Military Agency Records RG 165

The War Department and the Army Records

Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs (RG 165)

During World War II the War Department General and Special Staffs were concerned with policy-making and planning on the highest level and with supervising all aspects of the military establishment, including the intelligence system. General George C. Marshall was the Chief of Staff from September 1, 1939 until November 18, 1945. He was succeeded by General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who served until July 26, 1947.

Records of the Office of the Chief of Staff

Correspondence

Security-Classified General Correspondence 1942-1947 (Entry 13)

Arranged in four chronological subseries: 1) 1942-1943; 2) 1944-1945; 3) 1946; and, 4) 1947, and thereunder by the War Department decimal classification scheme. Included in the 1942-1943 records is a project series arranged alphabetically by geographic locations and areas, and thereunder by the War Department decimal classification scheme. Boxes 28-387

1942-1943 Project Series

Top-Secret Card Index to Correspondence to the Top-Secret General Correspondence (Entry 14)

Arranged in four chronological subseries: 1) 1941-1943; 2) 1944-1945; 3) 1946; and, 4) 1947, and thereunder according to the War Department decimal classification scheme. Boxes 1-10

Top-Secret General Correspondence 1941-1947 (Entry 15)

Arranged in four chronological subseries: 1) 1941-1943; 2) 1944-1945; 3) 1946; and, 4) 1947, and thereunder according to the War Department decimal classification scheme. Included in the 1941-1943 records is a project series arranged alphabetically by geographic locations and areas, and thereunder by the War Department decimal classification scheme. Boxes 1-11; 1-16; 1-5; and 1-5

1942-1943

1944-1945

1946

1947

Records of the Military Intelligence Division

The Military Intelligence Division (MID) was responsible for the collection, evaluation, and dissemination of military information, and among its major staff duties from 1939 to 1945, included the supervision of United States military attaches and military missions abroad (Note 2), liaison with military attaches and missions in Washington from accredited foreign countries, negative (or counterintelligence) as well as positive intelligence work, and participation in joint intelligence-collection activities with the Navy and with other agencies of the Federal Government.

The March 1942 reorganization of the War Department included a major overhaul of the MID. The Intelligence Branch was replaced by the Military Intelligence Service (MIS), which assumed principal responsibility for collecting, evaluating, and disseminating intelligence information. Additional changes followed during the war, so that by 1944 MIS consisted of the following major components: 1) Information Group 2) Intelligence Group; 3) Administrative Group; and, 4) Counterintelligence Group.

MID records for the interwar period largely consist of a central correspondence file, with associated indexes. The pre-1942 records, for the most part, are located in the Archives I Building (Note 3)

Formerly Security-Classified Intelligence Reference Publications ("Regional File") Received From U.S. Military Attaches, Military and Civilian Agencies of the United States, Foreign Governments, and Other Sources, 1922-1944 (Entry 77)

The records are arranged alphabetically by name or country or region and thereunder according to a numeric-subject filing scheme initially prepared by MID in 1920 as the Index Guide for Classification of Military Information. This index organized intelligence materials for a particular country or region into general and secondary subject categories, each of which was assigned four-digit numerical designations. In the 1940 edition of the index, information was organized into nine general categories: Geographic (1000-1320); Population and Social Conditions (2000-2950); Political (3000-3870); Economic (4000-5070); National Defense (5900-5990); Army (6000-6970); Navy (7000-7945); Air-Civil (8000-8290); and, Air-Military (9900-9960). For each country or region, additional miscellaneous subject files, correspondence, or memorandums are often appended to the end of the numeric-subject files. The Numerical Series of Intelligence Documents ("ID File"), which began in June 1944, was the successor to this series. See Records of the Army Staff (RG 319) for the "ID" File.

Boxes 1-3335

Formerly Security-Classified Intelligence Reference Publications ("P" File) Received From U.S. Military Attaches, Military and Civilian Agencies of the United States, Foreign Government and Other Sources, 1940-1945 (Entry 79)

This series includes intelligence report series issued by Allied, British, and U.S. operations commands; intelligence bulletins and reports periodically issued by specific Allied and U. S. organizations and agencies; and individual publications or special reports. The records are arranged in 24 alphabetical subseries (A-W), thereunder generally in alphabetical order by title, operational command (often by acronym), subject, country, or organization, and thereunder chronologically or numerically by report or publication number. A Continuation of the "P" File is located in Records of the Army Staff (RG 319). Boxes 1-2619

Records of the Captured Personnel and Material Branch (Note 4)

Formerly Security-Classified Interrogation Reports and Correspondence on Prisoners of War (MIS-Y) 1943-1945 (Entry 179)

The records in this series constitutes a general reference collection of interrogations and intelligence reports received or collected by the Branch in Washington, DC. The series is organized into several subseries. Boxes 349-772

Reports - Combined Services Detailed Intelligence Center (CSDIC) Allied Forces HQ

Reports-Various

Records of the Central European Branch

Security-Classified General Correspondence 1919-1944 (Entry 181)
Boxes 932-956