Military Field Manuals 1920-1940

 Military Field Manuals 1920-1940

9,038 pages of military field manuals, dating from 1920 to 1940. Some of the material was not officially declassified until January of 2003. These field manuals shed light on the state of the U.S. military in the days leading up to its involvement in World War II.

The files contain a text transcript of all recognizable text embedded into the graphic image of each page of each document, creating a searchable finding aid. Text searches can be done across all files.

Highlights among the 60 titles include:

Field Service Regulations, United States Army, 1923

Topics include: Tactical organization. Territorial organization. Tables of organization. Command and staff. Field orders. Administrative orders. Annexes, maps, and tables. General, special, and verbal orders. The combined arms. Infantry. Artillery. Cavalry. Signal corps. Research of information. Counterinformation. Transmission of orders, information, and reports. Reconnaissance. Shelter. Sanitation. Fire superiority. Special operations. Medical service in combat. Military police. Censorship. Military postal service.


FM 23-5 Basic Field Manual: U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30, M1 (1940)

This field manual was written to train riflemen for combat using the U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30, M1. The U.S. rifle, caliber .30, M1, was a self-loading shoulder weapon. It was gas operated, clip fed, and air cooled. It weighed approximately 9 pounds and the bayonet an additional pound. The ammunition was loaded in clips of eight rounds. Bandoleers of ammunition for this rifle had six pockets with a total of 40 rounds and weighed 3 1/4 pounds each.

This field manual's main concern is with individual training and such allied subjects as rifle marksmanship, extended order, drill and combat signals, and certain elements of scouting and patrolling.  "Technique of fire" and its team training consisting of instruction in the application of controlled collective fire of rifle fire units.  It also provided training to ensure the ability to maintain the rifle and keep it in operation. Topics covered include: Disassembly and assembly. Care and cleaning. Immediate action and stoppages. Spare parts and accessories. Ammunition. Preparatory marksmanship training. Qualification courses. Range practice. Marksmanship training. Range estimation. Target designation. Rifle fire and its effect.


FM 23-15 Basic Field Manual: Browning Automatic Rifle, Caliber .30, M1918A2 with Bipod (1940)

The Browning automatic rifle, caliber .30, M1918A2, with bipod, was an air-cooled, gas operated, magazine-fed shoulder weapon.  It weighed approximately 21 pounds without sling. The ammunition was loaded in magazines of 20 rounds. The weight of the magazine when empty is 7 ounces; when filled, 1 pound 7 ounces. The Browning automatic rifle, caliber .30, M1918A2, was not capable of semiautomatic fire. There were two cyclic rates of fully automatic fire, normal and slow, which was selected by the firer. The normal cyclic rate is approximately 550 rounds per minute; the slow cyclic rate is approximately 350 rounds per minute. The effective rate of fire for this weapon was from 120 to 150 rounds per minute.

This field manual was designed to give the soldier training that would ensure his ability to maintain the Browning Automatic Rifle, Caliber .30, M1918A2 and keep it in operation. It provided a thorough and uniform method of training individuals to be good automatic rifle shots and of testing their proficiency in firing at known distance targets with the Browning automatic rifle, caliber .30, M1918A2, with bipod. The field manual established guidelines for personnel armed with the Browning automatic rifle, caliber .30, M1918A2, to be trained to fire at moving targets such as tanks, armored vehicles, trucks, and personnel at appropriate ranges. The field manual instructs on technique of fire, the application and control of collective fire.

Topics covered include: Disassembly and assembly. Care and cleaning. Functioning. Operation. Immediate action and stoppages. Spare parts and accessories. Ammunition. Preparatory marksmanship training. Courses to be fired. Range practice. Technique of antiaircraft fire. Marksmanship training. Technique of firing. Mechanical training.


FM 1-10 Air Corps Field Manual Tactics and Technique of Air Attack (1940)

This field manual contains in brief form the technical and tactical doctrines for the employment of the means provided in the Army Air Corps to accomplish air attack. In applying the doctrines governing air attack set forth in this manual, they were interpreted in the light of the Rules of Land Warfare and of the restrictions imposed by ratified treaties and other international agreements to which the United States was a signatory power.

Topics include: Nature of air attack. Objectives for air attack. Means for air attack. Bombardment Aviation. Tactics of air attack. High altitude bombing. Minimum altitude bombing. Use of chemicals. Attack of naval objectives. Counter air force operations. Support of ground forces.


FM 1-30 Air Corps Field Manual Air Navigation (1940)

This field manual is a general treatise on all methods and technique of air navigation and a summary of instruments and equipment used.


FM 8-40 Medical Field Manual: Field Sanitation (1940)

Topics include: respiratory diseases. Intestinal diseases. Insect-borne diseases. Venereal diseases. Responsibility for water supply, Waste disposal. Mess inspection. Development and characteristics of the fly. Mosquito control. Control of lice. Rat control. Prevention and treatment of skin diseases. Oral hygiene.


FM 4-10 Coast Artillery Field Manual: Seacoast Artillery Gunnery (1940)

The purpose of this field manual was to provide a compilation of the basic principles underlying the practice of gunnery for officers conducting the fire of seacoast artillery batteries. It is intended as a textbook for the study of gunnery by those preparing for the duties of battery officers and a reference book for those engaged in the training of seacoast artillery batteries. This field manual covers the more essential theoretical principles which the battery
commander must apply to conduct accurate fire.


FM 6-5 Field Artillery Field Manual (1939)

This field manual contains in condensed form the principles and doctrines for the training and employment of Field Artillery.


FM 27-5 Basic Field Manual: Military Government (1940)

This field manual deals primarily with the policy of military government and its administration.  It also deals with the legality of military government. The Field Manual cites what may legally be done. The field manual furnished a guide for the War Department in planning military government, for commanders and their staffs in its establishment, and for personnel of all ranks in its operation.

Military government is defined in the manual as a form of government which is established and maintained by a belligerent by force of arms over occupied territory of the enemy and over the inhabitants thereof. In this definition the term territory of the enemy includes not only the territory of an enemy nation, but also domestic territory recovered by military occupation from rebels treated as belligerents.


FM 27-10 Basic Field Manual: Rules of Land Warfare (1940)

This field manual instructs on the rules warfare as set at the time by international treaties onto which the United States signed.

Subject headings include: Basic rules and principles, Qualifications of armed forces of belligerents, Hostilities, Conduct of Hostilities. Prisoners of war. Sick, wounded, and dead. Espionage and treason. Communication between belligerents. Military passports, safe conducts, safeguards, and cartels. Capitulations and armistices. Military occupation and government of enemy territory. Penalties for violations of the laws of war. Neutrality.


FM 100-5 Tentative Field Service Regulations Operations (1939)

This field manual contains the principles of troop leading and combat of the combined arms in maneuver warfare and constitutes the basis of instruction of all arms and services for field service. It was meant to be studied in connection with FM 100-10, Field Service Regulations, Administration, which covers the principles of administration and supply. The tentative Field Service Regulations were drafted from the point of view of operations against an opponent armed, organized, and equipped along modern lines.

Topic include: Tactical organization, Territorial organization Infantry, Cavalry, Field Artillery, Coast Artillery Corps, Air Corps, Corps of Engineers, Chemical Warfare Service, Execution of reconnaissance. Counter-reconnaissance. Orders. Command posts. Anti-aircraft security. Protection against mechanized units. Protection against chemicals. Combined arms in the attack. Assembly for attack. Conduct of the defense. Delaying action. Night combat


FM 100-10 Field Service Regulations, Administration (1940)

This filed manual covers all phases of military operations in the field not included in tactics and strategy. These were meant to be studied in connection with FM 100-5, Field Service Regulations, Operations, which covers the doctrines pertaining to leading troops in combat and tactics of the combined arms.


Joint Army and Navy Action in Coast Defense (1920)

This text which details, respectively, the principles established at the time, were to govern the joint action of the Army and Navy in coast defense, the action of the Navy in coast defense, the system of coast defense to be employed by the Army, and the procedure to be followed by the Army in the preparation of defense projects and plans.


CONTENTS

Basic Field Manual Volume III Basic Weapons Part Five Combat Practice Firings (1932)

Engineer Field Manual Volume I Engineer Troops (1932)

Engineer Field Manual Volume II Military Engineering (Tentative) Part One (1932)

Engineer Field Manual Volume II Military Engineering (Tentative) Part Three Construction (1932)

Engineer Field Manual Volume II Military Engineering (Tentative) Part Two Defensive Measures (1932)

Field Artillery, Field Manual, Vol. I (Organization and Drill) (1931)

Field Service Regulations, United States Army, 1923 (1923)

FM 1-10 (Air Corps Field Manual Tactics and Technique of Air Attack) (1940)

FM 1-30 (Air Corps Field Manual Air Navigation) (1940)

FM 4-5 (Coast Artillery Field Manual: Seacoast Artillery Organization and Tactics) (1940)

FM 4-10 (Coast Artillery Field Manual: Seacoast Artillery Gunnery) (1940)

FM 4-15 (Coast Artillery Field Manual: Seacoast Artillery Fire Control and Position Finding) (1940)

FM 4-20 (Coast Artillery Field Manual; Seacoast Artillery Formations, Inspections, Service and Care of Material) (1940)

FM 4-25 (Coast Artillery Field Manual Seacoast Artillery, Service of the Piece, 155-mm Gun) (1940)

FM 4-35 (Coast Artillery Field Manual: Seacoast Artillery, Service of the Piece; 14-inch Gun, M1920MII on Railway Mount, M1920) (1940)

FM 4-40 (Coast Artillery Field Manual: Seacoast Artillery, Service of the Piece, 12-inch Mortar, Railway Artillery) (1940)

FM 4-45 (Coast Artillery Field Manual: Seacoast Artillery Service of the Piece 12-Inch Gun, Railway Mount, M1918 Railway Artillery) (1940)

FM 4-50 (Coast Artillery Field Manual: Seacoast Artillery Service of the Piece 8-Inch Gun, Railway Artillery) (1940)

FM 4-55 (Coast Artillery Field Manuals: Seacoast Artillery Service of the Piece 12-Inch Mortar (Fixed Armament)) (1940)

FM 4-60 (Coast Artillery Field Manual: Seacoast Artillery Service of the Piece 12-inch Gun (Barbette Carriage)) (1940)

FM 4-65 (Coast Artillery Field Manual: Seacoast Artillery Service of the Piece 10-inch Gun (Disappearing Carriage)) (1940)

FM 4-75 (Coast Artillery Field Manual: Seacoast Artillery - Service of the Piece - 6-inch Gun on Barbette Carriage) (1940)

FM 4-80 (Coast Artillery Field Manual: Seacoast Artillery - Service of the Piece - 12- and 14-inch Guns (Disappearing Carriage)) (1940)

FM 4-90 (Coast Artillery Field Manual Seacoast Artillery - Service of the Piece - 3-inch Rapid-Fire Gun (Barbette Carriage)) (1940)

FM 4-110 (Coast Artillery Field Manual: Antiaircraft Artillery Gunnery, Fire Control, and Position Finding, Antiaircraft Guns) (1940)

FM 4-125 (Coast Artillery Field Manual: Antiaircraft Artillery Service of the Piece, 3-inch Antiaircraft Gun) (1940)

FM 4-130 (Coast Artillery Field Manual: Antiaircraft Artillery Service of the Piece, 105-mm Antiaircraft Gun) (1940)

FM 5-10 (Engineer Field Manual Communications, Construction, and Utilities) (1940)

FM 5-15 (Engineer Field Manual, Field Fortifications) (1940)

FM 5-20 (Engineer Field Manual: Camouflage) (1940)

FM 6-5 (Field Artillery Field Manual) (1939)

FM 6-20 (Field Artillery Field Manual: Tactics and Techniques) (1940)

FM 6-40 (Field Artillery Manual Firing) (1939)

FM 6-50 (Field Artillery Field Manual Service of the Piece 75-mm Gun, M1897 and M1897A4, Horse-Drawn and Truck-Drawn) (1939)

FM 6-55 (Field Artillery Field Manual Service of the Piece 75-mm Gun, M2, Horse-Drawn and Truck-Drawn) (1939)

FM 6-65 (Field Artillery Field Manual Service of the Piece - 75-MM Gun, M1917A1, Truck-Drawn) (1939)

FM 6-70 (Field Artillery Field Manual Service of the Piece - 75mm Howitzer, Horse and Truck-drawn) (1939)

FM 7-5 (Infantry Field Manual, Organization and Tactics of Infantry - The Rifle Battalion) (1940)

FM 8-40 (Medical Field Manual: Field Sanitation) (1940)

FM 8-45 (Medical Field Manual: Records of Morbidity and Mortality (Sick and Wounded)) (1940)

FM 8-50 (Medical Field Manual: Splints, Appliances, and Bandages) (1940)

FM 12-105 (Adjutant General's Field Manual: The Army Postal Service) (1940)

FM 21-6 (Basic Field Manual List of Training Publications) (1940)

FM 21-6 (List of Publications for Training) (1940)

FM 21-10 (Basic Field Manual: Military Sanitation and First Aid) (1940)

FM 22-5 (Basic Field Manual Infantry Drill) (1939)

FM 23-5 (Basic Field Manual: U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30, M1) (1940)

FM 23-15 (Basic Field Manual: Browning Automatic Rifle, Caliber .30, M1918A2 with Bipod) (1940)

FM 24-5 (Basic Field Manual: Signal Communication) (1939)

FM 26-5 (Basic Field Manual: Interior Guard Duty) (1940)

FM 27-5 (Basic Field Manual: Military Government) (1940)

FM 27-10 (Basic Field Manual: Rules of Land Warfare) (1940)

FM 30-30 (Basic Field Manual: Military Intelligence: Identification of U.S. Government Aircraft) (1940)

FM 100-5 (Tentative Field Service Regulations Operations) (1939)

FM 100-10 (Field Service Regulations, Administration) (1940)

Joint Army and Navy Action in Coast Defense (1920)

Small Wars Manual, US Marine Corps, 1940 (1940)

Staff Officers' Field Manual Part One Staff Data (1932)

Technique of Army training (1922)

Tentative Infantry Drill Regulations (1932)