A useful primary source for German military operations in World War II is the manuscripts of the US Army Historical Division’s Foreign Military Studies program. These studies, written between 1945 and 1959 by former senior officers of the German Armed Forces, cover nearly every aspect of the German war effort. Many, but not all, manuscripts were translated into English.

Some 2,500 studies were produced and organized into nine series:
1. ETHINT-Series: a record of 80 interviews with high-ranking German officers conducted immediately after the war
2. A-Series: transcribed oral interviews of selected German officers held as prisoners of war
3. B-Series: narrative histories of units on the Western Front
4. C-Series: 139 studies intended as source material for the history of the US Army in WW2
5. D-Series: studies of German operations in the Mediterranean theater and Soviet Union, and several treatises on air and naval warfare, strategy, and tactics
6. P- Series: a wide range of current and practical military topics of interest to the US Army and other Federal agencies in the post-war period. Most concern operations on the Eastern Front
7. T-Series: Comprehensive campaign-level topics written by committees of former German officers
8. Air Force Studies: studies about the air war written for the US Air Force by former Luftwaffe officers
9. DA Pamphlet Historical Series: studies developed from the FMS manuscripts and then distributed as pamphlets within the US military

The FMS manuscripts vary in subject matter and quality. As with all historical documents, each study must be evaluated for accuracy and bias; of which the ETHINT and early A, B, and D series manuscripts are the least factual because they were written from memory without access to official records. The C-Series are regarded as the most reliable. In sum, critics believe the German authors wrote a self-serving view of the war. However, many studies were valued enough by the US Army Center of Military History to be used in the official history of the United States Army in World War II and the Army Historical Series accounts of the War in the East. Reportedly, they were also used by German Armed Forces Military History Research Office (Militärgeschlichtliche Forschungsamt or MGFA) as source material for its series on Germany and the Second World War (Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg).

Two guides were produced by the US Army Historical Division to catalogue and index the studies:

1. Guide to Foreign Military Studies 1945-54: Catalog and Index, published in 1954. It provides a summary of each manuscript and has a well organized index. Download it here:
http://downloads.sturmpanzer.net/MLW...945-1954NA.pdf

2. Supplement to Guide to Foreign Military Studies 1945-54, published in 1959. It lists and describes those C, D, and P series studies produced after 1954. Download it here: http://downloads.sturmpanzer.net/MLW...S1945-1954.pdf

Collections of FMS studies are located in several locations:

1. The US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), in College Park, Maryland has the most complete collection of original manuscripts (except for the Air Force Series which are at the Air Force Historical Research Agency). NARA’s collection is available in either microfiche or paper format, although the microfiche collection is incomplete. Copies of the microfiche manuscripts can be ordered from NARA in either microfiche or DVD format. The original manuscripts can be photocopied, scanned, or photographed if they are not available on microfiche.

2. The U.S. Army Military History Institute (USAMHI) at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania also has a large collection of original manuscripts. The manuscripts can be copied on site using a photocopier or digital camera. Some of the studies are available for download from USAMHI’s online Military Heritage Collection at: http://www.ahco.army.mil/site/index.jsp

 

3. The U.S. Military Academy Library at West Point, New York and the Combined Arms Research Library at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas have copies of many, but not all, the studies. Access may be problematic for some researchers since both libraries are on active military posts.

4. The Air Force Historical Research Agency at Maxwell AFB, Alabama has the original Air Force Series manuscripts. Most of the manuscripts can be downloaded from their web site: http://afhra.maxwell.af.mil/numbered...udiesintro.asp

5. Outside of the United States, copies of the studies are reportedly held by the Canadian Military History Office in Ottawa and the Bundesarchiv Militärarchiv Freiburg. It is likely that a collection also exists in Great Britain, although no further information in known at this time.

6. Over the years, most, if not all, FMS manuscripts have been copied by various commercial and private organizations. A number of U.S. universities have the microfiche collection. More than two hundred of the manuscripts were published by Garland Publishing (NYC) as a twenty-four volume World War II German Military Studies series in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Several of the DA Pamphlet Historical Series were reprinted by the Army Center of Military History in the mid-1980s and are still available from the US Government Printing Office bookstore: http://bookstore.gpo.gov/index.jsp

7. Online. Various web sites have a few of the FMS available for download. One site that has an ever increasing number of studies is www.sturmpanzer.com.

 

Here is some advice on getting copies of the FMS from NARA.

Copies of the manuscripts can be ordered from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Manuscripts may be available in either English or German. There are two ways to order – by telephone or online:

1. Telephone. To order call this number, 301-837-2987, leave a message and they will return your call. They prefer you order no more than 5 documents at a time and will send them to you in CD format, unless you specify otherwise. After taking your order they will mail you a quote that you will then mail back with your payment.

2. Online. There have been reports of difficulty because it is not possible to select either an English or German language. The price of each FMS manuscript, regardless of page count, is $4.25 each, so the price is the same for a three-page manuscript as it is for a 100-page document. To order, click on this link: https://eservices.archives.gov/order...s.archives.gov, when the page opens click on the microfilm tab and then enter "M1035" in the search field and click on Search. When the search page comes up click on a Publication Title and then on Continue Order, you should now see individual microfilm listed and a place to enter the quantity to order. You will need to be logged in before you can see this order page.

If quality or appearance of the manuscript is a consideration then you may require something other than a CD copy which is good, but not the necessarily the best. Below are three examples of the quality you can expect:
• Scan of original manuscript (300 dpi)
• Page printed from microfiche at NARA and then scanned as a .jpeg (300 dpi)
• Image from NARA CD