Digital Resources

Digitized and born-digital materials detailing the design, history and use of the submachine gun and assault rifle are found here. Materials related to training, veterans' personal experiences, specific units, battles and related materials are included.

Digital Resources

Freely Accessible Digital Sources
Subscription Databases

The resources below are all available from the Library of Congress website and include primary sources materials from our digital collections, freely accessible external online sources, and first-person accounts from the Veterans History Project, research guides on related topics, and special presentations.

Click on Search the Veterans Collections and do a search for the words submachine gun, or assault rifle, or search for a specific weapon. You can limit the search using the available limits such as Conflict or Era, or Branch of Service.

Defense News External This link opens in a new window

Founded in 1986, Defense News provides the global defense community with the latest news and analysis on programs, policy, business and technology. Coverage includes: defense policies, politics and legislation; worldwide market developments and trends; new products, technologies and programs; interviews with defense leaders; defense industrial plans, finance and developments; military budgets and the politics of defense; commentary and analysis; Special Reports on defense technologies, regional activities and major programs; and military budgets and the politics of defense.
Digital Military Newspaper Library External This link opens in a new window

The Digital Military Newspaper Library is an ongoing project to house, organize and preserve contemporary and historic military newspapers and periodicals. These publications represent all Branches of the U.S. military from many geographical regions with an emphasis on the state of Florida, but also including a submarine base at Kings Bay Georgia, National publications for each Branch, periodicals from both Puerto Rico and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, along with historic content from the Panama Canal Zone. The Digital Military Newspaper Library's continuing goal is to archive and preserve military perspective by offering full geographical representation of historic through current issues of select U.S. Military publications.
Freely Accessible Military Science Online Resources This link opens in a new window

A collection of publicly available military science online resources selected by Library of Congress staff.
Janes External This link opens in a new window

Janes is a leading provider of diverse global market and economic information, is a free-to-view website newly developed especially for the aerospace and defense industries worldwide. The site features weekly in-depth analysis studies, info graphics, videos and interviews. In addition to the very latest daily insight across defense and security sectors, the site also displays additional content categories, video,and more detailed analysis pieces.

The subscription resources marked with a padlock are available to researchers on-site at the Library of Congress. If you are unable to visit the Library, you may be able to access these resources through your local public or academic library.

Digital National Security Archive External This link opens in a new window
The Digital National Security Archive (DNSA) contains the most comprehensive set of declassified government documents available. Each of these meticulously indexed collections is compiled by top scholars and experts and exhaustively covers the most critical world events, countries, and U.S. policy decisions from post World War II through the 21st century. These collections offer unparalleled access to the defining international strategies of our time. Glossaries, chronologies, bibliographies, overviews, and photographs are included.

For a complete list of the collections included see the listing in the E-Resources Online Catalog.
EBSCO Military & Government Collection External This link opens in a new window
Designed to offer current news pertaining to all branches of the military, this database offers a thorough collection of periodicals, academic journals and other content pertinent to the increasing needs of those sites. The Military & Government Collection provides cover-to-cover full text for nearly 300 journals and periodicals. The database also includes full text for 245 pamphlets and offers indexing and abstracts for nearly 400 titles. Some publications covered in this database include Air Force Comptroller, Army Reserve Magazine, Defence Studies, Global Security Review, JFQ: Joint Force Quarterly, Military Technology, National Review, Combat Edge, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, Foreign Affairs, Naval Forces, and many more. Many full text titles are available in native (searchable) PDF, or scanned-in-color.
Janes Defense & Security Intelligence & Analysis External This link opens in a new window
Provides full text access to Janes research in defense, terrorism, market intelligence, national security and transportation. Includes: Defense Equipment Library Defense Magazine Library Market Intelligence Library Security Library Sentinel Security Assessment Library Special Reports Library, Transport Library Air Launched Weapons Image Library Terrorism and Insurgency Centre. Also included is access to IHS Jane's Navigating the Emerging Markets reports, a series of more than 50 country reports focusing on the critical aspects of defence industry, such as budgets, procurement trends and offset regulations. The site also contains exclusive reports exploring trends in strategy, tactics and operations of the main global terrorist groups, frequently accompanied by maps, charts and photos and Daily News Digest, a daily feed of news from around the world provided by NewsEdge.

Access is provided to all users, public researchers and staff, using their Registered Reader account. The database will timeout after 60 minutes of inactivity and cannot be reauthenicated, through the Janes platform. If a timeout occurs, users will need to start a new database session
NewspaperARCHIVE External This link opens in a new window
NewspaperARCHIVE.com is the world's largest online newspaper archive. Featuring billions of articles from historical newspapers around the U.S. and the world, NewspaperARCHIVE makes exploring history and genealogy easy and fun. Discover fascinating news in archived newspapers hundreds of years old - including obituaries, birth announcements, sports articles, comics, and more to fill in the life stories you are interested in. All of our historical newspapers are full-page and fully searchable.
Service Newspapers of World War Two External This link opens in a new window
Contains an extensive range of both rare and well-known wartime publications for soldiers serving in major theatres around the world. Publications are included from many key nations involved in the conflict, such as the US, Canada, New Zealand, India, and the countries of Europe, Africa and the Middle East. This digital resource reveals the story of war as told by the newspapers that brought information, entertainment and camaraderie to the forces at home and overseas. Explore over 200 titles from key nations across the globe that took part in the world-changing conflict.

From the Submachine Gun to the Assault Rifle: Their History, Development and Use: A Resource Guide

Digital Resources

Digital Resources