News WeekEuropean Center of Military History

COMBAT OPERATIONS IN BELGIUM

This category is particularly complex in terms of content and structure. Numerous military reports begin in France, Luxembourg, or the Netherlands — and sometimes even in Germany — before unfolding within Belgian territory.

The 'Belgium' archive includes a vast array of documents: After Action Reports (AARs), G-2 intelligence summaries, battlefield journals, tactical maps, and unit narratives. It covers operations from D+1 in the Ardennes, the liberation of Bastogne, the Battle of the Bulge, and more.

COMBAT OPERATIONS IN FRANCE

France was the primary theatre of operations for the Western Allies in 1944, beginning with Operation Overlord on June 6 (D-Day) and the bloody battle for Normandy. After the breakout (Operation Cobra), Allied forces liberated large parts of northern France.

Meanwhile, Operation Dragoon – the Allied landing on the French Riviera in August 1944 – opened a second front. The rapid advance through the Rhône Valley led to strategic junctions with northern forces, followed by the intense battles in Alsace-Lorraine, the siege of Metz, and the liberation of France. This archive includes After Action Reports, tactical maps, intelligence summaries, and documents from U.S., Free French, and German forces.

COMBAT OPERATIONS IN GERMANY

Operations in Germany represent the final phase of the Allied campaign in Europe. As the frontlines pushed eastward, intense combat erupted across the Siegfried Line, the Rhineland, the Ruhr Pocket, and deep into Bavaria and Saxony.

The Germany archives include After Action Reports, intelligence summaries, POW interrogations, and combat diaries from American, British, and German units. The documentation covers urban fighting, river crossings, and the disintegration of Nazi command structures. From Remagen to Munich, these documents reflect the closing acts of the European theatre in World War II.

COMBAT OPERATIONS IN THE NETHERLANDS

The Netherlands played a pivotal role in late 1944 and early 1945, notably during Operation Market Garden, the battle for Arnhem, and the bitter fighting around Nijmegen, Eindhoven, and the Scheldt Estuary.

This archive includes documents from Allied airborne divisions, ground forces, and German defenders. Reports, field maps, and intelligence briefings detail the operational challenges of terrain, resistance, and logistics. The Netherlands campaign bridged the gap between the liberation of Belgium and the final push into Germany.

COMBAT OPERATIONS IN LUXEMBOURG

Very few original documents specifically focus on combat operations within the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Due to the country’s small size, most military activity involved units operating across borders — from northeastern France, southern Belgium, or western Germany — particularly during the Battle of the Bulge.

Many of the engagements in Luxembourg were part of larger operations led by Patton’s 3rd US Army during its advance to relieve Bastogne and counter the German Ardennes Offensive. This archive consolidates these dispersed reports, offering a strategic picture of movements through the region and into the German frontier.

COMBAT OPERATIONS IN ITALY & SICILY

The Italian campaign marked the first sustained Allied ground combat in continental Europe. Beginning with the landings in Sicily in July 1943 and continuing through Salerno, Anzio, and the long push north through the Apennines, it was a brutal and costly effort.

This archive includes documents from U.S., British, Canadian, and Free French units. You’ll find detailed After Action Reports, campaign summaries, and intelligence briefs covering the siege of Monte Cassino, the liberation of Rome, and the final battles near the Po Valley. The Italian front exemplifies the complexity of mountain warfare and multinational cooperation under sustained Axis resistance.

COMBAT OPERATIONS IN NORTH AFRICA

The North African campaign was the first major ground engagement between American forces and Axis troops during World War II. From Operation Torch in 1942 to the final battles in Tunisia in 1943, these operations laid the foundation for the Allied push into Europe.

This archive includes American and British combat reports, German defensive assessments, and key intelligence summaries. Kasserine Pass, El Guettar, Gafsa, and the battle for Tunis are thoroughly documented. These early encounters shaped Allied doctrine and revealed critical lessons in mobile warfare, logistics, and coalition coordination.

COMBAT OPERATIONS IN THE PACIFIC

The Pacific War was characterized by vast distances, island-to-island combat, amphibious assaults, and fierce resistance from entrenched Japanese forces. From Guadalcanal to Okinawa, each campaign tested Allied logistics, endurance, and tactical flexibility.

This archive presents battle reports, amphibious landing briefs, aerial recon logs, and eyewitness accounts from U.S. Marine, Army, and Navy units. It includes documentation from Saipan, Tarawa, Peleliu, Leyte, Iwo Jima, and the final battles for Okinawa — revealing the scale and brutality of war in the Pacific.

COMBAT OPERATIONS IN CHINA – BURMA – INDIA

The China–Burma–India Theater (CBI) was one of the most logistically challenging and geographically vast arenas of World War II. It involved Allied forces — mainly American, British, Chinese, and Indian — operating across jungles, mountains, and primitive supply lines under brutal climate and enemy pressure.

This archive includes combat reports, aerial resupply mission logs, Merrill’s Marauders operations, Chindit actions, and documents on the construction and defense of the Ledo Road and “The Hump” airlift. It reflects the strategic significance of keeping China in the war and disrupting Japanese positions in Southeast Asia through coordinated multinational efforts.

THE ROYAL CANADIAN ARMY IN WORLD WAR TWO

The Royal Canadian Army played a crucial role across multiple campaigns of the Second World War — from the invasion of Sicily and the Italian mainland, to the beaches of Normandy and the liberation of the Netherlands.

This section presents Canadian operational records, battle narratives, and intelligence documents. Key engagements include the Gothic Line, Juno Beach, the Battle of the Scheldt, and the Rhineland offensives. The archive highlights the professionalism, sacrifice, and strategic impact of Canadian forces within the broader Allied effort.

US ARMY AIR FORCES

The USAAF took part in every major theater of the Second World War — Western Europe, the Mediterranean, North Africa, the Pacific, and the China-Burma-India zone — shaping the Allied air strategy on a global scale.

This section provides access to thousands of original documents, aerial mission reports, strategic orders, and combat photographs. From the 8th Air Force bombing Germany to the 12th and 15th in Italy, and from the 20th’s raids over Japan to transport missions in the Himalayas, this archive honors the courage, skill, and sacrifice of America's wartime airmen.

GUEST WRITERS & RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS

This section gathers selected content discovered while browsing the web — exceptional analyses, personal stories, or rare military documents that deserve republication for their historical value and relevance to World War Two research.

Covering the period from 1940 to 1945, these guest contributions address all belligerents involved in the conflict. Whether Allied or Axis, European, African, or Pacific in scope, the materials featured here provide unique insights, perspectives, and sources that support the continuous study and understanding of global warfare during the Second World War.

(Category is Open).

OSS - FBI - INTELLIGENCE & SPECIAL OPERATIONS

This section focuses on the clandestine side of the war — operations conducted by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), counterintelligence actions by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and joint efforts with Allied intelligence services such as the British SOE or French BCRA.

Between 1941 and 1945, these organizations coordinated sabotage missions, espionage networks, and psychological warfare campaigns across occupied Europe, North Africa, and Asia. The archives here include declassified documents, mission briefs, field agent reports, captured enemy communications, and wartime surveillance files. A deep dive into the shadow war that helped shape the outcome of WWII.

PRISONER OF WAR INTERROGATION & INTELLIGENCE

This section contains hundreds of intelligence summaries and detailed interrogation reports of German prisoners of war captured between 1944 and 1945 by American forces, primarily processed by the Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) and G-2 sections.

These documents include tactical information, enemy unit dispositions, morale assessments, technological data, and insights into Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS operations. Often recorded within hours of capture, the content is raw, direct, and historically invaluable. The archive represents a key source for understanding German perspectives, intentions, and battlefield conditions as perceived in real time by captured personnel.

GERMAN OFFICERS' POSTWAR TESTIMONIES

This section presents original postwar documents, many of which originated from the CIC (Counter Intelligence Corps) and were authored by senior officers of the German Army during their captivity between 1945 and 1955. All materials are available in English, having been translated by American services.

As a fluent German speaker, I personally cross-reference the original versions against their English translations and correct minor inaccuracies—mostly regarding equipment, munitions, or unit references. These documents offer rare, uncensored insight into Wehrmacht command structures and battlefield doctrines, often untouched by later Cold War editorial filters or early CIA (ex-OSS) processing.

MILITARY STUDIES & STRATEGIC PAPERS

This section contains extensive military papers authored by U.S. Army veterans as well as active-duty officers. Many of these documents were initially written as part of official studies, staff college assignments, or personal combat analyses, often reaching the level of formal theses or command diaries.

These texts frequently evolve into comprehensive After Action Reports and campaign evaluations, with narratives covering vast operational areas — from North Africa to Czechoslovakia. Their analytical depth, clarity, and historical value make them essential resources for understanding military decision-making, adaptation, and long-term field experiences across the European Theater of Operations.

I can publish your thesis or historical research paper (military history related), if available in digital format.

WAR CRIMES ON THE BATTLEFIELD

This section gathers military documents, investigation files, and testimonies related to war crimes committed on active battlefields during World War II. Unlike postwar trials or political inquiries, these records focus on events that occurred in combat zones, often reported by frontline units, prisoners, or witnesses within hours or days of the incidents.

The archive includes cases of summary executions, mistreatment of prisoners of war, unlawful reprisals, and breaches of the Geneva Conventions as documented by both Allied and Axis personnel. These files offer a stark and unfiltered view into the darker dimensions of frontline warfare, revealing the ethical and tactical dilemmas encountered under extreme operational pressure.

THE HOLOCAUST – SYSTEMATIC EXTERMINATION

This archive section is dedicated to the documented horrors of the Holocaust: mass executions, extermination camps, administrative orders, testimonies from Americans liberators, and military reports from Allied units who uncovered the machinery of industrial genocide across Europe. These materials are not abstract history — they are the raw, brutal, bureaucratically organized reality of the Nazi regime’s war against the Jews, the Roma, the disabled, political opponents, and millions of innocent civilians.

From Beyond ideology, these crimes represent the ultimate collapse of military honor, morality, and humanity.

It's so easy to kill children, women, and the elderly — when you don't have the balls to fight real men.

REQUESTS & INQUIRIES FROM OUR MEMBERS

This category includes requests submitted by EUCMH members regarding specific documents, operational records, or hard-to-find military reports preserved in our archives. Each request is reviewed, logged, and addressed individually depending on available resources and priority.

Visitors and members may also use this section to submit identification requests (photographs, unit insignia, names), launch personal research investigations, or publish historical messages addressed to relatives, researchers, or veterans' communities. This category is fully dedicated to supporting and broadcasting member-driven historical inquiries.

These services are of course offered free of charge when they remain within the scope of online access and site-based research. If travel or on-site investigations are required, conditions may vary.

RAW ARCHIVAL MATERIALS & SANITIZED FILES

This category gathers materials labeled as “raw” for various reasons: incomplete reports, fragments too short to justify a full post, or scans so degraded that most of the content is nearly illegible — a situation historians know too well under the label of “US archive quality.”

Occasionally, you will also find declassified but heavily sanitized documents from the FBI or CIA. In such cases, a 650-word report may consist of little more than a date and a few commas. These records are preserved here as references, pending better versions or correlation with more complete sources.

ORDER OF BATTLE – STRUCTURE & DEPLOYMENT

This section contains carefully reconstructed Orders of Battle (OOB) for major Allied and Axis units engaged during the Second World War. These documents detail hierarchical structures, command relationships, subordinate formations, and support units present at specific dates and operational locations.

Whether based on G-3 reports, captured enemy documents, or postwar studies, these OOBs offer critical insight into the military organization, manpower allocation, and tactical readiness of divisions, corps, and army groups. For researchers and military historians, this section is an essential foundation for contextualizing battlefield operations.

PHOTO RESOURCES FOR WRITERS & HISTORIANS

This section is designed for students, authors, historians, and digital publishers working on theses, publications, or documentary projects. It provides access to high-resolution photographs ranging from 1024 pixels up to 3600 pixels wide, carefully processed for clarity and archival value.

Unlike thematic collections, these photo archives are organized by geographical location to streamline search and retrieval. This structure allows users to locate contextual imagery quickly when focusing on specific areas, towns, or battle sectors. These resources are intended for educational and historical use only.

UNITS OFFICIAL HISTORY & VETERANS DIARY

This section features official and original unit histories, most often published between 1945 and 1948, chronicling the journey of specific divisions, regiments, or battalions during World War Two. These are often official postwar memorial books written by the units themselves, and originally distributed among veterans or their families.

Some archives in this section are direct re-publications of original documents — edited, corrected, and annotated — while others come from private collections, shared by veterans or their descendants. When available, full diaries and personal war journals are also published, offering a unique and human view of military life through the eyes of those who lived it.

MILITARIA – ARCHIVE OBJECTS & PRIVATE COLLECTIONS

This section was created to document militaria items found in archival photographs, especially from the NARA collections, and to showcase exceptional objects from private collectors. Uniforms, insignia, weapons, field gear — all items are contextually identified when possible.

While EUCMH does not focus primarily on militaria, this sleeping category remains valuable for researchers and collectors seeking visual references and identification support. Updates in this area are occasional but carefully curated.

US ARMY NAVAL TRANSPORTS & LANDING EQUIPMENT

This section is dedicated to the waterborne transport and landing equipment used by the US Army during World War Two. Often overshadowed by the US Navy, the Army’s own naval transport branch managed thousands of landing craft, barges, amphibious vehicles, and logistic vessels essential for the deployment of men and matériel across beaches, rivers, and harbors.

From inflatable rafts and foldable kayaks to LCPs, LCVPs, LCTs, LCMs, and heavy transport ships operated under Army command, these assets played a central role in amphibious invasions, bridgehead supply operations, and cross-channel movements. This archive highlights the diversity and ingenuity of US Army-controlled maritime assets — often poorly documented elsewhere.