquidation of USF, CT, was completed in 1946 by the Nanking Headquarters Command. The Nanking Command was discontinued in October 1946, and its remaining personnel was transferred to the Joint United States Military Advisory Group to the Republic of China.

Records.--Records of Headquarters USF, CT, 1944-46, including some records of its predecessors, the United States Military Mission to China and Headquarters USAF, CBI, 1941-44, are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. They include central files, 1942-46; messages, 1941-46; journals, 1943-46; reports and minutes of conferences, 1945; reports by General Wedemeyer; and about 20 series of orders, bulletins, circulars, and memoranda. Also in the Center at St. Louis are records of the rear echelon of Headquarters, including central files, 1942-45; General Orders, Dec. 1944; reports from the American Embassy, 1942-43; and some of General Stilwell's files. Records of the five general-staff sections and of several special-staff sections, including the Theater Planning Section, the Interpreter Affairs Section, the Lend-Lease Section, the Transportation Section, and the "Stars and Stripes" Section, are also in the Center at St. Louis. Papers of the Commanding General USF, CT, are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.

Records relating to the China Theater are in the central records of the War Department, in the AGO; see the project files entitled "China Theater of Operations," 1945, and "USAF China," 1940-45 (5 linear inches).

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Copies of some of the reports by the G-2 Section of Headquarters USF, CT, and translations of captured documents are in the historical-reports files in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. An unpublished history of the China Theater is in the Army's Historical Division.

Services of Supply, China Theater [1208]

This command was activated on November 17, 1944, at Kunming, as the forward echelon in China for the supply and service of American and Chinese combat forces in that country. It took over within China the functions of the former Services of Supply, China-Burma-India. The command was responsible for matériel and equipment assigned to the Chinese under the lend-lease program and the China Defense Supply Program and for matériel and supplies, except Air Force items, assigned to American forces. Its headquarters reviewed requisitions to the Services of Supply, India-Burma Theater, and to supply agencies in Washington; supervised the procurement of reverse lend-lease items from the Chinese Government; controlled the storage of matériel and its distribution to United States and Chinese forces; supervised United States participation in the construction and maintenance of the Burma Road and other communication lines; and had technical supervision over the training of Chinese noncombat service units by the Chinese Training and Combat Command.

Headquarters at Kunming consisted of the Chief and the Deputy Chief of Staff, general-staff sections G-1 to G-4, and about 23 special-staff sections, among which were the American Military Petroleum Committee (which allocated motor and aviation fuel), the Claims Section (which processed claims against the United States Government), and the General Purchasing Agent (which coordinated purchases made in the Theater).

Services of Supply, China Theater, was inactivated on November 26, 1945.

Records.--The following records of the command and its predecessor are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis: Central files, 1942-45; about 30 series of orders, memoranda, bulletins, circulars, and reports; records of the general-staff sections; records of 7 special-staff sections; and records of the Army Liaison Group. Other records may be among the records of the Shanghai Port Command and the China Service Command, 1946, which are also in the Center at St. Louis. Records of the Map Depot at Kunming, including correspondence, 1945, and records of other subordinate agencies of Headquarters are also in that Center.

Chinese Training and Combat Command [1209]

This Command was activated in China on November 17, 1944, shortly after the China-Burma-India Theater was divided. It continued the work of the Y-Force and Z-Force Operations Staffs, which had been responsible for providing American training and supply to Chinese divisions. The new Command, essentially a consolidation of these two staffs, took over the training programs at the Yunnan and the Kweilin Training Centers and continued to assist the Chinese Expeditionary Force in its offensive in central and southern China. On January 8, 1945, the Command was

--812--

organized in two subordinate administrative commands, the Chinese Training Command (Provisional) and the Chinese Combat Command (Provisional). Under the Chinese Combat Command were six subordinate commands for liaison with the Chinese Army Groups and a liaison team for each Chinese Army or Division. These organizations, which were primarily advisory agencies, exercised no tactical or operational control over the Chinese commands.

Records.--Whether there are any organized records of General Headquarters Chinese Training and Combat Command among the records from the China-Burma-India Theater in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis, has not been determined. Records of the Chinese Training Command, including central files, 1944-45, and about 25 other series, and records of the Chinese Combat Command, including central files, 1945, plans, and personnel papers, are in the Center at St. Louis. Histories of the Command, Oct. 1944-Sept. 1945, its general-staff school, Jan.-Dec. 1944, and some other components, 1944-45, are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.

United States Army Air Forces, China Theater [1210]

This command, known also as AAF, CT, was established in July 1945, with headquarters at Chungking. It had jurisdiction over Army Air Forces, combat and service units operating in China, including the air units supporting the Chinese ground forces but excluding the bombardment units of the Twentieth Air Force. Its commander reported to the United States commander in the China Theater. The combat and service forces in this new command included the veteran Fourteenth Air Force and its China Air Service Command, the Tenth Air Force, which was transferred from the India-Burma Theater on July 31, 1945, and a varying number of smaller units. In 1946 the command was inactivated.

Records.--Records of Headquarters AAF, CT, in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis, include central files, 1942-46, and messages, 1945-46. The pre-1945 papers in these records may be records that were taken over from Headquarters Fourteenth Air Force.

Fourteenth Air Force [1211]

Some members of the American Volunteer Group, or Flying Tigers, which had served in air combat supporting the Chinese armed forces after July 1941, were inducted into the United States air forces in China in July 1942. These airmen were joined with others to form the China Air Task Force, which in March 1943 was renamed the Fourteenth Air Force. Besides the original units, the Air Force later included bombardment and reconnaissance groups. This Air Force was under the command of the Commanding General USAF, CBI (General Stilwell), from 1942 to October 1944; and the Commanding General USF, CT, from October 1944 to January 1946. In the course of its operations from 1942 to 1945 the Fourteenth Air Force initiated and protected, in conjunction with the Tenth Air Force, the aerial supply route from India to China; supported the Chinese offensive across the Salween River into Burma; attacked Japanese

--813--

coastal shipping and lines of communication; made raids over Burma, Indo-China, Formosa, and the South China Sea; provided fighter cover for B-29 bomber bases at Chengtu; and made reconnaissance flights and diversionary raids in support of the Philippine invasion that began in October 1944.

Headquarters of the China Air Task Force and the successor Fourteenth Air Force, located at Kunming, directed the operations of both American and Chinese air units. Its organization included the Chief of Staff, general-staff sections A-1 to A-4, the usual special-staff sections, and other units and detachments that performed functions for the entire Air Force. After October 1944 the Fourteenth Air Force operated in two American Wings and the Chinese-American Composite Wing. The service command of the Fourteenth Air Force, October 1943-March 1946, was known as the China Air Service Command during most of its existence. The Air Force was inactivated in January 1946.

Records.--The central files of Headquarters Fourteenth Air Force and the predecessor China Air Task Force, 1942-45, are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. Other records of Headquarters Fourteenth Air Force in that Center include correspondence, messages, operational plans and reports, and orders, 1943-45; records of the A-2 and the Judge Advocate Sections; reports of the Operations Analysis Section; and a history of Ordnance activities. Most of the reports and historical data accumulated by the Historical Section are in the Air Historical Group. Records of commands and troop units of the Fourteenth Air Force, in the Center at St. Louis, include records of the Chinese-American Composite Wing, 1943-45, and of the China Air Service Command, 1943-46.

Correspondence, reports, and station lists of the Fourteenth Air Force are in the central files of Headquarters AAF; copies of its combat intelligence reports were in 1945 in the records of the Office of Strategic Services. Related papers are in the central records of the War Department, in the AGO; see index sheets filed under AG 322 Fourteenth Air Force.

See Robert B. Hotz et al., With Gen. Chennault: The Story of the Flying Tigers (New York, 1943. 286 p.).

PACIFIC THEATERS OF OPERATIONS [1212]

There was no single "Pacific Theater of Operations" at any time during the war. The forces of the United States and its Allies operated within what appear to have been designated formally only as areas rather than theaters of operations, but the areas were frequently referred to as theaters.

Soon after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, an agreement was reached by the Governments of the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and the United States whereby tactical responsibility for the conduct of the war in the Pacific was assigned to the United States. According to this agreement the Pacific region was divided in April 1942 into the Pacific Ocean Areas, under the supreme command of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, and the Southwest Pacific Area, under the supreme command of

--814--

Gen. Douglas MacArthur. The Pacific Ocean Areas consisted of three subordinate areas--the South Pacific Area, commanded during the period of most intensive operations in that region by Admiral William Halsey; the Central Pacific Area, commanded by Admiral Nimitz; and the North Pacific Area, commanded by Admiral Frank J. Fletcher. The Southwest Pacific Area included Australia and the islands north of it through the Philippines.

After an early period of improvised interallied headquarters in the South Pacific, December 1941-May 1942, interallied headquarters were set up only in the Pacific Ocean Areas, the South Pacific Area, and the Southwest Pacific Area. The headquarters of the Central Pacific Area was never sharply differentiated from the major headquarters of the Pacific Ocean Areas, as it had the same commander, Admiral Nimitz; and the North Pacific Area was virtually a United States naval command, although Canadian air forces participated in the defense of Alaska.

The three combined headquarters--those of the Pacific Ocean Areas, the South Pacific Area, and the Southwest Pacific Area--are frequently referred to as joint commands, although they were broader than joint Army-Navy commands; they were, however, under the direction of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington rather than the Combined Chiefs of Staff. In these three commands each Allied commander served as combined operational commander of all Allied forces in his area and as the administrative head of the United States forces of his own service. Thus Admiral Nimitz served as Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet; Admiral Halsey as Commander of the Third Fleet; and General MacArthur as Commanding General of the United States Army Forces in the Far East and the successor United States Army Forces, Pacific.

The operations in the Pacific Ocean Areas from December 1941 to September 1945 have been divided into 18 major campaigns, according to Army nomenclature. The Central Pacific Campaign, December 1941-December 1943, included the defense at Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, the naval operations at Wake Island, December 8-23, 1941, the raids on the Marshall-Gilbert, Wake, and Marcus Islands in February-March 1942, and the Battle of Midway and subsequent air and naval operations in the Central Pacific to December 6, 1943. The Philippine Islands Campaign extended from December 7, 1941, to May 10, 1942, the date of the final surrender of United States and Philippine forces. The East Indies Campaign extended from January 1 to July 22, 1942, and included air and naval engagements, notably at Makassar Strait, Badoeng Strait, and the Java Sea in January and February 1942. The subsequent operations in the South and Southwest Pacific included the Papuan Campaign, July 1942-January 1943; the Guadalcanal Campaign, August 1942-February 1943; the New Guinea Campaign, January 1943-December 1944; the Northern Solomons Campaign, February 1943-November 1944; and the Bismarck Archipelago Campaign, December 1943-November 1944. The continuing operations in the Central Pacific included the Eastern Mandates Campaign, December 1943-June 1944, In the Northwest Pacific the Navy conducted its Kurile Islands Operation, February 1944-August 1945.

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The remaining campaigns in 1944 and 1945 were the Western Pacific Campaign, April 1944-September 1945; the Leyte Campaign, October 1944-July 1945; the Luzon Campaign, December 1944-July 1945; the Southern Philippines Campaign, February-July 1945; the Navy's Iwo Jima Operation, February-March 1945; the Ryukyus Campaign, March-July 1945; the Navy's Borneo Operations, April-July 1945; and the naval and air offensives against Japan, July-August 1945. The major naval engagements in all these campaigns numbered more than a hundred; their names and dates and the units that participated in them are listed in "Decorations, Medals, Ribbons, and Badges of the United States Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard,. 1861-1948" (235 p.), issued by the Bureau of Naval Personnel in January 1949.

The important Navy and Army commands in the Pacific and the interallied commands in which United States forces were represented are separately described below. Army and Navy commands are not grouped in separate sections in this discussion. Subordinate commands, both Army and Navy,, are discussed under the over-all command that controlled their operations.

Records.--Wartime records of the different commands in the Pacific Ocean Areas are described below in the separate entries for those commands. Army operations in the areas are discussed in Gen. George C. Marshall's Reports as Chief of Staff to the Secretary of War, 1941-43, p. 10-15; and 1943-45, p. 63-84. Naval operations are outlined in Admiral Ernest J. King's reports, published after the war as U.S. Navy at War, 39-74, 100, 103-133, 173-204 (Washington, 1946). Several volumes in the series, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, by Samuel Eliot Morison (Boston, 1947-), relate to the war in the Pacific: The Rising Sun in the Pacific, 1931-April 1942 (1948. 411 p.); Coral Sea, Midway, and Submarine Action, May 1942-August 1942 (1949. 307 p.); The Struggle for Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943 (1949. 389 p.); and Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, 22 July 1942-1 May 1944 (1950. 463 p.). The series, Battle Report, by Walter Karig (New York, 1944-), also contains volumes in the war in the Pacific: Pearl Harbor to Coral Sea (1944. 499 p.); Pacific War: Middle Phase (1947. 434 p.); The End of an Empire (1948. 532 p.);. and Victory in the Pacific (1949. 529 p.).

Early Commands

United States Army Forces in the Far East [Philippines] [1213]

The United States Army's forces in the Philippine Islands were organized for some years before July 1941 as a command known as the Philippine Department. On July 26, 1941, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who had been serving as military adviser to the Commonwealth of the Philippines, was directed to head the Army's forces in the Philippines and to mobilize the Philippine Army. His new command, the United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE), replaced the Philippine Department as the ranking command in the Philippines. The Department became a component of USAFFE. It had certain delegated responsibilities for training the Philippine Army and for supervising supply activities, and its headquarters staff sections were left intact, with some of them serving in both commands.

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The combat command in the Philippines, December 1941-April 1942, was known as the United States Forces in the Pacific (USFIP). This command, also headed by General MacArthur, was in theory subordinate to USAFFE. It included the Far East Air Force. On March 16, 1942, after General Mac-Arthur was ordered to Australia to take charge of the newly established General Headquarters Southwest Pacific Area, Lt. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright became USFIP commander. The last organized combat units of USFIP surrendered to the Japanese on May 10, 1942. USAFFE passed out of existence, but its name was later used for General MacArthur's new Army headquarters in Australia.

Records.--Records of USAFFE and USFIP headquarters, 1939-42, that survived the withdrawal and surrender of the forces on Bataan and Corregidor were sent to General Headquarters Southwest Pacific Area in 1942. Some of these records (8 feet) were transferred in October 1942 to the Adjutant General's Office in Washington and were organized by its Operations Branch, which has custody of them, in two series--general records and a series of journals and other records of the G-4 Section. The records that were not sent to the Adjutant General's Office were apparently dispersed among several commands in the Southwest Pacific. After the war some of them were transferred to the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. At this Center, scattered USAFFE and USFIP documents have been found interfiled among the records of the following commands: Headquarters records and records of Base 3 and other bases and base sections of United States Army Services of Supply, Southwest Pacific Area; Headquarters United States Army Forces in Australia; and Headquarters United States Army Forces in the Western Pacific. These commands are discussed later in this volume.

Important papers originating in or relating to the commands in the Philippines are in the central records of the War Department, in the AGO; see the project files entitled "Philippine Department," 1939-42 (5 linear feet), and "USAF Far East," 1941-45 (6 linear inches). In the latter series are papers en the Philippine command called United States Army Forces in the Far East and the later organization of the same name in Australia. The messages exchanged between the Philippine command and Washington, Dec. 1941-- May 1942, are in the files of messages (on microfilm) in the Office of the Chief of Staff. Most of these messages were interfiled in a single chronological sequence with messages to and from other commands, but one incoming set, entitled "Philippines--Wainwright," Mar. 31-May 5, 1942, is exclusively from the Philippine command. Copies of General Wainwright's "Report of Operations of USAFFE and USFIP in the Philippine Islands, 1941-42" (with 18 "Annexes"), compiled under his direction at Headquarters Fourth Army in 1946, are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO, and in the Army's Historical Division.
[See also The Fall of the Philippines, a volume in the U.S. ARMY IN WORLD WAR II series. --HyperWar]

American-British-Dutch-Australian Command [1214]

This interallied Command, also known as ABDA and ABDACOM, was established in Java on January 15, 1942, to coordinate defensive operations after the Japanese attacks on the Philippines

--817--

and the Netherlands East Indies. Gen. Sir Archibald Wavell was Supreme Commander, and Lt. Gen. G. H. Brett was Deputy Commander. There were three subordinate tactical headquarters: The air command, which controlled British units and United States units that were withdrawn from the Far East Air Force in the Philippines; the naval command, headed by the commander of the United States Asiatic Fleet; and the ground command, composed of British units. The American-British-Dutch-Australian Command was discontinued on February 24, 1942, shortly before the Allied evacuation of Java; and the remaining United States forces were moved to Australia and were soon assigned to General Headquarters Southwest Pacific Area.

Records.--The records of the Command have been divided among the four participating national powers. The few records in United States custody are chiefly among the records of Base 3, United States Army Services of Supply, Brisbane, and of General Headquarters Southwest Pacific Area. Both these bodies of records are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis.

Asiatic Fleet [1215]

After an intermittent existence following its first establishment in August 1902, the United States Asiatic Fleet was reestablished on February 3, 1941, with Rear Admiral Thomas C. Hart as Commander in Chief. In June 1941 its headquarters was shifted from Shanghai to Manila; and later, during the defense of the Philippines, to Corregidor. After withdrawing from the Philippines, the Fleet was based on Surabaya, with Admiral Hart serving under the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command. On January 30, 1942, Vice Admiral William A. Glassford was appointed Commander United States Naval Forces, Southwest Pacific. Five days later Admiral Hart was relieved of his duties as Commander in Chief, Asiatic Fleet, and the Fleet thereupon ceased to exist under that name. Admiral Hart became the Allied Naval Commander under the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command, while Admiral Glassford commanded the United States naval units assigned to the Southwest Pacific, which were designated as the Southwest Pacific Force and later as the Seventh Fleet.

Records.--The location of the wartime records of the Asiatic Fleet is unknown.

See Samuel Eliot Morison, The Rising Sun in the Pacific, 1931-April 1942 (Boston, 1948. 411 p.).

Australia-New Zealand Force [1216]

This interallied command was set up on February 4, 1942, and existed until the establishment of the Southwest Pacific Area in April 1942. Vice Admiral Herbert F. Leary was made commander of the Force under the strategic control of the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet. The Force, which at first consisted of only a few Australian units, was soon reinforced by United States vessels. It was responsible for defending eastern Australia and New Caledonia against Japanese thrusts through New Guinea and the Solomons. Its area of operations, which was southeast of

--818--

that of the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command, comprised the waters of eastern Australia, New Zealand, British New Guinea, and the Solomon, Loyalty, and Fiji Islands. When the American-British-Dutch-Australia Command was dissolved, the area of the Australia-New Zealand Force was redefined to include Australia and its territories, Timor, Ambon, New Guinea, and the seas to the south of Australia.

Records.--Records of the Force have not been located.

Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet [1217]

After having been established in April 1907 and abolished in December 1922, the Pacific Fleet was reestablished on February 1, 1941. Before December 31, 1941, Admiral Husband E. Kimmel was Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet (CinCPac); Admiral Chester W. Nimitz succeeded Admiral Kimmel, and within a few months he was given additional duty as Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas. The Pacific Fleet was the Navy's striking force in the whole Pacific region; its subordinate fleets operated within the jurisdiction of both the Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas, and the Commander in Chief, Southwest Pacific Area.

As Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, Admiral Nimitz was responsible for the administrative control and operational readiness of the units comprising the Fleet and for the assignment of Pacific Fleet forces to the subordinate fleets and task forces operating in the Pacific. The organization of the Pacific Fleet reflected the dual aspect of the Commander in Chief's responsibilities. The type-command organization was for purposes of administration. The task-force organization was for purpose of operational control and flexibility of combat forces. Task-force designations were assigned to type commands for administrative convenience. These type commands and task forces are discussed below.

Pacific Fleet Headquarters, maintained jointly with the Headquarters of the Pacific Ocean Areas command, was at Makalapa, near Pearl Harbor. In January 1945 Pearl Harbor became the rear headquarters and advance headquarters was established on Guam.

Records.--Wartime records of the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, 1941-46, are in the Naval Records Management Center at Arlington, Va. An unpublished history of CinCPac is in the Division of Naval Records and History.

Type Commands [1218]

Type commands, as distinct from the task forces, were administrative commands. Each such command was responsible for the maintenance and readiness of ships of the same type and for the training and assignment of their personnel. When the United States entered World War II, each of the main operational units of the Pacific Fleet--the Battle Force, the Scouting Force, and the Base Force--was subdivided into type commands, and the type commanders were responsible to the force commanders for their type-command functions. Effective April 10, 1942, the Pacific

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Fleet was reorganized into a new series of type commands. Further changes in the type-command organization were made in 1942 and 1943.

The type command called Battleships, Pacific Fleet, was established on April 10, 1942. In addition to its type-command functions, this command had an important task assignment. For this reason its staff remained small and afloat, and its type-command functions were conducted by the Service Force, discussed below. The type command Destroyers-Cruisers was established on April 1, 1943. Its predecessors were two type commands, Destroyers and Cruisers, which had been established on April 10, 1942, as successors to the still earlier Destroyers, Battle Force; Cruisers, Battle Force; and Cruisers, Scouting Force.

Motor torpedo boat squadrons were active in the South Pacific Area by October 1942, and they operated after January 15, 1943, under the Commander Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron, South Pacific. The Pacific Fleet's type command for such squadrons was not established, however, until March 5, 1944. The new command remained a paper organization for several months, but on June 15, 1944, it was assigned a number of motor torpedo boats and it began its administrative functions as a type command.

The type command called Minecraft was reestablished as a separate type command on October 15, 1944, and the functions, ships, activities, and personnel relating to minecraft were transferred to it from the Service Force. Responsibilities of the command included type-command administration of those ships of the Pacific Fleet that were primarily employed in mine laying, mine sweeping, net laying, and degaussing; type-command administration of all mine assembly units, mine modification units, and mine experimentation and investigation units in the Pacific Ocean Areas; and coordination of all mine-laying and mine-sweeping activities within those areas. The Commander Minecraft maintained administrative headquarters at Pearl Harbor. The command's operating staff functioned aboard its flagship.

Other type commands of the Pacific Fleet are separately discussed below.

Records.--Wartime records of the type commands are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa. They include correspondence, war diaries, reports, logistic data, communications, and orders. Unpublished histories of Destroyers-Cruisers, Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons, and Minecraft are in the Division of Naval Records and History.

Amphibious Forces [1219]

Until April 1942 there was no separate type command for amphibious vessels and forces in the Pacific Fleet, although there was under the Fleet Marine Force a command for the amphibious troops of that Force. In September 1941 the Army's Third Division was added to the Fleet Marine Force's Second Marine Division, which then was training at San Diego, Calif., for amphibious warfare. This combined unit was designated as the Joint Training Force and was redesignated in February 1942 as the Amphibious Force, Pacific. On April 10, 1942, a naval organization was established as the Amphibious Force, Pacific, and the troop organization, under the designation of Amphibious Corps, became a part of that Force,

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together with the ships formerly comprising Service Squadron Four, which were used in training the Corps. This Amphibious Force continued its training at San Diego and later engaged in the Alaskan-Aleutian campaigns. In June 1942 the Amphibious Force, South Pacific, was established; it engaged in the Guadalcanal operations in August.

On August 15, 1943, by order of the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, a complete reorganization of the Amphibious Forces was effected. Amphibious Force, South Pacific, was redesignated as the Third Amphibious Force. The Fifth Amphibious Force was organized for operations in the Central Pacific, and its commander became also the type commander for Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet. The Amphibious Force operating in the North Pacific Area became the Ninth Amphibious Force. By the end of 1943 the Ninth Amphibious Force was dissolved. Its rear echelon in California became the Amphibious Training Command, Pacific Fleet.

Records.--Wartime records of the Amphibious Forces are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa. A four-volume unpublished history of the Amphibious Forces is in the Division of Naval Records and History.

Air Force, Pacific Fleet [1220]

In the reorganization of the Pacific Fleet of April 10, 1942, Aircraft, Battle Force, became the Carrier type command, and Aircraft, Scouting Force, became the Patrol Wings type command. On September 1, 1942, these two type commands were combined as a single type command known as Air Force, Pacific Fleet, or Fleet Air Force. This Force was responsible for the allocation and distribution of planes, matériel, and personnel to the operating forces in the Pacific Area, the maintenance of aircraft, and the preparation of tactical instructions for Pacific Fleet aircraft. It also had administrative control of the carriers, tenders, and other vessels assigned to the Fleet air organization.

Among the many subordinate commands of the Fleet Air Force were the squadrons, which exercised administrative and operational control over their component aircraft. Land-based squadrons were assigned to Patrol Wings, known after November 1, 1942, as Fleet Air Wings. For planes on carriers, maintenance functions afloat were performed by Carrier Air Service Divisions, and ashore by Carrier Air Service Units, later renamed Combat Aircraft Service Units. Units of the Fleet Air Force were assigned for operations to the Area forces and were important elements in the numerous task forces.

Records.--Wartime records of the Air Force, Pacific Fleet, are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa.

Fleet Operational Training Command [1221]

This type command was established on January 3, 1943. In conjunction with the Vice Chief of Naval Operations and the bureaus of the Navy Department, the Command scheduled and supervised the operational training of officers and men for newly constructed ships 100 feet

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or more in length, except submarines and amphibious craft; directed and supervised the "shakedown" training of personnel assigned to such ships; and provided refresher training for crews of operating vessels. Training facilities assigned to the Command included antiaircraft training centers at Pacific Beach and Point Montara, Calif., and Pacific Beach, Wash.; the Sound School at San Diego, Calif.; and the Small Craft Training Center at Terminal Island, off the southern coast of California. Later the Command was given cognizance of all teacher-training units for antisubmarine attack and was given control and coordination of training for antisubmarine warfare. On August 3, 1945, the Fleet Operational Training Command was abolished, and its personnel, facilities, and functions were taken over by the Training Command, Pacific Fleet, which was established on the same date.

Records.--Wartime records of the Command are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa. A two-volume unpublished history of the Command is in the Division of Naval Records and History.

Service Force, Pacific Fleet [1222]

On March 1, 1942, the Base Force of the Pacific Fleet was re- designated as the Service Force, and to this new command was added the former Minecraft, Battle Force. The Service Force was the logistic organization that supported the combat fleet. Its responsibilities included supply, salvage, repair, welfare, and other activities. Its headquarters was at Pearl Harbor.

Records.--Wartime records of the Service Force are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa. An unpublished history of the command is in the Division of Naval Records and History.

Submarine Force, Pacific Fleet [1223]

When the United States entered World War II, submarines in the Pacific Fleet constituted a type command under the Scouting Force. Effective January 1, 1942, Submarines, Scouting Force, became a separate type command, designated as Submarines, Pacific Fleet. In September 1942 the name of the command was changed to Submarine Force, Pacific Fleet. The commander of this Force operated directly under the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet. Headquarters was at the Submarine Base, Pearl Harbor. In January 1945 advance headquarters was established aboard a submarine tender at Guam.

The Submarine Force was both a type command and a task force. It was organized in a series of numbered squadrons, and the commander of the senior squadron in each locality became commander of a subordinate command of the Force. These subordinate commands, each of which had a task-group designation, were the Submarine Training Command; the Submarine Subordinate Command, Midway; the Submarine Advance Base, Majuro; the Submarine Force, Administration, Mare Island; and the Submarine Advance Base, Guam. The duties of the Force included offensive warfare against enemy shipping, patrol activities, the bombardment of targets

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in enemy-held territory, and special tasks such as reconnaissance and the landing of supplies and personnel.

Records.--The wartime records of the Submarine Force are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa. A three-volume unpublished history of the command is in the Division of Naval Records and History.

Fleets and Task Forces [1224]

Flexibility of the Pacific Fleet organization for combat or other operations was achieved through the task-force organization. Before June 1941 the operational responsibilities of the Pacific Fleet were carried by the Battle Force, Scouting Force, and Base Force. In an effort to provide a more flexible organization, beginning on June 1, 1941, task forces were organized, each made up of vessels of several different types. After March 15, 1943, when the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, established numbered fleets throughout the Navy, the First, Third, Fifth, and Seventh Fleets were assigned to the Pacific Fleet. Later the Ninth Fleet was added. Task forces were thereafter numbered according to the number of the Fleet of which they were a part. Subdivisions of the task forces were called task groups; these were sometimes subdivided into task units.

Not all the numbered fleets that composed the Pacific Fleet were actual groups of ships. The First and Ninth Fleets, under the direct command of the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, were not actual aggregations of ships, although the Ninth Fleet occasionally included certain task forces. The Third, Fifth, and Seventh Fleets were aggregations of ships. In the later stages of the war, when the main naval operations were concentrated in the Central Pacific, the designations Third Fleet and Fifth Fleet were used alternately for the same group of ships, depending on whether Admiral William F. Halsey or Admiral Raymond A. Spruance was in command at the time.

Discussed below are fleets and task forces that operated in the Central and South Pacific Areas. The North Pacific Force is discussed under the American Theater of Operations, and the Seventh Fleet is discussed under the Southwest Pacific Area.

Records.---Wartime records of fleets and task forces include correspondence, communications, dispatches, operational records, logistic data, action reports, war diaries, and operation orders. These records are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa.

First Fleet [1225]

This Fleet was an administrative organization, not an aggregation of ships. On October 1, 1944, its component units included the Pacific Fleet type commands, discussed above, and, for administrative purposes, a unit corresponding to the small South Pacific Force that remained under the Commander South Pacific Area after the Third Fleet was separated from that command.

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Records.--Records of the First Fleet are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa.

Third Fleet [1226]

This Fleet originated in June 1942 as the main United States component of the South Pacific Force, assigned to the South Pacific Area. In June 1944 the South Pacific Force was redesignated as the Third Fleet, under the command of Admiral Halsey. Among the important operations of this Fleet were the Solomon Islands campaign, the Battle of Guadalcanal, the capture of the western Caroline Islands, and the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

On June 15, 1944, as the operations off the Solomons, the Bismarck Archipelago, and New Guinea were already well within the Southwest Pacific Area, the naval forces in that Area were put under the command of General Headquarters Southwest Pacific Area, discussed below. On that same date Admiral Halsey, with most of the Third Fleet, was assigned to the offensive operations in the Central Pacific Area. On June 17, Third Fleet Headquarters was established at Pearl Harbor.

In the Central Pacific Area forces of the Pacific Fleet operated alternately as the Third Fleet under Admiral Halsey and as the Fifth Fleet under Admiral Spruance. This dual designation for the same forces was a device to confuse the enemy and distort his estimates of the naval strength of the Allies.

Records.--Wartime records of the Third Fleet are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa.

Fifth Fleet [1227]

During October and November 1943 units of the Pacific Fleet were put under the command of Vice Admiral Raymond A. Spruance as Commander Central Pacific Force. This Force, later called the Fifth Fleet, operated within the Central Pacific Area. The organization of the Fifth Fleet was changeable and flexible, since units of the Pacific Fleet were assigned to it according to the requirements of specific operations. These units were organized in task forces, each under the operational control of a task-force commander. Among the early engagements of this Fleet was the decisive Battle of Midway. Later operations included the capture of the Gilbert, Marshall, and Mariana Islands; the Battle of the Philippine Sea and the re-occupation of Guam; the capture of the western Carolines; and the conquest of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

Records.--Wartime records of the Fifth Fleet are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa.

Commander Forward Area, Central Pacific [1228]

After the capture of the Gilbert Islands, which began in November 1943, and that of the Marshall Islands, which began in January 1944, Rear Admiral John H. Hoover, Commander Defense Forces and Shore Based Aircraft (Task Force 57) of the Fifth Fleet, was designated as Commander

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Forward Area, Central Pacific. The Forward Area included at first Ellice Island and the Gilbert and Marshall Islands. Subsequently it was extended to include the Marianas, when the Fifth Fleet captured Saipan, Tinian, and Guam in July and August 1944. The capture of Peleliu, Angaur, and Ulithi in October 1944 and of Iwo Jima in March 1945 brought these regions under this command. On October 1, 1944, after combat operations had advanced farther to the west, parts of the Forward Area were set up to form the Marshalls-Gilbert Area; and on June 1, 1945, the Forward Area, Central Pacific, became the Marianas Area. Both the Marshalls-Gilbert and the Marianas Areas, under the administration of the Ninth Fleet, are discussed below.

Records.--Records of Commander Forward Area, Central Pacific, are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa.

Ninth Fleet [1229]

During most of the war this Fleet was not an aggregation of ships but a convenience for designating certain subordinate commands and a means for simplifying organization and communication. Occasionally, however, it did command certain task forces. Units assigned as subordinate to the Ninth Fleet varied from time to time. Within the task-force organization of the Ninth Fleet was the Army's Hawaiian Department, the commanding general of which had jurisdiction over the local defense forces of the Army and Navy in the Hawaiian area. Other administrative commands of the Ninth Fleet are discussed below.

Records.--Wartime records of the Ninth Fleet are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa.

Hawaiian Sea Frontier [1230]

This command was established on July 1, 1941, as the Hawaiian Naval Coastal Frontier and was redesignated as a Sea Frontier on February 6, 1942. After the establishment of numbered fleets it operated as Task Force 97 of the Pacific Fleet. Frontier headquarters was on the island of Oahu. The function of the Frontier was to defend its area, perform escort and patrol duty, control shipping, and maintain air-sea rescue facilities. The land area of the Frontier was the same as that of the Fourteenth Naval District, which had been established in 1916. It included the Hawaiian Islands, and Palmyra, Johnston, and Washington Islands to the south. The sea area of the Frontier included waters off the coasts of these islands to a distance of 500 miles. The Commander Hawaiian Sea Frontier served also as the Commandant of the Naval District. The Fourteenth Naval District assisted in the logistic support of Fleet units in the area and provided recreational and welfare services for Fleet personnel ashore. Naval establishments in the District included the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, the section bases at Hilo and Nawiliwili, and the Naval Air Station on the island of Maui.

Records.--The general administrative records of the Frontier Commander, 1941-45 ( 82 feet), are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa. Wartime records of the Fourteenth Naval District, including

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correspondence of the District Commandant and general records of Naval Air Stations, are in the Center at San Bruno, Calif. Records of section bases in the District, including general files, log books, and data on service to ships, are among the records of the District in that Center. A two-volume unpublished history of the Fourteenth Naval District is in the Division of Naval Records and History.

Commander Marshalls-Gilbert Area [1231]

This command was established on October 1, 1944. Its two predecessor commands, which were subordinate to the Forward Area, Central Pacific, under the Fifth Fleet, were the Gilbert Islands Subarea, established on December 18, 1943, and the Marshall Islands Subarea, established on April 4, 1944. These two subareas were merged to form the Marshalls-Gilbert Area, administered by the Ninth Fleet; and the garrison forces, local defense forces, and shore-based air forces in the Area were designated as Task Force 97 of that Fleet.

The functions of the Area command, similar to those of a Sea Frontier, included responsibility for the local defense, administration, and supply of the Area. It maintained and operated bases for aircraft and surface vessels of the Fifth Fleet, controlled shipping in the Area, operated patrol and escort forces, and administered civil affairs.

Records.--Records of the command are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa. A six-volume unpublished history of the Area is in the Division of Naval Records and History.

Commander Marianas Area [1232]

On June 1, 1945, the title Commander Forward Area, Central Pacific, was changed to Commander Marianas Area. The Area command included the Marianas Islands and the western Carolines; the latter were administered as a subarea by a subordinate commander. The command supported the Fifth Fleet in its combat operations, supervised the construction of bases and facilities on the islands, defended the islands, protected shipping, controlled military government, and furnished air-sea rescue service. Its headquarters was on the island of Guam.

Records.--Records of the Area are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa. An unpublished two-volume history of the Area and its predecessor commands is in the Division of Naval Records and History.

Fast Carrier Task Force [1233]

One of the most important task forces was the Fast Carrier Task Force, Pacific Fleet. Operating alternately under Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher as Task Force 58 of the Fifth Fleet and under Vice Admiral John S. McCain as Task Force 38 of the Third Fleet, this powerful striking force destroyed enemy air power in wide-ranging raids over a vast area.

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It defended landing forces from interference by enemy surface ships and, when required, gave close support to landing operations. It swept the Pacific from the Gilbert Islands to the Sea of Japan and participated in the early raids across the Central Pacific as well as in the South Pacific campaigns. Its operations included the Solomon Islands campaign, attacks against Hollandia and the central and eastern Caroline Islands, strikes against Manila and Luzon in the Philippines, support for the Okinawa invasion, and attacks on Tokyo and the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido.

Records.--Wartime records of the Task Force are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa.

See Frederick C. Sherman, Combat Command; the American Aircraft Carrier in the Pacific War (New York, 1950. 427 p.).

Fleet Marine Force, Pacific [1234]

On December 7, 1933, the expeditionary forces of the Marine Corps were reorganized as the Fleet Marine Force. The Force conducted training activities on both the Pacific and the Atlantic coasts of the United States. After the United States entered World War II, Marine forces operated in the Pacific under the Marine Administrative Command, Fifth Amphibious Corps. On September 17, 1944, this command was replaced by Headquarters, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, which was established at Pearl Harbor to supervise more effectively the widely separated activities of the Marine Corps in the Pacific. The commanding general of this Force was responsible for the over-all administration and supply of the units of the Force, except for the distribution of aviation supplies and ordnance, a function of the Commander Air Force, Pacific Fleet. The commanding general served under the direct command of the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, and advised him on Marine Corps affairs in general and amphibious operations in particular, made recommendations for the distribution and employment of the Fleet Marine Force, and acted as task-force commander in combat operations when so directed. He maintained close contact with the Commander Air Force, Pacific Fleet, the Commander Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet, the commanders of areas and islands, and the appropriate Army commands.

Records.--Most of the wartime records of the Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, and its predecessors are in the Historical Division of the Offices of the Commandant of the Marine Corps. They include correspondence, dispatches, reports, and personnel records. Reports forwarded during the war to Headquarters, Marine Corps, at Washington are also in the Historical Division.

Certain combat activities of the Fleet Marine Force are treated in a series of official accounts published by the Marine Corps, of which the following appeared before 1950: The Defense of Wake (1947. 76 p.), The Battle for Tarawa (1947. 86 p.), Marines at Midway (1948. 56 p.), Bougainville and the Northern Solomons (1948. 166 p.), and The Guadalcanal Campaign (1949. 188 p.). [See HyperWar for a complete list of these monographs--including full text. --HyperWar]
See also Frank Olney Hough, The Island War (Philadelphia, 1947. 413 p.).

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Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas [1235]

A directive of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in April 1942 designated the Commander in Chief of the United States Pacific Fleet (CinCPac) to serve also as Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas (CinCPOA). To this latter command was assigned authority over all Allied land, naval, and air forces in the Pacific Ocean and on its islands, including the Aleutians but excluding other islands close to the American and Asiatic continental coasts and excluding the Southwest Pacific Area. Among the forces under the authority of CinCPOA were certain large and important United States Army elements.

On May 8, 1942, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz formally took command of the Pacific Ocean Areas; he continued to serve also as Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet. Joint headquarters for the dual command was set up near Pearl Harbor. In January 1945 Pearl Harbor became the rear headquarters and advance headquarters was established on Guam. Admiral Nimitz was responsible to the Commander in Chief, United Slates Fleet, and through him to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His subordinate commands as CinCPOA were the South Pacific Area and the North Pacific Area commands. No subordinate command was appointed for the Central Pacific Area; Admiral Nimitz as CinCPOA directly commanded both Army and Navy forces in that Area, which consisted of the Pacific Ocean between the Equator and latitude 42° N. and the land areas within these latitudes.

A major change in command relations took place on April 3, 1945, when the Joint Chiefs of Staff ended the single administrative command within the Pacific Ocean Areas. The Army's Commander in Chief, Southwest Pacific Area, was then given the additional designation of Commander in Chief, United States Army Forces, Pacific; and all United States Army resources formerly under CinCPOA were placed under his command. The same directive put all United States Navy resources in the Pacific except the Seventh Fleet under CinCPac. In the discussion below the Army commands in the Pacific Ocean Areas are identified under the Area commands in which they served before the shift of April 3, 1945.

Records.--The records of the Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas, which were filed separately from those of the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa. They contain material on all subjects pertaining to the conduct of the war in the Pacific and include correspondence, directives received and sent, war diaries, action reports, and memoranda. An unpublished history of Headquarters, Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, which also concerns the Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas, is in the Division of Naval Records and History.

United States Army Forces Pacific Ocean Areas [1236]

The Hawaiian Department, which long antedated the war, served from 1939 as the Army's major command in the Central Pacific until, in August 1943, the United States Army Forces in the Central Pacific

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Area (USAFICPA) was established. The Hawaiian Department's records and most of its responsibilities were transferred to USAFICPA but the Department was not formally discontinued, and it remained active for some purposes, such as military government. USAFICPA was renamed the United States Army Forces Pacific Ocean Areas (USAFPOA) in July 1944, and its jurisdiction was enlarged to include Army garrisons in the South Pacific that had been controlled by the United States Army Forces in the South Pacific. In July 1945 it was renamed the United States Army Forces in the Middle Pacific (USAFMIDPAC) and was placed under General Headquarters, United States Army Forces, Pacific.

The Middle Pacific command had some tactical responsibilities; but most of its activities were related to administration, supply, and training in the area. Shortly after the Japanese attack of December 7, 1941, tactical control of the Hawaiian Department was given to the Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas, and this control was extended to USAFICPA and to USAFPOA.

United States Army Forces Pacific Ocean Areas, its predecessors, and the successor USAFMIDPAC were responsible for supplying Army troop units in the area, expediting the flow of matériel and supplies destined for the Army troop units in the southwestern and western Pacific, providing additional training for ground and service troop units, providing garrisons to defend the occupied islands in the Pacific, and developing the islands into air bases and supply bases for future operations. Headquarters of this command was located at Fort Shafter, T.H., and its personnel served on the Joint Staff of the Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas.

Records.--The central files of Headquarters USAFPOA, its predecessors, and the successor USAFMIDPAC, 1941-45, are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. Copies of the following reports of these commands are in the historical-reports files in the Department Records Branch, AGO: Reports on operations in Kwajalein, Eniwetok, and the Marianas, 1944; "participation" (operational) reports on the western Carolines, the central Philippines, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa, 1944-45; and USAFMIDPAC's "Final Report," another general report, entitled "Your Victory: MIDPAC at War," the "Final Report of CPA Forces," 1945-46, and a wartime history of the Command's Chemical Warfare Section. A history of USAFMIDPAC and its predecessors, 1941-45 (15 vols.), histories of its G-2 and Judge Advocate General Sections, and a monograph on "Wartime Security Controls in Hawaii," all prepared by the Historical Subsection of USAFMIDPAC Headquarters, are in the Army's Historical Division.

Records concerning the operations of the Hawaiian Department and the successor commands are in the central records of the War Department, in the AGO; see the project files entitled "Hawaiian Department" (13 linear feet); "Central Pacific Theater of Operations," 1943-44 (1 inch); "USAF Central Pacific," 1943-44 (2 inches); "USAF Pacific Ocean Areas," 1944-45 (2 inches); and "USAF Middle Pacific," 1945 (2 inches). The radio messages exchanged between the command at Hawaii and headquarters agencies in Washington are in the extensive message files (on microfilm) in the

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Office of the Chief of Staff. Especially important are the sets of messages to Washington, filed under "Fort Shafter," Mar. 1942-Sept. 1945, "Hawaii, Miscellaneous," Jan.-May 1944, and "Oahu, T.H.," Aug.-Dec. 1944. Messages from Washington, Dec. 1942-Mar. 1944, are filed under "Fort Shafter"; earlier and later messages, also on microfilm, are arranged chronologically regardless of destination.

Central Pacific Base Command [1237]

Before July 1944, when the Central Pacific Base Command was established in Hawaii, supervision over the Army's supply, training, and related logistical activities in the Central Pacific Area was shared between the Army's top headquarters in the Area and a separate service command under that headquarters. This service command from 1941 to 1944 was successively called the Hawaiian Service Command, the Hawaiian Services of Supply, the Hawaiian Department Service Forces, and the Army Fort and Service Command. The degree of responsibility exercised by these successive commands varied, and much of the control remained in the higher headquarters.

The Central Pacific Base Command, July 1944-October 1945, was comparable to a Service Command in the continental United States, and its responsibilities were broader than those of its predecessors. Its organization included general-staff and special-staff sections, of which the G-4 Section was especially important because of the importance of Hawaii in the movement of supplies and troops from the United States to the combat zones. The G-1 Section was responsible for procuring personnel for island garrison forces. The G-2 Section was concerned particularly with counterintelligence, in cooperation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Office of Naval Intelligence. The G-3 Section controlled the Hawaiian Combat Training Command, which conducted amphibious and jungle training; the Hawaiian Coast Artillery Command; the Hawaiian Antiaircraft Artillery Command; and the Hawaiian Replacement Training Command. The Central Pacific Base Command was discontinued in October 1945.

Records.--Records of the Command, 1944-45, and of its predecessors, 1941-44, are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. Some related records are interfiled with records of the United States Army Forces in the Middle Pacific. These include records of the Hawaiian Antiaircraft Artillery Command, 1942-45, and a history and a few other records of the Chinese Language Training Center. Histories of some of the staff sections of the Command and its "Final Close-Out Report" on Baker Island, the Gilbert Islands, and Makin, 1944-45, are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO.

Tenth Army [1238]

This Army was activated at Fort Sam Houston, Tex., in May 1944, and its headquarters was assembled at Schofield Barracks, T.H., in June 1944. It landed on Okinawa on April 1, 1945, and participated,

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under Navy tactical control, in the subsequent campaign. It was commanded successively by Lt. Gen. Simon B. Buckner and Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell. In October 1945 it was inactivated.

Records.--Most of the administrative records of Headquarters Tenth Army, 1944-45, are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. They consist of central files, radio messages, several series of orders and memoranda, and operations reports; journals of the Chief of Staff; and separately maintained records of the G-1, G-2, and G-4 Sections and of 12 special-staff sections.

Copies of some of the Tenth Army's operations reports are in the historical-reports files in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO; others are in the Army's Historical Division. Records relating to the Army are in the central records of the War Department, in the AGO; see index sheets filed under AG 322 Tenth Army, 1944-45.

Commander South Pacific Area [1239]

This Area was established as one of the subordinate commands of CinCPOA in April 1942. It consisted of that part of the Pacific Ocean south of the Equator and east of the Southwest Pacific Area. The South Pacific Area included New Zealand, the New Hebrides, Guadalcanal and the other eastern Solomons, and the islands east of these in the South Pacific. The successive Area commanders were Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley, Admiral William F. Halsey, Vice Admiral John H. Newton, and Vice Admiral William L. Calhoun. Under the Area commander were the Allied naval forces in the area, which constituted the South Pacific Force. The United States components of this Force were later designated as the Third Fleet. In July 1942 the commanding general of the United States Army Forces in the South Pacific Area was put under the operational command of the naval Commander South Pacific Area. In October 1942 Vice Admiral Ghormley was succeeded as Commander South Pacific Area by Vice Admiral William F. Halsey.

As the advance up the Solomons crossed the boundary line into the Southwest Pacific Area, the Joint Chiefs of Staff put the naval forces that had moved from the South Pacific Area to the Southwest Pacific under the operational direction of the Commander in Chief, Southwest Pacific Area, General MacArthur. As combat operations moved toward the Philippines and Japan, the importance of the South Pacific Area command lessened. On June 15, 1944, the Third Fleet, commanded by Admiral Halsey, moved into the Central Pacific offensive. Vice Admiral John H. Newton, later relieved by Vice Admiral William L. Calhoun, became Commander South Pacific Area, and the task of the command became the administration and defense of the Area.

Records.--The records of the Commander South Pacific Area, including; correspondence, memoranda, orders, and war diaries, are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa.

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United States Army Forces in the South Pacific Area [1240]

This command, also known as USAFISPA, was established in July 1942, with responsibility for the administration, supply, and training of the United States Army ground and air troops stationed in the South Pacific Area. Until November 1942 the headquarters consisted of a forward echelon at Noumea, New Caledonia, and a rear echelon at Auckland, New Zealand; thereafter the entire headquarters was at Noumea. A subordinate Services of Supply, also at Noumea, was established in November 1942. Various island commands were established for providing supply and other services to the tactical forces stationed on the islands. USAFISPA was discontinued in July 1944, and the administration and liquidation of the island commands were turned over to the South Pacific Base Command.

Records.--The records of Headquarters USAFISPA, July 1942-July 1944, are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis, part of a larger body of records that contains also the headquarters records of the South Pacific Base Command, Aug. 1944-June 1946, and other records. The consolidated records include central files, 1942-47; historical reports; radio messages, 1942-43; about 20 series of orders, memoranda, and bulletins; records of the G-1, G-2, and G-3 Sections, 1941-46; and records of 16 special-staff sections, including the Civil Affairs Section, 1942-45, and the South Pacific Liaison Office, which maintained liaison with the Navy. Records of the service commands, island commands, and other field agencies of this headquarters are described below under the command that controlled them after Aug. 1944.

Copies of selected USAFISPA reports are in the historical-reports files in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. They include reports and bulletins of the G-2, G-3, and G-4 Sections, 1943-44; histories of headquarters staff sections; a brief history of USAFISPA, in two installments, Nov. 1942-June 1944; and the final report by General Harmon, June 6, 1944. A longer "History," covering the period Mar. 1942 to Aug. 1944, prepared by the Historical Sections of USAFISPA and the South Pacific Base Command, is in the Army's Historical Division.

Correspondence with and about USAFISPA is in the central records of the War Department, in the AGO; see the project files entitled "South Pacific Area," 1942-44, and "USAF South Pacific," 1943-44 (3 linear inches). Messages exchanged between USAFISPA and the War Department in Washington are in the extensive files of messages (on microfilm) in the Office of the Chief of Staff; see especially the messages from Auckland, New Zealand, June-Nov. 1942, and from Noumea, New Caledonia, Dec. T942-July 1944; and messages sent to "Harmon," July-Nov. 1942, and to "Noumea," Nov. 1942-July 1944.

South Pacific Base Command [1241]

This Command was established at Noumea, New Caledonia, on August 1, 1944, and assumed the G-4 functions of the predecessor Headquarters United States Army Forces in the South Pacific Area. The new Command had an organization comparable to that of the Central Pacific

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Base Command, and until June 15, 1945, it had similar functions within its geographical area. Subsequently it requisitioned supplies from the Central Pacific Base Command instead of from the continental United States. Under the South Pacific Base Command were the many island forces that supervised United States occupation of the islands in the South Pacific and operated the air bases and supply bases built there by the Army. The Command also supervised the remaining United States forces stationed in New Zealand. In July 1946 the Command was renamed the United States Army Forces in New Caledonia, and in March 1947 it was discontinued.

Records.--The central files of the Command, its orders, bulletins, and other documents, and the records of its staff sections, 1944-46, are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. They are part of a larger body of records, 1942-47, that contains also the records of earlier commands at New Caledonia.

A three-volume history of the Command is in the Army's Historical Division. The following historical reports from the Command are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO: "Final Close-Out Reports" on areas under its control; a history of its Replacement Training Command and the predecessor commands, July-Dec. 1944; and histories of the island garrisons, including those on Guadalcanal, New Georgia, Bougainville, Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, and the New Hebrides.

Most of the records of the many island commands and service commands are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. The records of a typical command, that at Fiji, consist of central files, 1941-46, which cover the period both of the combat force and the succession of occupation and service forces; orders, bulletins, and memoranda, 1942-46; and radio messages, 1944-46.

Commander North Pacific Area [1242]

In May 1942 the Japanese invasion of the Aleutians made it necessary to send into Alaskan waters a considerable naval force, which ultimately became an Area command. On May 17 the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, was directed by the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, to create the North Pacific Force for the defense of Alaska. A few days later the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, directed that naval air units in Alaska, with any Army air units assigned, be joined in a task group, under an Army commander, within the North Pacific Force. Command relations between Commander North Pacific Force and the commanding general of the Army's Alaska Defense Command were to be on the basis of mutual cooperation.

In October 1943 the North Pacific Area command was formally established under Vice Admiral Frank J. Fletcher, who was also Commander North Pacific Force and Commander Northwest Sea Frontier. The North Pacific Area covered that part of the Pacific north of latitude 42° N. The North Pacific Force is discussed under the American Theater of Operations.

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Records.--The location of the records of the Commander North Pacific Area is unknown.

General Headquarters Southwest Pacific Area [1243]

This Headquarters, also known as GHQ SWPA or simply SWPA, was established in Melbourne, Australia, on April 18, 1942, under Gen. Douglas MacArthur as Commander in Chief, Southwest Pacific Area. The Area included Australia, New Britain, New Ireland, New Guinea, Borneo, Celebes, and the Philippines.

GHQ SWPA had operational control over all Allied ground, air, and sea forces in the Area, including the United States Army's units that had been in the process of organization in Australia since December 1941 by the United States Army Forces in Australia. Besides directing operations, GHQ SWPA determined policies on supply matters that were vital to strategy, training matters that involved the preparation of combat units for cooperative interallied operations, and other noncombat matters. GHQ SWPA was an integrated combined headquarters, comparable to Allied Force Headquarters in the Mediterranean and to Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces in the European Theater, and its staff officers were drawn from the air, ground, and naval services of the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. Subordinate tactical headquarters, established in 1942, were interallied in character and included Allied Land Forces, under an Australian officer; Allied Air Forces, under a United States officer who also commanded the United States Fifth Air Force; and Allied Naval Forces, separately discussed below.

As combat operations progressed, GHQ SWPA moved from Australia to Hollandia, New Guinea; then to Leyte, P. I.; and finally to Manila. Shortly after the war General of the Army MacArthur was redesignated as Supreme Commander, Allied Powers (SCAP), and his headquarters, also called SCAP, was moved to Tokyo to direct the occupation of Japan. The Allied Land, Air, and Naval Forces were discontinued on September 2, 1945.

Records.--Most of the records of GHQ SWPA, 1942-45, are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. They include central files, radio messages, and several series of orders, memoranda, instructions, and directives. They also include the following records of staff offices and sections of Headquarters: Correspondence of the Chief of Staff, SWPA, 1942-44; records of the G-1, G-2, G-3, and G-4 Sections; records of the SWPA representative on the Allied Supply Council, June 1942-Feb. 1945; and records of the Signal Intelligence Service, the Allied Geographical Section, and the Allied Intelligence Bureau, all of which were under the G-2 Section of Headquarters. Many other records of the Geographical Section and the Intelligence Bureau are in Australian custody. Some records of the Combined Operations and Intelligence Center are in the Center at St. Louis; others are in the Armed Forces Staff College at Norfolk, Va.; still others are in Australian custody. Records of the Psychological Warfare Branch, SWPA, 1943-45, are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO; they include correspondence,

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directives, plans, intelligence summaries, propaganda leaflets and pamphlets disseminated in enemy and neutral areas, and recordings and transcripts of the "Philippine Hour" broadcasts in July 1945. Some records of General Headquarters SWPA are among the records of General Headquarters United States Army Forces, Pacific, discussed below; others are in the custody of the successor Far East Command in Tokyo.

Records of the combined commands under GHQ SWPA have been divided between the United States and Australia. Most of the records of Allied Land Forces SWPA are in Australian custody. Most of the records of Allied Air Forces SWPA are among the records of the United States Fifth Air Force and Far East Air Force; some are in Australian custody.

Records relating to GHQ SWPA are in the central records of the War Department, in the AGO; see the project files (2 feet) entitled "Southwest Pacific Area," 1942-45, "USAF Southwest Pacific Area," and "Pacific Theater of Operations," 1944-45. Radio messages exchanged between GHQ SWPA and headquarters agencies in Washington are in the War Department's files of messages (on microfilm) in the Office of the Chief of Staff. Messages to Washington are filed under such headings as "Brisbane, Mac-Arthur," "Australia, CINCSWPA," "Manila," "CINCFE," and "SWPA Miscellaneous." Some of the messages from Washington are filed under such headings as "Brisbane, CINCSWPA," Apr. 1942-Mar. 1944, and "Allied Air Forces, Australia," May-July 1942; but earlier and later messages are interfiled in a single chronological sequence.

Some reports by GHQ SWPA are among the records of G-2, War Department General Staff; A-2, Headquarters Army Air Forces; and the Office of Strategic Services. They include "Intelligence Memoranda" and "Intelligence Summaries" of the G-2 Section, "Terrain Studies" and "Terrain Handbooks" of the Allied Geographical Section, and reports of the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section. Chronologies, historical reports, orders of SWPA staff sections, and narrative and statistical summaries of combat operations are in the historical-reports files in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. Copies of unpublished monographs that were prepared after the war by the Historical Division, General Headquarters United States Army Forces, Pacific, and that deal in part with GHQ SWPA are in the Army's Historical Division.
[See also Reports of General MacArthur. --HyperWar]

Allied Naval Forces, Southwest Pacific [1244]

This command was established early in 1942 under the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command and was continued under the Australia-New Zealand Force, both of which are discussed above. When the Southwest Pacific Area was established by the Joint Chiefs of Staff in April 1942, operational control over Allied Naval Forces was delegated to the Commander in Chief, Southwest Pacific Area. Command of the Allied Naval Forces, Southwest Pacific, was held throughout the war by a United States admiral, who served also as commander of the United States naval forces that constituted the Southwest Pacific Force and the

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Seventh Fleet. This dual command was held successively by Vice Admirals William A. Glassford, Herbert F. Leary, Arthur S. Carpender, and Thomas C. Kinkaid. Allied Naval Forces, Southwest Pacific, consisted chiefly of United States and Australian units. For administrative purposes, the naval commander was responsible to the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet. After April 20, 1945, he became administratively responsible to the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet. On September 2, 1945, Allied Naval Forces was discontinued and its component forces reverted to their national commanders.

Records.--Records of Allied Naval Forces were retained by the United States Seventh Fleet and are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa.

Seventh Fleet [1245]

This Fleet, established on February 1, 1942, in part from units of the former Asiatic Fleet, was known until March 1943 as the Southwest Pacific Force and operated successively under the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command, the Australia-New Zealand Force, and the Southwest Pacific Area Command. The successive commanders of the Fleet, who were also the commanders of Allied Naval Forces, Southwest Pacific, are listed in the preceding entry. Administrative control of the Seventh Fleet remained with the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, until April 20, 1945, when it became a responsibility of the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet.

Records.--Flag files of the Seventh Fleet, 1941-45 (550 feet), are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa. They include general correspondence, action reports, war diaries, operational orders, dispatches, operational plans, and intelligence reports. A one-volume unpublished history of Commander Southwest Pacific Force is in the Division of Naval Records and History.

See Samuel Eliot Morison, Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, 22 July 1942-1 May 1944 (Boston, 1950. 463 p.).

Philippine Sea Frontier [1246]

This Frontier was established on July 1, 1941, as the Philippine Naval Coastal Frontier. Its land area was identical with that of the Sixteenth Naval District, which included all the Philippine Islands and their coastal waters. The sea area of the Frontier included that part of the Southwest Pacific Area that was north of the Equator. In February 1942, after the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, both the Frontier and the Sixteenth Naval District were inactivated. On November 13, 1944, the Frontier was reactivated as the Philippine Sea Frontier. Its commander operated under the Commander, Seventh Fleet, and the Frontier was designated as Task Force 75 within the Fleet organization.

The duties of the Frontier included the operational control of the local defense forces and the protection, convoy, and routing of shipping. Shore

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establishments within the Frontier were under the administrative and operational control of the Seventh Fleet's Service Force until September 1, 1945, when they were put under the control of the Frontier. On September 4, 1945, the Philippine Sea Frontier was put under the direct authority of the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet.

Records.--Records of Frontier Headquarters, including general administrative records, supply files, and war diaries, 1944-45, are in the Naval Records Management Center at Mechanicsburg, Pa. Records of the naval shore establishments of the Frontier, 1944-45, are in the Center at San Bruno, Calif. Among these are the central files of Naval Air Stations, ship-repair bases, Naval Air Bases, submarine bases, section bases, and the Naval Operating Bases on Leyte and Luzon.

United States Army Combat Commands

Sixth Army [1247]

This Army was established in the Southwest Pacific Area in February 1943 but did not enter combat until October 1944. In the meantime its headquarters served as the headquarters staff of the "Alamo Force," an interallied ground command of the Southwest Pacific Area that participated in operations in New Britain, eastern New Guinea, and Morotai. In October 1944 the Sixth Army, commanded by Lt. Gen. Walter Krueger, joined in the Philippines campaign under the operational control of Allied Land Forces, Southwest Pacific Area. Later, it took part in the occupation of Japan and in January 1946 it was inactivated.

Records.--Most of the administrative records of Headquarters Sixth Army, 1943-46, and its administrative records as the headquarters staff of the Alamo Force, June 1943-Sept. 1944, are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. The records include central files, 1943-46; radio messages, 1944-45; messages and journals of the Chief of Staff, 1944-46; several series of orders, circulars, bulletins, and memoranda, 1943-46; and the separately maintained records of the G-1, G-2, G-3, and G-4 Sections, 1943-46, and of 14 special-staff sections.

The main combat records of Headquarters Sixth Army and Headquarters Alamo Force are in the historical-reports files in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. They include copies of some of the Sixth Army's orders and journals, its reports on the Leyte operations (5 vols.), and issues of its "Lessons Learned" and "Combat Notes," 1944-45. Correspondence with and about this Army and the Alamo Force is in the central records of the War Department, in the AGO; see index sheets filed under AG 322 Sixth Army, 1943-45.

Eighth Army [1248]

This Army was established in the Southwest Pacific Area in September 1944 and was commanded successively by Brig. Gen. Robert 0. Shoe and Lt. Gen. Robert L. Eichelberger. Under the operational

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control of General Headquarters Southwest Pacific Area, it participated in combat operations in the Philippines in 1944 and 1945. When the Sixth Army moved to Leyte, the Eighth was given operational control of the United States ground-combat troops in New Guinea. After the war the Eighth Army was reassigned to Japan as part of the occupation forces under the Far East Command.

Records.--Most of the records of Headquarters Eighth Army, June 1944-Sept. 1945, and some of its postwar records are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. They include central files, 1944-48, and several series of orders, circulars, memoranda, and directives, 1944-47. Some wartime records are in the custody of Headquarters Eighth Army, at Yokohama.

A large quantity (297 feet) of records of the Eighth Army and its combat units is in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. These records were assembled by this Army's historical section during and after the war. They include copies of orders and directives, operations reports, journals, messages, map overlays, staff studies, and historical summaries.

Historical reports of the Eighth Army are in the historical-reports files in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO; they include journals of staff sections, G-1 to G-4, Nov. 1944-Jan. 1945; staff section reports; and a general summary entitled "The Amphibious Eighth," Sept. 1944-Sept. 1945. Correspondence with and about the Eighth Army is in the central records of the War Department, in the AGO; see index sheets filed under AG 322 Eighth Army, 1944-45. Some 15 studies of the Eighth Army as a combat and occupation force, prepared by its historical section after the war, are in the Army's Historical Division. Among these are monographs on "VICTOR I to VICTOR V," which deal with combat operations in the Panay-Negros and Mindanao areas, monographs on other Allied operations, studies of Japanese operations on Negros and Mindanao, "Lessons Learned," and a study concerning the "Hydroponic Project."

Far East Air Force [1249]

The Fifth Air Force, activated in the continental United States, was established in Australia in September 1942 and acquired the combat units that had survived the Japanese invasion and occupation of the Philippines. The commander of this Air Force, Lt. Gen. George C. Kenney, served also as commanding general of the Allied Air Forces, Southwest Pacific Area; and many of the staff of Headquarters Fifth Air Force served also as staff members of that Allied air headquarters. Under the operational control of Allied Air Forces, Southwest Pacific Area, the Fifth Air Force participated in bombardment and ground-support operations in the New Guinea area. In June 1944 it was renamed the Far East Air Force, a name taken from that of the Air Force in the Philippines in 1941. It conducted both strategic-bombardment and tactical-support operations in the remaining campaigns of the Pacific War. The name Fifth Air Force was given in June 1944 to the former Headquarters Advanced Echelon Fifth Air Force, and for the rest of the war this new Fifth Air Force continued as an

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air combat command under the Far East Air Force. After the war, in December 1945, the Far East Air Force was renamed the Pacific Air Command, United States Army, and in January 1947 it was renamed the Far East Air Force.

Records.--Most of the records of Headquarters Far East Air Force and its predecessor, Apr. 1942-Dec. 1945, are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis. Among these records are a few records of the Far East Air Force in the Philippines, 1941, and of Headquarters Allied Air Forces, Southwest Pacific Area, 1942-44, and some records of the postwar Pacific Air Command. The records include central files, 1941-46; radio messages, 1944-46; several series or partial series of orders, instructions, memoranda, and bulletins, 1942-46; tactical operational plans, 1943-45; accident reports, 1944-45; and records of the Judge Advocate General Section.

Some records of this Air Force, 1942-45 (200 feet), are in the Air Historical Group. They include orders, reports, messages, and correspondence; and comprehensive narratives and other historical studies concerning the Fifth Air Force and the Far East Air Force, some prepared by the Army Air Forces Historical Division and some by the Far East Air Force Historical Section, "Tactical Bulletins," "Combat Evaluation Reports," "Enemy Matériel Reports," and "Current Translations" of captured enemy documents, sent by the Air Force to Washington, are in the Air Intelligence Library.

Correspondence relating to the Air Force is in the central records of the War Department, in the AGO; see index sheets filed under AG 322 Fifth Air Force, 1943-45, AG 322 Far East Air Force, 1945, and AG 322 V Bomber Command, 1942-45 (3 linear inches). Radio messages exchanged between this Air Force and Washington headquarters agencies are in the master files of messages (on microfilm) in the Office of the Chief of Staff. Messages to Washington are organized under "AAF Brisbane," May 1942-Nov. 1945, and "Brisbane-Kenney," Apr. 1943-Mar. 1944. Messages from Washington are interfiled chronologically with messages to other overseas commands.

Thirteenth Air Force [1250]

The Thirteenth Air Force was organized in January 1943. Its Headquarters was located successively on New Caledonia, New Guinea, and Leyte, and it operated from those islands under the operational control of the Commander South Pacific Area and later under General Headquarters Southwest Pacific Area. After the war ended, the Thirteenth Air Force was inactivated.

Records.--Most of the records of Headquarters Thirteenth Air Force are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis, part of a larger body of records, 1942-47, that includes the records of a postwar command of the same name in the continental United States. The records of the wartime Thirteenth Air Force include central files, 1943-45; radio messages, 1943-45; orders, memoranda, letters of instruction, bulletins, and circulars, 1943-45; intelligence summaries, 1944-45; records of its Judge Advocate General, Provost Marshal, Surgeon, and Weather Sections; and a "historical file" of its Historical Section, 1941-45. Records assembled by the Historical Section

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(27 feet) are in the Air Historical Group. They include copies of orders, operations reports, statistical summaries, and histories of units of the Thirteenth Air Force. Monographic studies of this Air Force [Guadalcanal and the Origins of the Thirteenth Air Force and The Thirteenth Air Force, March-October 1943], prepared by the Air Historical Office in Washington and by the Historical Section of Thirteenth Air Force, are also in the Air Historical Group.

United States Army Forces in the Far East [Australia] [1251]

In February 1943 a separate headquarters was established, subordinate to General Headquarters Southwest Pacific Area, to supervise all Army training and administrative activities that were not closely related to the tactical and strategic direction of the war in the Southwest Pacific. The new command, United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE), was a reconstitution of the USAFFE headquarters in the Philippines, discussed above. General MacArthur was in command of USAFFE as well as of General Headquarters Southwest Pacific Area. Reporting to USAFFE was the extensive supply and training organization known as the United States Army Services of Supply, Southwest Pacific Area. On June 10, 1945, USAFFE was discontinued and its functions were transferred to General Headquarters United States Army Forces, Pacific, which is discussed below.

Records.--The following records of Headquarters USAFFE, 1943-45, are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis: Central files, other correspondence, radio messages, and several series of orders, memoranda, and circulars; records of the Signal Section, the Fiscal Director, the Civil Affairs Detachment, the Inspector General, the Theater Censor, the Women's Army Corps Staff Director, and the General Purchasing Agent; and records of the USAFFE Board, June 1944-June 1945, and the successor Pacific Warfare Board. Other records of this Headquarters are in the custody of the successor Far East Command in Tokyo.

Copies of unpublished monographs prepared after the war by the Historical Division of General Headquarters United States Army Forces, Pacific, are in the Army's Historical Division. Of these, the study entitled "Antiaircraft Artillery Activities in the Pacific War" and a history of USAFFE intelligence work contain important material concerning that command.

Copies of Headquarters administrative documents, such as its Circulars, 1944, Regulations, 1943-45, and some of its historical reports, are in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO. Correspondence with and about USAFFE is in the central records of the War Department, in the AGO; see the project file entitled "USAF Far East," 1943-45. Radio messages of Headquarters are in the War Department's message files (on microfilm) in the Office of the Chief of Staff.

General Headquarters United States Army Forces, Pacific [1252]

In April 1945 the operational and administrative authority of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was extended to all United States Army forces in the Far East and mid-Pacific areas. As his operational

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and administrative headquarters for these forces General Headquarters United States Army Forces, Pacific, also known as GHQ AFP AC, was established. The existing top Allied command, General Headquarters Southwest Pacific Area, or GHQ SWPA, continued to function also under General MacArthur, as the combined operational command for the remaining months of the war. The staff of GHQ AFP AC consisted initially of personnel who served simultaneously as the United States Army personnel of GHQ SWPA; in June 1945 the personnel and functions of the discontinued Headquarters United States Army Forces in the Far East were transferred to GHQ AFPAC. After the Japanese surrender in September 1945 GHQ AFP AC was relocated in Tokyo and served as the first United States occupation command in Japan. On January 1, 1946, it was replaced by the Far East Command.

Records.--The following records of GHQ AFPAC, Apr.-Sept. 1945, are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis: Central files; several series of orders and bulletins; records of the G-2, G-3, and G-4 Sections; records of the Inspector General's Section; records of the Ordnance, Engineer, and Signal Sections; records and radio messages of the Chief Regulating Officer, who was concerned with transportation; and records of the Theater Censor's Office and the Signal Service. The records of these subordinate sections include records of their activities as part of General Headquarters United States Army Forces, Far East. Most of the records noted above include papers dated after Sept. 1945, in many cases through 1946. The records for the war period are not, however, complete; further transfers of records are to be made from the Far East Command to the Center at St. Louis.

Records relating to GHQ AFPAC are among the records of headquarters agencies in Washington, in the central records of the War Department, in the AGO; see the project file entitled "USAF Pacific," 1945 (1 foot), and index sheets filed under AG 334 Pacific Warfare Board, June-Nov. 1945. Messages exchanged between GHQ AFPAC and War Department agencies in Washington are in the message files (on microfilm) in the Office of the Chief of Staff. Outgoing messages are interfiled chronologically with messages to other overseas commands, but the messages received from GHQ AFPAC are filed together as the "C" series, Apr.-Sept. 1945; the "CA" series Apr.-Sept. 1945; the "CR" series, Apr.-Sept. 1945; the "Z-CINCFE" series, Aug.-Sept. 1945; and the "Tokyo-Miscellaneous" series, Aug. 24-Sept. 30, 1945. Each of these series also continues beyond Sept. 1945.

United States Army Forces in the Western Pacific [1253]

The extensive supply organization that was developed in Australia and was later extended to New Guinea and the Philippines was known as the United States Army Forces in Australia (USAFIA), December 22, 1941-July 20, 1942; the United States Army Services of Supply (USASOS), SWPA, "July 20, 1942-June 20, 1945; and the United States Army Forces in the Western Pacific (USAFWESPAC), June 20, 1945-December 31, 1946. Its headquarters was successively in Australia, New Guinea, and the Philippines.

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Supply operations were handled at several numbered base sections, later called bases. There were seven in 1942 in Australia; in 1943 one more in Australia and one in New Guinea were established. Advance bases and subcases were established in New Guinea in 1942 and 1943, and in the Philippines in 1944 and 1945. By April 1945 all these units had been reorganized and put under the control of several coordinating units, the more important of which were the Australian Base Section at Brisbane, the Philippine Base Section at Manila, and the New Guinea Base Section at Oro Bay. Other specialized commands under USAFWESPAC were the Construction Command at Batangas, P. I., and several training centers, including the Chemical Warfare School at Brisbane, the Army Training Group at Manila, and the Signal Corps Training School at Manila. In January 1947 USAFWESPAC was discontinued.

Records.--Records of the successive headquarters of the supply organization are in the Records Administration Center, AGO, St. Louis, organized as a single body of records. Included are central files, 1942-46; radio messages, 1942-45; correspondence of the commanding general, 1943-45; several series of orders, regulations, directives, memoranda, and bulletins, 1941-45; organization manuals, 1944-45; semiannual reports, 1945; a manual of shipping procedures; records of the G-1, G-2, and G-3 Sections; and records of 13 special-staff sections.

Records of most of the bases and base sections administered by these headquarters are also in the Center at St. Louis. Some are grouped under their wartime names; others under the names of postwar organizations that for a time had custody of the records, such as the United States Army Representative Perth and the United States Army Representative Brisbane.

In the central records of the War Department, in the AGO, is a project file entitled "USAF Western Pacific," 1945-46 (8 linear inches). Messages exchanged between the successive commands and headquarters agencies in Washington are in the message files (on microfilm) in the Office of the Chief of Staff. Messages to Washington are filed under "USAFIA," Apr.-June 1942; "Australia SOS," "USASOS," and "Brisbane," July 1942-Oct. 1943 and Mar.-Nov. 1944; "SOS New Guinea," Oct.-Nov. 1944; "SOS SWPA," Nov. 1944-Sept. 1945; and "SOS Manila," July-Sept. 1945. One set of messages from Washington is filed under "Melbourne, USAFIA," Mar.-July 1942; other such messages, 1942-45, are interfiled in a single chronological sequence.

Historical reports by USAFWESPAC, in the Departmental Records Branch, AGO, are two "Semi-Annual Reports," June 1945-June 1946; a report entitled "Triumph in the Philippines," 1941-46 (4 vols.), and a pictorial history. A comprehensive study, "History of USASOS and AFWESPAC," prepared by the Historical Office of the successive headquarters, is in the Army's Historical Division.

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