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RESTRICTED US TM-E 30-451 WAR DEPARTMENT HANDBOOK ON GERMAN MILITARY FORCES 1945 (not a modern reprint!)

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This is NOT a modern reprint but a 100% original World War II RESTRICTED TM-E 30-451 War Department HANDBOOK ON GERMAN MILITARY FORCES 15 March 1945 as published by the American Military Intelligence Service in Washington, D.C. by order of the Secretary of War. The purpose of this restricted English language military technical manual was to give United States military personnel a better understanding of the principal characteristics of the German military forces including its organizations, battle tactics, defenses, supply, weapons, uniforms, insignia, equipment, etc.

This is a remarkable original 78 year old, 600+ page American War Department manual prepared and disseminated to very high-ranking military personnel within organizations that needed to know as much as possible about the military forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. At the time it was published in very, very limited quantities (we think less than 1000 were distributed (!) as mentioned on page II), its use was restricted “to persons of undoubted loyalty and discretion”, but of course it was eventually declassified with other such documents at the end of the war.

The book has a very comprehensive text, 24 color pages of uniforms and insignia, medals, etc. as well as page after page of charts, maps, and black & white illustrated pages. It explains the branches of Adolf Hitler’s Wehrmacht, its military structure / organization, battlefield tactics, fortifications and defenses (including the ‘dragon’s teeth’ of the Westwall), ordnance - its distribution and storage, maintenance and repair of equipment, troop movements, food rationing, pistols, machine guns and rifles, mortars and rocket projectors, Nebelwerfer and Flak, military vehicles (from VW Schwimmwagen to tanks), grenades and mines, radio equipment, pontoon bridges, gas masks, flame throwers, uniforms (summer, winter, Panzer, Waffen-SS camouflage), insignia, ranks, decorations, medals, awards, etc.

The heavily illustrated manual consists of 8 x 10-½ inch dark tan linen covered hard covers containing 600+ well-illustrated pages. The pages are not bound in the manner typical for books, but held inside the sturdy covers with a thick black shoelace, so obsolete pages could be removed or new, revised pages added when necessary. This was the last edition printed and therefor the most complete edition of this HANDBOOK ON GERMAN MILITARY FORCES - it weighs 3 pounds 3 oz!

This late-war handbook has a separate chapter on Hermann Goering’s Luftwaffe that identifies all the famous Nazi air force airplanes including the jet-propelled Me 262 and the Me 163 rocket-propelled interceptor. It includes a lot of late-war clothing and equipment including fuses, land mines of all kinds, chain saws, etc., etc.

Inside the front cover is the receiving stamp of the Message Center of an Infantry Battalion dated 20 April 1945. The book appears to be 100% complete exactly as published in 1945. A superb and very rare reference book on the German Wehrmacht in the English language!

The 24 color plates in this rare original military handbook are printed on better quality, heavier and whiter paper than the rest of the book. The paper in some sections of the book is still as white as when the book was printed while other sections have yellowed somewhat with age. There is one torn page (Section IX Page 20) with a small 1 x 3 inch piece (thumb size!) torn from the outer edge but amazingly scotch taped back in place. There is no writing on the pages and nothing has been cut out. No odor.