World War Two Studies
Research Source
Important primary sources, offering insight into many aspects of the war, including government policy, the war in the Pacific, and the war in Europe.
Sources include the records of British espionage and sabotage organisation The Special Operations Executive; and private papers of American General Robert L Eichelberger from the Pacific war.
What collections are included in this module?
Cabinet Papers: Series One
Papers concerning Defence and Operational Subjects, 1940-1945: Winston Churchill, Minister of Defence, Secretariat Papers
The Diaries of James V Forrestal, 1944-1949
Complete and unexpurgated diaries from the Seeley G Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University
Japan and America: Series One
The Papers of General Robert L Eichelberger (1886-1961)
The private papers of General Robert L Eichelberger, commander of the Amphibious Eighth during the Pacific War, in charge of all ground occupation troops in Japan (1945-1948) and second in command to General Douglas MacArthur, provide a mass of detail on the Second World War and the post-1945 period, on reconstruction and on relations between Japan and America.
Part 1 covers Subject Files on World War II and Japan. Campaign reports, Eichelberger's dictated notes, special reports and staff studies on terrain and likely difficulties to be encountered, Naval Intelligence reports, directives from General Douglas MacArthur, operations instructions, administrative orders, after action reports, interviews with Japanese prisoners and material on the Pearl Harbor Investigative Reports provide extensive documentation on the War in the Pacific, 1941-1945. In addition, there is much material on Operation Coronet (the planned Allied invasion of Japan) and the economic, educational, social and political restructuring of Japan during the period of occupation after World War II.
Part 2 covers material on events in Japan, providing monthly non-military summaries, files on the political reorganization of Japan 1947-1949, public health and welfare reports, 1945-1949, industrial reparations and Eisenhower's inspection of Kobe Base in May 1946. There are also files on the Sorge spy reports and material on Korea. Also included are all of Eichelberger's diaries for 1940-1951, which are very detailed and contain substantial daily entries.
Part 3, comprising Eichelberger's correspondence 1903-1961, provide scholars with a vast array of revealing personal and official letters. The bulk of the material is for the years 1942-1961. There are many war-time letters from General Eichelberger to his wife, Emma Gudger Eichelberger, describing the fighting in the Pacific, the nature of his relations with General Douglas MacArthur, the condition and morale of troops as well as the difficulties of jungle life, and events in Japan after 1945.
Finally, Part 4 brings together further subject files, writings, speeches, photographs and oversized material. Subject files relating to the Siberian Expedition, 1917-1924, document Eichelberger's early career, while photographs, oversize items and printed material provide a wide array of further information on Eichelberger's army career.
Japan and America: Series Two
The O'Ryan Mission to Japan and Occupied China, 1940
Special Operations Executive: Series One
SOE Operations in Western Europe
Special Operations Executive: Series Two
SOE Operations in the Balkans
Soviet War Posters
The Tass Poster Series from the University of Nottingham
Key Data
Period Covered
- 1930-1955
Subjects
- Battle of Britain
- Pearl Harbor
- Government and military strategy
- European War
- War in the Pacific
- Atomic bomb
- Marshall Plan
- Espionage
- Sabotage and guerilla warfare
- Post-war reconstruction
- Propaganda
Material Types
- Government files
- Personal writings, diaries and journals
- Correspondence
- Posters and propaganda materials
Header image - © AKG Images / ullstein bild / Heinrich Hoffmann