Official history of the British contribution to the Second World War
This article is about the official history published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office. For a timeline of the history of World War II, see
Timeline of World War II .
TheHistory of the Second World War official history of the British contribution to theSecond World War and was published byHer Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO). The immense project was sub-divided into areas to ease publication,United Kingdom Military Series , theUnited Kingdom Civil Series for the civilian war effort; theForeign Policy series , theIntelligence series and theMedical series are eponymous. Other volumes not under the aegis of the series but published by HMSO may be read as adjuncts, covering matters not considered in great detail or at all, in one case, in the main series. Further volumes, published after theprivatisation of HMSO or in the series about theSpecial Operations Executive , are also useful.
The volumes were intended to be read individually, rather than in series, which led to some overlapping. In their introductions to their parts of the series, SirKeith Hancock and SirJames Butler wrote that this was to obviate a need to read more volumes than those covering that part of the war effort. Hancock edited the Civil Series and Butler the Military Series. The first volume appeared in 1949 and the last in 1993, with a revised edition of one volume appearing in 2004. An unorthodox decision was to cover the conflict from atheatre of operations point of view rather than by service, to acknowledge that military operations were intimately linked.
The works published before 1970 lack references to unpublished sources until government archives were opened, to an extent, by thePublic Records Act 1958 and thePublic Records Act 1967 . The works were published with only references to published sources because British constitutional conventions on the anonymity of government officials and ministers were followed, leading to a somewhat detached narrative style in some cases. A parallel series of volumes for official use were printed, which referenced the unpublished sources in manuscript, in red ink[citation needed . A few official copies 'escaped' into public libraries and these additions can be seen.[citation needed
United Kingdom Military Series [ edit ] Grand Strategy Volume I Norman Gibbs , 1976Volume II James Butler , 1957Volume III, Part 1 J. M. A. Gwyer , 1964Volume III, Part 2 Volume IV Michael Howard , 1970Volume V John Ehrman , 1956Volume VI The War at Sea Volume I: The Defensive Stephen Roskill , 1954Volume II: The Period of Balance Volume III, Part 1: The Offensive Volume III, Part 2: The Offensive The Strategic Air Offensive against Germany Defence of the United Kingdom Basil Collier , 1957The Campaign in Norway Thomas Derry , 1952 (transcribed HTML copy The War in France and Flanders, 1939–40 Lionel Ellis , 1954 (transcribed HTML copy Victory in the West War against Japan Volume I: The Loss of Singapore Stanley Kirby et al. , 1957Volume II: India's Most Dangerous Hour et al. , 1958Volume III: The Decisive Battles et al. , 1961Volume IV: The Reconquest of Burma et al. , 1965Volume V: The Surrender of Japan et al. , 1969The Mediterranean and Middle East Volume I: The Early Successes against Italy, to May 1941 I. S. O. Playfair et al. , 1954Volume II: The Germans Come to the Help of Their Ally, 1941 et al. , 1956Volume III: British Fortunes Reach Their Lowest Ebb et al. , 1960Volume IV: The Destruction of the Axis Forces in Africa Charles Molony et al. , 1966Volume V: The Campaign in Sicily, 1943 and the Campaign in Italy, 3 September 1943 to 31 March 1944 et al. , 1973Volume VI, Part 1: Victory in the Mediterranean: 1 April to 4 June 1944 William Jackson et al. , 1984Volume VI, Part 2: Victory in the Mediterranean: June to October 1944 et al. , 1987Volume VI, Part 3: Victory in the Mediterranean: November 1944 to May 1945 , General Sir William Jacksonet al. , 1988Civil Affairs and Military Government Central Organisation and Planning Frank Donnison , 1966British Military Administration in the Far East, 1943–46 North-West Europe, 1944–46 Allied Military Administration of Italy, 1943-1945 Charles Harris , 1957British Military Administration of Occupied Territories in Africa during the Years 1941–1947 Francis Rodd , 1948United Kingdom Civil Series [ edit ] Introductory General SeriesCoal W. B. Court , 1951Oil: A Study of Wartime Policy and Administration Studies in the Social Services Civil Defence Works and Buildings Food Agriculture The Economic Blockade Inland Transport Merchant Shipping and the Demands of War Betty Behrens , 1955North American Supply Manpower: Study of War-Time Policy and Administration Civil Industry and Trade Financial Policy, 1939–45 War ProductionLabour in the Munitions Industries The Control of Raw Materials Joel Hurstfield , 1953The Administration of War Production Design and Development of Weapons: Studies in Government and Industrial Organisation Factories and Plant Contracts and Finance Studies of Overseas Supply British Foreign Policy in the Second World War Volume I Llewellyn Woodward , 1970Volume II Volume III Volume IV Volume V Abridged Version , Sir Llewellyn Woodward, 1962British Intelligence in the Second World War Volume I: Its Influence on Strategy and Operations ,F. H. Hinsley , E. E. Thomas, C. F. G. Ransom, R. C. Knight, 1979Volume II: Its Influence on Strategy and Operations , F. H. Hinsley, E. E. Thomas, C. F. G. Ransom, R. C. Knight, 1981Volume III, Part 1: Its Influence on Strategy and Operations , F. H. Hinsley, E. E. Thomas, C. F. G. Ransom, R. C. Knight, 1984[ 1] Volume III, Part 2: Its Influence on Strategy and Operations , F. H. Hinsley, E. E. Thomas, C. F. G. Ransom, R. C. Knight, 1988Volume IV: Security and Counter-Intelligence , F. H. Hinsley, E. E. Thomas, C. F. G. Ransom, R. C. Knight, 1990Volume V: Strategic Deception ,Michael Howard , 1990Abridged Version , F. H. Hinsley, 1993SOE in France M. R. D. Foot , 1966 (repr. 2004)The Emergency Medical Services The Royal Air Force Medical Services The Royal Naval Medical Service The Army Medical Services Administration Campaigns Volume I: France and Belgium, 1939–40, Norway, Battle of Britain, Libya, 1940–42, East Africa, Greece, 1941, Crete, Iraq, Syria, Persia, Madagascar, Malta Volume II: Hong Kong, Malaya, Iceland and the Faroes, Libya, 1942–43, North-West Africa Volume III: Sicily, Italy, Greece (1944–45) Volume IV: North-West Europe Volume V: Burma The Civilian Health and Medical Services Medical Services at War: The Principal Lessons of the Second World War Medicine and Pathology Zachary Cope , 1952Surgery Medical Research Gordon Covell , 1953Casualties and Medical Statistics Supplementary HMSO works [ edit ] The Royal Air Force, 1939–45 Other official departmental histories [ edit ] A number of official histories were produced by government departments. The authors worked under the same conditions and had the same access to official files but their works did not appear in the History of the Second World War.
Supplementary works from other publishers [ edit ] SOE HistoriesSOE in the Far East , Charles Cruikshank, 1983SOE in Scandinavia , Charles Cruikshank, 1986SOE in the Low Countries , M. R. D. Foot, 2001Secret Flotillas Volume I: Clandestine Sea Operations to Brittany 1940–44 , Sir Brooks Richards, 2004Volume II: Clandestine Sea Operations in the Mediterranean, North Africa and the Adriatic 1940–44 , Sir Brooks Richards, 2004Army Series, printed by the War Office, 30 volumesRoyal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Volume I Organisation and Operations , Rowcroft, E. Bertram (1951)Volume II Technical , Bloor, F. R. (1951)Supplies and Transport 2 volumes , Boileau, D. W. (1954)Works service and Engineer stores , Buchanan, A. G. B. (1953)Fighting, support and transport vehicles and the War Office provision for their provision Part 1 Common Problems , Campagnac R. & Hayman P. E. G. (1951)Part 2 Unarmoured Vehicles , Campagnac R. & Hayman P. E. G. (1951)Maintenance in the field 2 volumes , Carter, J. A. H. (1952)Maps and Survey , Clough, A. B. (1952)The Auxiliary Territorial Service , Cowper, J. M. (1949)Movements , Higham, J. B. & Knighton, E. A. (1955)Signal Communications , Gravely, T. B. (1950)Quartering , Magnay, A. D. (1949)Miscellaneous Q services , Magnay, A. D. (1954)Mobilization , McPherson, A. B. (1950)Discipline , McPherson, A. B. (1950)Transportation , Micklem, R. (1950)Army welfare , Morgan, M. C. (1953)Ordnance services , Officers of the directorate (1950)Airborne Forces , Oatway, T. B. H. (1951)The development of artillery, tactics and equipment , Pemberton, A. L. (1950)Manpower problems , Pigott, A. J. K. (1949)Army Radar , Sayer, A. P. (1950)Morale , Sparrow, J. H. A. (1949)Personnel selection , Ungerson, B. (1952)Military Engineering (field) , Pakenham-Walsh, R. P. (1952)Administrative planning , Wilson, H. W. (1952)Special Weapons and types of warfare 3 volumes, Wiseman, D. J. C. (1951–53)Volume I Gas Warfare Volume II Screening smoke, signal smoke, flame warfare insecticide & insect repellent & special common use equipment Volume III Visual & Sonic warfare Royal Air Force Series, printed by the Air MinistryAirborne Forces (1951)Air/Sea Rescue (1952)Air Support (1956)Armament Volume I Bombs & Bombing Equipment (1952)Volume II Guns, Gunsights, Turrets, Ammunition and Pyrotechnics (1954)Maintenance (1954)Signals Volume I Organisation and Development (1958)Volume II Telecommunications (1958)Volume III Aircraft Radio (1956)Volume IV Radar in Raid Reporting (1950)Volume V Fighter Control and Interception (1952)Volume VI Radio in Maritime Warfare (1954)Volume VII Radio Counter-Measures (1950)Works (1956)
Commonwealth official histories
Australian British Canadian New Zealand
