Among the many sub-specializations of the field of World War Two studies is the area of orders of battle. It can be said with some justification that study of any battle or campaign must begin with an analysis of the opposing forces. To a certain extent this can be extended to include the overall size and structure of a nation's entire military force, and there are many researchers and books dealing with the complete OB of a given nation.

In this survey we attempt to cover the most important books about OBs of ground forces for the major powers of the Second World War.

France

The French Army published one of the most complete -- but least known -- sets of WWII ground force orders of battle. These volumes cover the 1939-1940 forces as well as post-Torch Free French units. Although published in French, they can be mined even by those who don't know the language.

Ministere des Armees. Les Grandes Unites Francaises, vol 1. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1967. 1939-1940: Corps, Fortified Regions, and Groups

Ministere des Armees. Les Grandes Unites Francaises, vol 2. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1967. 1939-1940: Divisions

Ministere des Armees. Les Grandes Unites Francaises, vol 3. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1967. 1939-1940: More divisions and fortresses

Ministere d'Etat. Les Grandes Unites Francaises, vol 4. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1970. North Africa, Corsica, Elba, Italy

Ministere des Armees. Les Grandes Unites Francaises, vol 5, part 1. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1972. 3rd DIA, 4th DMM, 9th DIC, and 27th DA in France and Germany, 1944-1945

Ministere de la Defense. Les Grandes Unites Francaises, vol 5, part 2. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1975. 1st DFL, 2nd DIM, 10th DI, 14th DI; 1st, 2nd, 5th DB in France and Germany, 1944-1945

Ministere des Armees. Les Grandes Unites Francaises, vol 5, part 3. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale. Corps in France and Germany, 1944-1945

Ministere des Armees. Les Grandes Unites Francaises, vol 5, part 4. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale. Maps of campaign 1944-1945 in France and Germany

Ministere de la Defense. Les Grandes Unites Francaises, vol 6. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1980. Atlantic, Alps, and reorganization, 1944-1945.

Within each volume the material is arranged by unit -- usually at the divisional level -- and chronologically on a day-by-day basis. Entries are tabular and generally include date, higher HQ to which the unit is subordinate, location of the unit HQ, organic elements which are added to or deducted from the TOE on that date, elements which are temporarily attached or detached, and a synopsis of movement and combat for the date. If this sounds like a lot, it is! The series as a whole amounts to thousands and thousands of pages of very detailed information. On a unit-for-unit basis, this is far in excess of what is offered by any other national OB material.

Outside Les Grandes Unites, probably the best source for French OB material is the volume from Nafziger. While useful, it is obviously far, far smaller and not a primary source. One unit in particular that always sticks out is the French "mountain" battalion in Indochina. This results from the circuitous translation of French information into a German intelligence report and then into Nafziger's English publication, transmogrifying "Bataillon de Tirailleurs Montagnards du Sud-Annam" (indigenous mountain tribesmen in French service; also well-known during America's war in Vietnam) into a unit trained and equipped for mountain operations. Still, it may suffice for those who need a readily-available title in English.

Germany

Next to the French OB material, Germany offers the most complete compilation of OB material for ground units in the war. Unlike the French volumes, this is quite familiar to most OB researchers and is generally referred to by the name of the original author-- Tessin.

Tessin, Georg. Verbande und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939-1945.

This currently runs about seventeen volumes (with the most recent ones appearing under the authorship of Christian Zweng). The latest are divided according to Wehrkreise but the bulk of the titles are arranged numerically. Within numerical sequence the units are further ordered by size and type. The second volume, for example (the first volume is introductory material about the organization and branches of the armed forces), includes all units from 1 through 5. This volume begins with 1st Army and 1st Panzer Army and moves through 1st Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, 3rd Motorized Artillery Regiment, 4th Kuban-Kosaken-Reiter Regiment, 5th Army, 5th Panzer Regiment, and V Marine Artillery Abteilung.

Among the more useful "quick-reference" aspects of Tessin are the Army listings which provide, for selected dates, corps and division compositions. Tessin is also fairly generous about providing the corps and division composition of Axis-Allied armies.

Far and away the best German OB source (although there are some similar German-language works), Tessin suffers from the same problem that afflicts all these books: while it's easy to look up a unit to see see where it was for just about any given date, there is no facility for looking at any date and seeing at a glance where everyone was at that time.

For those unable to obtain Tessin or unwilling to delve into so much German-language material, there are a couple of English-language alternatives. Nafziger offers a decent distillation in its multi-volume series. Additionally, Samuel W. Mitcham's Hitler's Legions provides a concise history for most German divisions.

Italy

Italy published an extensive post-war official history series, but I'm not aware of any comprehensive OB survey in Italian. The best in English is the three-volume set from Nafziger, although there is also a somewhat ragtag booklet edited by W. Victor Madeja called Italian Order of Battle: 1940-44.

Japan

Of the major powers in the Second World War, the order of battle of Japanese land forces is certainly the largest gap in the literature, and there is nothing we are aware of worth recommending on this subject for this survey. We would be pleased to hear from anyone who can suggest volumes to fill this void.

Soviet Union

Although a compilation of Soviet units and strengths has recently been published in Moscow, it remains comparatively inaccessible to American readers and researchers, especially those not versed in the Cyrillic alphabet. That leaves the very nice series written by Soviet OB expert Charles Sharp and published by Nafziger.

Sharp, Charles C. Volume 1: The Deadly Beginning: Soviet Tank, Mechanized, Motorized Divisions of 1940-1942. West Chester, OH: Nafziger

Sharp, Charles C. Volume 2: School of Battle: Soviet Tank Corps and Tank Brigades, January 1942-1945

Sharp, Charles C. Volume 3: Red Storm: Soviet Mechanized Corps and Brigades and Guards Armored Units, 1942-1945

Sharp, Charles C. Volume 4: Red Guards: Soviet Guards Rifle and Parachute Infantry Units, 1941-1945

Sharp, Charles C. Volume 5: Red Sabers: Soviet Cavalry Corps, Divisions and Independent Brigades, 1941-45

Sharp, Charles C. Volume 6: Red Thunder: oviet Artillery Corps, Divisions, and Brigades Including Rocket, Anti-tank, and Mortar Units, 1941-45

Sharp, Charles C. Volume 7: Red Death: Soviet Mountain, Naval, NKVD, and Allied Divisions and Brigades, 1941-45

Sharp, Charles C. Volume 8: Red Legions: Rifle Divisions Formed up to 22 June 1941

Sharp, Charles C. Volume 9: Red Legions: Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed June - December 1941

Sharp, Charles C. Volume 10: Red Legions: Soviet Rifle Divisions formed 1942 to 1945

Sharp, Charles C. Volume 11: Red Volunteers: Soviet Rifle and Ski Brigades and Militia Units, 1941-45

A lesser resource is The Red Army Order of Battle by Poirier and Conner, based largely on the captured files of the German "Foreign Armies East" intelligence bureau.

United Kingdom

British military history has long been a flourishing genre, so it comes as no surprise that the ground forces of the UK are thoroughly documented. Orders of Battle: Second World War, 1939-1945 by H. F. Joslen is one of the legendary sources of OB information. Originally published in two volumes by HMSO in 1960, it was reprinted in a single volume (but complete and unabridged) by The London Stamp Exchange in 1990.

This OB was very much a one-man show and, and -- although its typescript pages might look a little dated and amateurish almost forty years later in the age of desktop publishing -- it retains a whiff of loving craftsmanship not found in the other books mentioned in this survey.

Joslen moves unit by unit through the divisions and brigades of the British Army (including colonial formations such as African troops but neither the Indian Army nor the armies of Commonwealth nations such as Australian and New Zealand). Each entry shows key dates of formation, redesignation, and disbandment; dates and names of commanders; lists of organic elements with dates assigned and relieved; higher formations served under, with dates; theaters served in, with dates; and various notes. Appendices contain highly detailed OBs for a few battles; notes on battalions that served in Indian units; TOEs; etc. This book also has the advantage of a very inclusive index.

Joslen's approach does not lend itself to following the chronological history of individual battalions (partly because of the layout and partly because, as battalions were not always directly assigned to a higher HQ, there will be dates in Joslen's material for which they are unaccounted). Those wishing to look at British units on a battalion by battalion basis would do well to examine the slim books by Malcolm A. Bellis. His approach is to list every battalion in the British Army and then show its assignments chronologically with higher HQ, date, and location.

United States

Shelby Stanton's seems to be the sole candidate in the sweepstakes for a single OB source for the United States. His Order of Battle: U.S. Army, World War II is probably the most readily available (in at least two different editions) of all the books discussed here.

While I'm reluctant to criticize a work which required such an enormous amount of effort -- and which remains the best in the field on the topic -- there are some limitations here, and overall this is less rigorous than the other three of the Big Four resources (Les Grandes Unites, Tessin, and Joslen). Probably the biggest oversight is lack of an index. Nevertheless, this is an invaluable tool for US OB resource.

Stanton divides his survey into divisions, infantry brigades/regiments/battalions, armored brigades/groups/regiments/battalions, cavalry brigades/groups/regiments/battalions, tank destroyer brigades/groups/battalions, field artillery brigades/groups/regiments/battalions, coast artillery and AA artillery brigades/groups/regiments/battalions (and harbor defenses), and engineer brigades/groups/regiments/battalions. The amount of information (and size of the font) varies according to the size of the unit, so that divisions receive a page or two of information and battalions a line or two.

A divisional entry typically contains key dates of activation and movement; campaign streamers; its location in August 1945; component elements with dates; corps/army assignments with dates; commanders, with dates; killed in action and wounded in action statistics; and three or four paragraphs of narrative information.

W. Victor Madej's booklets also cover the US Army. While considerably inferior to Stanton's volume, they do contain some details, tabular material, and OBs for specific dates not found elsewhere.

It should also be noted that Nafziger has a one-volume treatment of the USMC: US Marine Corps in World War II: Divisions, Brigades, and Regiments by Gordon L. Rottman.