Battles and other Actions
I suppose most of the people who are interested in the military and its past are mainly interested in the “action”. They want to read about the battles. In that sense, this page of my site may be of the most interest to more people. I give some of the sources I’ve used, mostly the official ones, on that subject. Of course there are endless books and other publications about the history of the wars and the battles, many being available in almost any large book store or online.
Civil War
The Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, published by the U.S. Army in 128 volumes, are available on disc in a publication titled Civil War-CD-ROM. It is available through the used book market and online.
Of course there are countless books on this popular subject, including a number on many of the individual regiments, both Union and Confederate. An excellent example of the latter is the H.E. Howard series on each of the Virginia Regiments, and some separate battalions. Some are still available new, others most likely in the used book market.
World War I
The United States Army Center of Military History published a number of volumes about the Army’s role in World War I. The Center has made these volumes available on a set of three CD’s.
World War II
Army
The Army has published dozens of volumes that describe its ground forces actions during World War II. They are commonly called “The green books” because they are bound in green covers with a red band on their spine in which the particular theater covered by each volume is described. Many cover the various campaigns of the war, such as Cross Channel Attack (the invasion of Normandy), or The Last Offensive (the Army’s part in the invasion of Okinawa) while others describe the organization and accomplishments of the various technical services (quartermaster, ordnance, etc.). Many contain excellent foldout maps bound into them to help the reader follow exactly where things happened. (The Army makes wonderful maps!)
These books were not available in commercial book stores, having been distributed by the Government Printing Office (GPO). Most are probably available through the used book market, and some may still be available from the GPO book store system via the Internet.
Navy
Probably the most famous and widely used official history of World War II is Samuel Eliot Morison’s 15 volume History of the United States Naval Operations in World War II, published by Little Brown (formerly Atlantic Little Brown). Dr. Morison was already a famous historian before the war and was commissioned by the Navy specifically to write its history of the war, so it is considered “official” even though published commercially, unlike that of the Army, described above.
These volumes contain a wealth of narrative material describing the actions, as well as photographs and maps, and frequently “order of battle” lists of the ships and their commanders, as well as the organization to which each ship was assigned for that action.
Marine Corps
The Marine Corps also published a multi-volume history of their operations during World War II. I have the first three volumes, and there may be as many as six. These were “official” publications and as far as I know, were not distributed through commercial book stores. They should still be available through the used book market.
Air Force
The Air Force was established as a separate military service in 1947. During World War II it was called Army Air Forces, as part of the Army.
A comprehensive seven-volume series of books was published about the Army Air Forces’ role in the war titled The Army Air Forces in World War II, by James L. Cate and Wesley F. Cravens.
These volumes are probably available only through the used book market.
Korean War
As with World War II, each of the military services published official histories of their parts in the war. Probably the best and most readable was the five-volume set published by the Marine Corps. The most voluminous and factually detailed, as might be expected, was by the Army (several volumes). The Navy and Air Force published single volume histories.