ISBN 0-85420-805-4
146 pages

Prefix [sic]; Author's Biography; Introduction; Abbreviations; Index of Tables; tables; organigrams; Bibliography

Hays, J.J. United States Army Ground Forces Tables of Organization and Equipment, World War II, vol 1: The Infantry Division, 1940-1945, part 2. Milton Keynes, UK: Military Press, 2002

ISBN 0-85420-028-2
144 pages

Introduction; Abbreviations; Index of Tables; tables; organigrams; Bibliography

United States Army Ground Forces Tables of Organization and Equipment, World War II, vol 1: The Infantry Division, 1940-1945, part 3. Milton Keynes, UK: Military Press, 2002

ISBN 0-85420-038-X
135 pages

Introduction; Abbreviations; Index of Tables; tables; organigrams; Bibliography

   With the publishing industry increasingly in the hands of a few big international giants, it's sometimes easy to overlook the smaller players who have carved out niches for themselves and continue to produce excellent books without overgrown legal staffs, inter-continental marketing departments, or lucrative movie tie-ins. One such publisher is The Military Press. Even at a website such as this one, where we specialize in keeping track of all the WWII-related titles coming from presses large and small, Military Press has been a bit of a mystery. Last year we were lucky enough to receive review copies of the first two volumes of MP's French Order of Battle series by Lee Sharp, which impressed us sufficiently to be added to our very exclusive Editor's Choice list for 2002.
   Now we've received a fresh batch of review books—some old and some new—from Military Press, and we're nearly as impressed with some of this lot as with Sharp's French series. Indeed, it looks like Military Press has been publishing gems in relative obscurity for several years, so we thought we should showcase the first three books from one of their many lines.
   The title of the series is quite a mouthful: United States Army Ground Forces Tables of Organization and Equipment, World War II. Within the series, Military Press expects to publish at least five separate volumes, all written by J.J. Hays, a retired US Army officer. Future volumes will cover mountain, airborne, cavalry, and armored divisions, and a plethora of non-divisional artillery, engineer, and tank destroyer units, etc. The first volume, published in three separate parts, deals exclusively with TOEs for the components of American infantry divisions.
   The three parts (separate books) of volume one cover the following divisional components:

Volume 1, part 1
Division headquarters
Medical regiment, battalions, and companies
Ordnance company
Quartermaster regiment, battalions, and companies
Signal company

Volume 1, part 2
Engineer regiment and battalion
Infantry brigade, regiment, battalions, and companies

Volume 1, part 3
Cavalry mechanized reconnaissance company
Field artillery brigade, regiments, and battalions

   Within each book (they are all, by the way, available in both hardcover and softcover), each type of unit is covered within its own section. A section contains a brief overview of the unit, a listing of the relevant US Army organizational tables with dates and notes, organigrams showing the structure of the unit and its sub-units, tables of personnel (broken down by rank) and equipment for each unit, and nifty little line drawings for displaying the composition of the unit. The whole is accompanied by notes and further textual explanation of the tables and charts. In sum, this can amount to many, many pages for each class of units. For example, the section on engineers totals almost forty pages of tables, organigrams, and text.
   Here are samples of a couple of typical pages.

   Quite good stuff, and not terribly dissimilar to another book we recently reviewed favorably, US Army Infantry Divisions, 1943-45, volume 1: Organization, Doctrine, and Equipment by Yves Bellanger from Helion. How do they compare?
   First, Bellanger only covers infantry division data from 1943 through 1945, while Hays covers 1940 through 1945. Within that timeframe, however, they cover the same divisional components and they do so in more or less the same manner. In both cases they examine the theoretical composition of units as set forth by the relevant regulations, as opposed to the actual strength of units in action. Focusing specifically on the combat engineer battalion and its components from 1943 onward just for the sake of comparing the two authors, Bellanger covers the material in fifteen pages contrasted to Hays' thirty pages. Both begin with an organigram displaying the structure of a combat engineer battalion of an infantry division according to US Army T/O&E 5-15. Bellanger's diagram is a bit more detailed and includes manpower numbers in the table. Hays' skimpier diagram is followed by a table occupying most of the page with exact breakdowns of manpower according to rank for each component of the division (plus attached medical troops) and equipment numbers for more than twenty different types of weapons, vehicles, etc. Hays also includes a small sidebar with more data for the medical detachment accompanying the engineer battalion. Bellanger then offers a page of text describing the mission of the engineer battalion, followed by a listing of the personnel of the medical detachment (matching Hays) and then about two and a half pages of text describing engineer doctrine. Where Bellanger presents lists of troops, vehicles, weapons, and equipment, Hays uses tables and diagrams. Hays also includes many more late war (and early war) variations of the basic TOE data, plus more separate pages of tables and diagrams for headquarters and engineer companies. Hays also focuses more on "big" equipment while Bellanger includes lists of items such as binoculars, wristwatches, compasses, and whistles for each unit.
   Despite not listing some of those kinds of personal gear in his volumes, Hays is for the most part more comprehensive in his tables and diagrams. However, that also carries something of a downside. Because he also includes so many different variations of the same TOEs for different time periods during the war—some of which were never actually implemented—his chapters end up being crowded with a great deal of somewhat redundant material, so that it can be more difficult to find exactly what you're seeking. On the other hand, even though it might be harder to find, in most cases it's more likely that Hays will have it tucked away somewhere (unless it's a whistle or a typewriter).
   Compared to Bellanger, Hays provides almost no narrative text; his books are strictly TOE organigrams and tables with explanatory notes. Bellanger has plenty of TOE material, but he also includes pages of text about doctrine for actually employing all these units, along with diagrams for communications networks, establishing command posts, deploying forces, etc.
   The two authors and their books will also be taking different paths in upcoming months. The next volume from Bellanger will cover OB data with army and corps assignments and lists of commanders for all American infantry divisions. Forthcoming volumes from Hays will move from TOE data for infantry divisions to TOE data for other types of divisions and non-divisional units.
   So this is not really a question of which series or author is better than the other. They are both getting their data from the same sources, but they're emphasizing different aspects of the same material. In that sense, the books complement each other very well, providing in sum a far more complete picture of organization, equipment, and doctrine for American units than either series could do on its own. We recommended Bellanger's book to wargamers, reenactors, and anyone else intrigued by exceedingly detailed TOE information, and we extend exactly that same recommendation to this series by J.J. Hays from the Military Press.
   Military Press is a small, specialty publisher—not one of the mega-global publishing houses—so their books are not always easy to find and acquire, but with quality products such as these, it's worth exerting a little extra effort to track them down. These books don't deserve to languish in obscurity!
   Available from online booksellers, local bookshops, or directly from The Military Press.
   Thanks to Military Press for providing these review copies.