Primary Sources Access – Foundation (Plan E): World War II: U.S. Documents on Planning, Operations, Intelligence, Axis War Crimes, and Refugees

American War Production Mission in China, 1944-1945, Part 1: Correspondence and Reports

This collection contains a large number of documents that chronicle the activities of the American War Production Mission in China from its inception during the first advisory trip of U.S. War Production Board Chairman Donald M. Nelson to China in 1944 until its termination in late 1945. Authorized by President Roosevelt, the mission was meant to serve both a short-term and a long-term purpose. On the one hand, it was intended to help bolster Chinese industrial production as the Allies concentrated their efforts on defeating Japan. On the other, it was meant to lay the groundwork for a strong Chinese economy in the postwar period.

Evacuation of the Japanese from the West Coast: Final Report and Papers of the Adjutant General's Office

Evacuation of the Japanese from the West Coast: Final Report and Papers of the Adjutant General’s Office chronicles the 1942 removal of Japanese Americans who lived in California, Arizona, Oregon, and Washington State, and their resettlement in internment camps for the duration of the war. The collection includes assembly center newspapers; clippings from West Coast and other newspapers and periodicals; religious organization publications; Wartime Civil Control Administration (WCCA) orders, proclamations, press releases, and reports; presidential executive orders and proclamations; Justice Department regulations; and reports of the Federal Security Agency and the American National Red Cross. The materials are compiled in bound volumes or folders, all of which were produced in 1942 by the Western Defense Command and Fourth Army, Office of Assistant Chief of Staff, Wartime Civil Control Administration, in San Francisco.

FBI Files on Tokyo Rose (Iva Toguri d'Aquino) Released under the Japanese Imperial Government Disclosure Act

This collection consists of correspondence, office memoranda, reports, affidavits, interview transcripts, witness statements, court records, and other documents pertaining to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigation and subsequent trial of Iva Toguri D'Aquino on charges of treason. Among the most interesting documents in the collection are the interviews, statements, and affidavits of both Americans and Japanese who worked with or knew Toguri during the war. The recollections and testimony of American servicemen about the Zero Hour broadcasts they heard are also intriguing. Iva Toguri D'Aquino was eventually convicted in 1949 and sentenced to ten years in prison and fined $10,000. The collection also includes documents pertaining to appeals of her conviction, bail, and the government's attempt to deport her after her release from prison. Toguri was released by statutory law from the Federal Reformatory for Women at Alderson, West Virginia, on good behavior on January 25, 1956.

Fuehrer Conferences on Matters Dealing with the German Navy, 1939-1945

This collection contains translated records of conferences between German Fuehrer Adolf Hitler and the Commander in Chief of the German Navy (Kriegsmarine) during 1939-1945, including related German Navy documents. Translations were made and published in volumes by the U.S. Department of Navy's Office of Naval Intelligence; each volume contains a glossary. According to the volume forewords, the translated material could be used "for the study of naval problems arising from total war." Brief descriptions of topics for each year appear below.

General Headquarters, Southwest Pacific Area, 1941-1945: Chronological Index and Summary of Communications

This collection presents the messages transmitted among U.S. and Allied commanders in the Southwest Pacific Area of World War II, in chronological order. The messages primarily cover surface and amphibious operations, as well as naval and air support, in Allied and Japanese campaigns in the Philippines and other islands and island groups in the Southwest Pacific Area.

German Army High Command, 1938-1945

This German Army High Command collection is part of ProQuest History Vault's module entitled "World War II: Documents on Planning, Operations, Intelligence, Axis War Crimes, and Refugees." The collection consists of thirty-eight numbered volumes, arranged within thirty-four folders, with each volume an essay or series of essays and commentaries on aspects of organization and history of the Oberkommando des Heeres, the German Army High Command.

Holocaust Refugees and the FDR White House

This collection chronicles the activities and issues involved in the Roosevelt Administration's policies concerning the reception of Jews and other refugees fleeing Nazi persecution. Instead of opening its doors, the U.S. government created a bureaucratic barrier, which prevented most refugees from entering the country before and during World War II. Not until 1944 did the United States respond with belated rescue efforts to stop the genocide of European Jews and other groups. This was a full two years after the Wannsee Conference in Berlin that laid out the comprehensive plan for the extermination of European Jewry. On January 22, 1944, President Roosevelt established the War Refugee Board (WRB) to provide rescue and relief for Jews and other persons in danger of death in Nazi-occupied Europe.

Information Control and Propaganda: Records of the Office Of War Information, Part 1: The Director's Central Files, 1942-1945

This collection contains the complete set of Central Files maintained by Office of War Information (OWI) head Elmer Davis from 1942 to the agency's termination in September 1945, after the end of World War II.

Information Control and Propaganda: Records of the Office of War Information, Part 2: Office of Policy Coordination, Series A: Propaganda and Policy Directives for Overseas Programs, 1942-1945

This collection contains the complete set of directives issued by the Office of War Information (OWI) dictating the formulation and dissemination of propaganda and psychological warfare in enemy nations and other countries during World War II.

Manhattan Project: Official History and Documents

Manhattan Project: Official History and Documents contains the official documentation of the American top-secret program that built the first atomic bombs, including those dropped by the United States on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in August 1945. The workers on the Manhattan Project took on a nearly impossible challenge to address a grave threat to the national security. The quest for nuclear explosives, inspired by the fear that Hitler's Germany might invent them first, was an epic, top-secret engineering and industrial venture in the United States during World War II. Some of the most renowned scientists of the century worked together with industry, the military, and many thousands of ordinary Americans working at breakneck pace at sites across the country to translate new discoveries of physics into an entirely new kind of weapon.

Map Room Files of President Roosevelt, 1939-1945: Map Room Army and Navy Messages, December 1941-May 1942

Map Room Files of President Roosevelt, 1939-1945: Map Room Army and Navy Messages, December 1941-May 1942 documents the Map Room communications to the president from the Navy and Army during the early months of U.S. involvement in World War II. Document types include situation reports, intelligence reports, strategic and tactical plans, orders, Combined Chiefs of Staff (CCS) reports, correspondence, meeting agendas and minutes, telegrams, and memoranda between the White House, its representatives, and Allied leaders and military commanders. Much of the material was collected and forwarded by U.S. naval commanders and military attaches stationed throughout the world. In addition, the collection includes some material supplied by U.S. diplomats.

Map Room Files of President Roosevelt, 1939-1945: Map Room Conference and Special Files, 1942-1945

This collection consists of two War Department document series. The first series contains files on the activities of the president, his advisers, and his military representatives as they prepared for the principal Allied conferences that took place during World War II and shortly afterward. The purpose of these conferences was to discuss Allied war aims, tactics, and strategy, as well as to explore and debate postwar political realignments of individual countries (such as Poland) as well as country groups (such as Central and Eastern Europe), especially in relation to the spheres of influence of the rapidly developing Western and Communist power blocs.

Map Room Files of President Roosevelt, 1939-1945: Map Room Ground Operations Files, 1941-1945

Map Room Files of President Roosevelt, 1939-1945: Map Room Ground Operations Files, 1941-1945documents the Map Room communications to the president on ground offensive operations in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific Theater.

Map Room Files of President Roosevelt, 1939-1945: Map Room Messages of President Roosevelt, 1939-1945

The collection takes its name from a ground floor situation room of the White House during the World War II years of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's administration. Outfitted with maps that charted the progress of the war, Roosevelt visited this command center daily and consulted with chief military and civilian advisers, including the secretaries of war and state.

Map Room Files of President Roosevelt, 1939-1945: Map Room Military Subject Files, 1941-1945

This collection contains a large number of War Department documents that chronicle specific operations, engagements, and results, as well as military intelligence.

Map Room Files of President Roosevelt, 1939-1945: Map Room Naval Operations Files, 1941-1945

This collection documents naval operations Map Room communications to President Franklin Roosevelt on the Pacific and Atlantic theaters, and other areas during World War II.

Map Room Messages of President Truman, 1945-1946

This collection contains messages to and from President Harry S. Truman that went through the White House Map Room during the period April 12, 1945 through January 1946.

Martial Law in Hawaii: The Papers of Major General Thomas H. Green, Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Army

This collection provides a large set of documents on the imposition, administration, and debate over martial law in Hawaii during World War II.

Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression: Opinion and Judgment

Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression: Opinion and Judgment contains a collection of documents and guide materials published by the Office of United States Chief of Counsel For Prosecution of Axis Criminality in 1946. The documents collected here were used as evidence by the American and British prosecutors in the Nuremberg Trials against Nazi war criminals in 1945 and 1946. The documents include Nazi Party correspondence, reports, and decrees; minutes of Hitler's conferences; diaries of prominent Germans; and excerpts of official German newspapers and other publications.

OSS-London: Special Operations Branch and Secret Intelligence Branch War Diaries

Established in 1942, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was a U.S. intelligence agency tasked with carrying out covert operations behind enemy lines during World War II.OSS/London: Special Operations Branch and Secret Intelligence Branch War Diariesis a fascinating collection on the Special Operations (SO) and Secret Intelligence (SI) Branches of the OSS, their development, organization and structure, personnel, and missions. Both the SO and SI had headquarters in London, England and carried out operations across the globe. This collection covers their activities within the European Theater, specifically France, Central Europe, and Scandinavia, during the years 1943 to 1945. The documents in this collection include administrative and organizational papers, detailed reports and personal accounts of missions, photographs, maps, and drawings. Significant individuals within the two branches include Joseph F. Haskell, Paul van der Stricht, Franklin O. Canfield, Whitney Shepardson, William P. Maddox, Marie-Pierre Koenig, and William C. Jackson.

Papers of George C. Marshall: Selected World War II Correspondence

This collection contains the correspondence of General of the Army and Chief of Staff George C. Marshall during the period 1938 through 1951, with the bulk of the material concerned with the Second World War and its aftermath. General Marshall succeeded in resolving the tremendous command and organizational issues of the vastly enlarged U.S. military forces with the assistance of a top-flight corps of staff and field officers that included Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar N. Bradley, Douglas MacArthur, and Joseph McNarney. The consensus among historians is that Marshall was one of the primary architects of the Allied victory over the Axis Powers.

Papers of the President's Soviet Lend Lease Protocol Committee: Correspondence, Cables, and Reports

This collection contains a comprehensive set of reports on the operation of the Lend-Lease program, through which the United States lent enormous quantities of military equipment and munitions, as well as food, cash, and other needed aid to its cash-strapped and production-limited allies in World War II, in particular China, the United Kingdom, and, the focus of this collection, the Soviet Union.

Papers of the U.S. Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, Part 1: Numerical File Archive

One of the worst abuses of governmental authority in 20th century U.S. history is the relocation and internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Beginning in 1942 more than 120,000 Japanese Americans, many living on the West Coast, were removed from their homes, stripped of their property and civil liberties, and were transported to relocation centers (camps) for the duration of the war.

Papers of the War Refugee Board, Part 1: Correspondence and Reports Files, February 1944-September 1945

This collection contains various documents, including correspondence and reports, received or produced by the War Refugee Board during its tenure from February 1944 through September 1945.

Papers of the War Refugee Board, Part 2: Project and Document Files, January 1944-September 1945

This collection contains documents received or produced by the War Refugee Board during its tenure from February 1944 through September 1945.

Potsdam Conference Documents (1945)

This collection provides comprehensive coverage of the written communications among the "Big Three" Allies--the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and the United States--at the Potsdam Conference in Potsdam, Germany, a suburb of Berlin, from July 17 through August 2, 1945.

President Roosevelt's Response to the International Refugee Situation: The M Project

This collection contains a large number of documents on a major research effort to identify workable solutions to the problems involved in providing humanitarian treatment and resettlement of the displaced persons of World War II. The letter "M" stands for the word "migration" signifying both the scope and the contents of the project. Begun in 1940, the project was an intensive research effort undertaken by a small staff of population experts supervised by Dr. Henry Field, under President Roosevelt's guidance. The Project enjoyed top secret security status, chiefly because a premature revelation of its findings would have alerted the opponents of migration studies and resettlement projects.

Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Part 1: 1942-1945, Meetings of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Combined Chiefs of Staff, Joint Staff Planners, and Joint Logistics Committee

Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Part 1: 1942-1945 Meetings documents the 1942-1945 meetings of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), Combined Chiefs of Staff (CCS), Joint Staff Planners (JSP), and Joint Logistics Committee (JLC). The JCS committee was the principal U.S. command organization which, together with the British Chiefs of Staff (BCS), formed the CCS, the supreme Anglo-American military strategic and operational authority during the World War II years 1942-1945.

Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Part 1: 1942-1945, Strategic Issues: Production and Assignment of War Materials, Shipping, Aircraft, Petroleum, Propaganda and Unconventional Warfare, War Crimes and Prisoners of War, Conferences

Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Part 1: 1942-1945, Strategic Issues contains the records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on seven strategic issues during the Second World War: Production and Assignment of War Materials; Shipping; Aircraft; Petroleum; Propaganda and Unconventional Warfare; War Crimes and Prisoners of War; and Conferences.

Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Part 1: 1942-1945, The European Theater

Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Part 1: 1942-1945, The European Theater contains the records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on U.S. and Allied operations in the European theater, including surrenders and postwar occupation of Axis powers and co-belligerents.

Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Part 1: 1942-1945, The Pacific Theater

Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Part 1: 1942-1945, The Pacific Theater contains the records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on U.S. and Allied operations in the Pacific Theater, including planning for the surrender by Japan and the postwar Allied occupation of Axis powers and co-belligerents.

Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Part 1: 1942-1945, The Soviet Union

Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Part 1: 1942-1945, The Soviet Union contains the reports of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on World War II cooperation and military operations coordination of the Soviet Union with its two major allies against the Axis, the United States and the United Kingdom (UK).

Records of the War Department's Operations Division, 1942-1945, Part 1. World War II Operations, Series A. European and Mediterranean Theaters

This collection contains the records of the Operations Division (OPD) for the European Theater during World War II.

Records of the War Department's Operations Division, 1942-1945, Part 1. World War II Operations, Series B. Pacific Theater

This collection contains the records of the Operations Division (OPD) for the Pacific Theater during World War II.

Records of the War Department's Operations Division, 1942-1945, Part 1. World War II Operations, Series C. Top Secret Files

This collection contains the declassified records of the Army Operations Division (OPD) for the European Theater during World War II.

Top Secret Studies on U.S. Communications Intelligence during World War II, Part 1. The Pacific Theater

This collection contains documents produced by U.S. military intelligence agencies in the Pacific Theater during World War II and constitutes part 1 of History Vault's three-part series on U.S. intelligence in World War II (parts 2 and 3 cover the European Theater and organizational aspects, respectively). The principal agencies were the Military Intelligence Service, Office of Naval Intelligence, Signal Security Agency, and diplomatic corps. The collection consists of Special Research Histories (SRHs)--a series of studies, monographs, and reports principally concerning cryptographic operations in World War II. The SRHs were compiled mostly from highly classified contemporary files by wartime participants.

Top Secret Studies on U.S. Communications Intelligence during World War II, Part 2. The European Theater

This collection contains documents produced by U.S. military intelligence in the European Theater during World War II and constitutes part 2 of History Vault's three-part series on U.S. intelligence in World War II (parts 1 and 3 cover the Pacific Theater and organizational aspects, respectively). The principal agencies were the Military Intelligence Service, Office of Naval Intelligence, Signal Security Agency, and diplomatic corps. The collection consists of Special Research Histories (SRHs)--a series of studies, monographs, and reports principally concerning cryptographic operations in World War II. The SRHs were compiled mostly from highly classified contemporary files by wartime participants.

Top Secret Studies on U.S. Communications Intelligence during World War II, Part 3. Organization and Administration

This collection contains documents tracing the operations and growth of U.S. military intelligence during World War II and constitutes part 3 of History Vault's three-part series on U.S. intelligence in World War II (parts 1 and 2 cover the Pacific Theater and European Theater, respectively). The collection consists primarily of Special Research Histories (SRHs)--a series of studies and reports compiled from highly classified contemporary files by wartime participants.

Trials of Major War Criminals before International Military Tribunals, November 1945-October 1946 

The first of thirteen trials of Nazi war criminals held between 1945 and 1949, the Trial of Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg helped to establish an international precedent, holding accountable those who would commit crimes against humanity. The "Blue Series" includes complete transcripts of the 11-month-long trial along with nearly 12,000 pages of evidence submitted to the tribunal, including documents in German and French.

Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals under Control Council Law No. 10, October 1946-April 1949

This collection includes fifteen volumes of documents describing the series of U.S. military tribunals for war crimes against surviving leaders of the Nazi regime.

U.S. Navy Action and Operational Reports from World War II, Pacific Theater, Part 1. CINCPAC: Commander-in-Chief Pacific Area

These U.S. Navy reports document the actions and operations of the Commander-in-Chief for the Pacific Area (CINCPAC) and constitute the first part of History Vault's three-part series of U.S. Navy action and operational reports. Parts 2 and 3 cover the two primary U.S. Navy Pacific components, the Third and Fifth Fleets.

U.S. Navy Action and Operational Reports from World War II, Pacific Theater, Part 2. Third Fleet and Third Fleet Carrier Task Forces

These U.S. Navy reports document the actions and operations of the Third Fleet and its carrier task forces in major naval battles of the Pacific Theater, and constitute the second part of History Vault's three-part series of U.S. Navy action and operational reports. Parts 1 and 3 cover the Commander-in-Chief for the Pacific Area (CINCPAC) and the other primary U.S. Navy Pacific component, the Fifth Fleet. The Third Fleet was originally formed on March 15, 1943 under the command of Admiral William F. "Bull" Halsey. He opened his headquarters ashore in Pearl Harbor, territory of Hawaii, on June 15, 1944. The fleet operated in and around Western Pacific areas, notably the Solomon Islands, Philippines, Formosa, Okinawa, and Ryukyu Islands. It also operated in waters off the Japanese home islands, launching attacks on Tokyo, the naval base at Kure, and the island of Hokkaido.

U.S. Navy Action and Operational Reports from World War II, Pacific Theater, Part 3. Fifth Fleet and Fifth Fleet Carrier Task Forces

These U.S. Navy reports document the actions and operations of the Fifth Fleet and its carrier task forces in major naval battles of the Pacific Theater, and constitute the third part of History Vault's three-part series of U.S. Navy action and operational reports. Parts 1 and 2 cover the Commander-in-Chief for the Pacific Area (CINCPAC) and the other primary U.S. Navy Pacific component, the Third Fleet.

U.S. Office of Strategic Services, Foreign Nationalities Branch Files, 1942-1945

This collection contains reports on foreign nationals and ethnic groups in the United States during World War II that were prepared by the Foreign Nationalities Branch (FNB) of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). The FNB was the only agency of the U.S. government that focused its primary attention on these groups. Although the Department of Justice was concerned with potentially subversive aliens and other federal agencies gathered at least some domestic political intelligence, only the Foreign Nationalities Branch developed an extensive network of contacts and systematically collected information among foreign nationality groups in the U.S. to enable the government to understand, anticipate, and influence political developments in Europe.

World War II Combat Interviews: Armed Forces Oral Histories

Armed Forces Oral Histories: World War Two Combat Interviews contains a compendium of the combat interviews conducted by army historians during the campaigns in northwest Europe--including the D-Day invasions of Normandy--during 1944 and 1945.