Skip to Main Content

United States Army Field Manuals: A Resource Guide and Inventory

Published Indexes

Military Training Camps Association (U.S). Are you trained to do your share? Plattsburg. 1917. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

The resources listed in this section of the guide comprise the Library of Congress' holdings of published indexes for field manuals from 1940-1949. These field manuals and other War Department and Department of the Army publications were identified in FM 21-6, List and Index of Publications. Of these the Library of Congress has identified the following issues in its collections, by date (see list below).

The Bibliography of Scientific and Industrial Reports (BSIR), a catalog of documents made available by the Federal Government after World War II, can also be a useful resource when researching Army manuals. The Office of the Publication Board (PB) was organized to distribute those PB documents. Beginning in 1946, the BSIR was issued periodically to announce the reports available. The technical reports system pioneered by the Publication Board evolved into the National Technical Information System, and Government Reports Announcements & Index is a continuation of the BSIR. The BSIR also listed a large number of documents which would not be thought of as technical reports today, including military manuals, intelligence and interrogation reports, and articles from journals. When requesting add the FM # and year in the Serial Volume/Year/Date space.

Date FM# Description Notes
1940 FM 21-6a U. S. War Dept. Basic field manual. List of publications for training.
48 p.
 
Sept. 1941  FM 21-6b U. S. War Dept. Basic field manual. List of publications for training.
128 p.
 
Feb. 1942 FM 21-6  U. S. War Dept. Basic field manual. List of publications for training, including training films and film strips.
187 p.
 
July 1942 FM 21-6 U. S. War Dept. Basic field manual. List of publications for training, including training films and film strips.
263 p.
 
Oct. 1944 FM 21-6 U. S. War Dept. Field manual. List of publications for training. Field manuals, firing tables, lubrication orders, mobilization training program, technical bulletins, technical manuals, training circulars. 175 p This manual supersedes FM21-6, 1 February 1944, including C 1, 1 March 1944, C 2, April 1944, C 3, 1 May 1944, C 4, 1 June 1944, C 5, 1 July 1944, C 6, 1 August 1944 and C 7, 1 September 1944 except as to Modification Work Orders, Supply Bulletins, and War Department Pamphlets.
Nov.1944 FM 21-6  U. S. War Dept. Field manual. List of publications for training. Field manuals, firing tables, lubrication orders, mobilization training program, technical bulletins, technical manuals, training circulars. 134 p. *This manual supersedes FM 21-6, 1 October 1944.*
Dec. 1944 FM 21-6  U. S. War Dept. Field manual. List of publications for training. Field manuals, firing tables, lubrication orders, mobilization training program, technical bulletins, technical manuals, training circulars. 143 p. *This manual supersedes FM 21-6, November 1944.*
Jan. 1945  FM 21-6 U. S. War Dept. Field manual. List of publications for training. Field manuals, firing tables, lubrication orders, mobilization training program, technical bulletins, technical manuals, training circulars. 149 p. *This manual supersedes FM 21-6, December 1944.*
 May 1945  FM 21-6 U. S. War Dept. Field manual. List and index of War Department publications. 386 p. *This manual supersedes FM 21-6, 20 March 1945 and War Department Pamphlet 12-6, 1 April 1945.*
 Jan. 1946 FM 21-6 U. S. War Dept. Field manual. List and index of War Department publications. 469 p. *This manual supersedes FM 21-6, 10 October 1945.*
Apr. 1946 FM 21-6 U. S. War Dept. Field manual. List and index of War Department publications. 467 p. *This manual supersedes FM 21-6, 10 January 1945.*
Oct. 1946 FM 21-6 U. S. War Dept. Field manual. List and index of War Department publications. 467 p. *This manual supersedes FM 21-6, 10 July 1946.*
Jan. 1947 FM 21-6 U. S. War Dept. Field manual. List and index of War Department publications. 467 p. *This manual supersedes FM 21-6, 10 October 1946.*
July 1947 FM 21-6 U. S. War Dept. Field manual. List and index of War Department publications. 500 p. *This manual supersedes FM 21-6, 10 April 1947.*
Oct. 1947 FM 21-6 U. S. Dept. of the Army. Field manual. List and index of Department of the Army publications. 520 p.
 
*This manual supersedes FM 21-6, 10 July 1947.*
Jan. 1948 FM 21-6 U. S. Dept. of the Army. Field manual. List and index of Department of the Army publications. 531 p. *This manual supersedes FM 21-6, 10 October 1947.*
Apr. 1948 FM 21-6 U. S. Dept of the Army. Field manual. List and index of Department of the Army publications. 528 p. *This manual supersedes FM 21-6, 10 January 1948.*
Jan. 1949 FM 21-6 U. S. Dept. of the Army. Field manual. List and index of Department of the Army publications. 304 p. *This is the final edition of FM 21-6. Future listings and index of Department of the Army publications will be published in the 310-20 series of Special Regulations.*