Handbook on German Military Forces (by U. S. War Department March 31, 1944)

[Badger]

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[RT Ellis]

Thanks for posting the Company Officer's Handbook on German Army manual, it's amazing that the Army amassed so much information in so short a time, but I assume that the British, Free French, Free Dutch and others including our own intelligence gathering contributed to these publications.

It appears that this document evolved into another manual that may be of interest:

Handbook on German Military Forces, War Department Technical Manual TM-E 30-451, War Department 15 March 1945, GPO 1945, 633 pages plus index, and includes 24 color pages illustrating uniforms, rank, and decorations. It covers the uniforms and equipment of the Wermacht, Kreigsmarine, Luftwaffe, and Waffen-SS, to include aircraft types. I have to admit I don't know how accurate this manual is as I have not done much study on the subject, but I have spotted what I think are a few inaccuracies.

Reprinted with an introduction by Stephen E. Ambrose by Louisiana State University Press, 1990.

Obviously this manual was published a little late to have been of much use to the Allied armies in Europe, but may have been useful to intelligence officers during the last month of the war and after Germany capitulated. I have found the work interesting to research when watching military movies and television shows to identify rank and decorations, and occasionally photo images. If available in PDF format I think the members here would appreciate a link to this manual. If not, and there is anyone that would like to take on the task, I offer my copy of the reprint for scanning. If interested in the German forces of WWII I think these manuals are a great one volume place to get a general knowledge of the subject. It is interesting to note that the Handbook presented here wasn't to be distributed to forces in the Pacific.

I assume similar manuals were developed on Imperial Japanese military forces, however would have been far less useful as few Japanese surrendered during the war.