Three new files, related in topic, today: FM 21-76, Evasion and Escape, in both its 1956 (Korea) and 1977 (Vietnam) editions, and FM 21-78, Prisoner Of War Resistance , from 1981. All in the File section.
Today we have another first: The first two FMs exclusively available on this site, contributed by a reader! We are very grateful for Scott to have scanned FM 5-31 Use and Installation of Boobytraps (1956) and FM 21-50 Ranger Training and Ranger Operations (1962) from our Missing list, and provided the scans to us. We reduced the resolution of the scans in order to scale them down to a web-friendly sice, but the quality is still way better than most of the MHI-scans of older manuals. So a very big thanks to Scott, and you*ll find both manuals in their respective sections, or with the links above.
Yet another batch of field manuals, closing more gaps in the Cold war department. About 20 new manuals, from FM 5-31 Land_Mine_Warfare (1949) to FM 44-1 Antiaircraft Artillery Employment (1952), bringing the total in Cold War to 1458, if I am counting correctly. Yes, thats not significantly more than before, I had to remove some doublettes, too, again. I am sure there are more professional ways to handle a PDF collection like this, but most probably also involve more time than I have on my hands. And it is late, again. Also, I updated the missing list again to reflect the new manuals.
And another small round of additions, this time based on another visit of the Ike Skelton Library Website, after a couple of google results showed us documents we had overlooked at our first trawl. The following manuals have been added:
FM 19-20 Criminal Investiation (1945)
FM 44-95 Service of the Piece Multiple Gun Motor Carriages M15 and M15A1 (1944)
FM 6-100 Tactics and Technique of Division Artillery and Higher Artillery Echelon (1944)
FM 6-105 Armored Division Artillery (1944)
FM 6-120 Field Artillery Observation Battalion (1945)
FM 6-130 Field Artillry Intelligence (1945)
FM 6-135 Forward Observation (1944)
FM 6-195 Service of the Piece. 8-inch Gun M1 and 240-mm Howitzer M1 (1946)
FM 6-77 Service of the Piece, 4.5-inch Gun M1 (1944)
FM 6-77 Service of the Piece. 4.5-Inch Gun M1 (1941)
FM 6-95 Field Artillery Field Manual. Service of the Piece. 240-mm Howitzer, M1918 (1940)
FM 6-120 The Field Artillery Batallion (1952).pdf
FM 6-122 Artillery Sound Ranging and Flash Ranging (1957).pdf
FM 6-130 Field Artillry Intelligence (1948).pdf
FM 6-20-2J Division Artillery, Field Artillery Brigade, and Corps Artillery Headquarters (1984).pdf
FM 6-30 The Field Missle Battalion Corporal (1959).pdf
FM 6-38 Field Artillery Missile (Sergant) (1962).pdf
FM 6-50 Tactics and techniques for the Field Artillery Cannon Battery (C1) (1990).pdf
FM 6-91 Service of the Piece 8 inch Howitzer, M2 Truck-Drawn (1948).pdf
The Missing List has been updated, as well as the document summary. However, there are currently still a lot of errors in my master List (shouldn't try doint this late at night all the time), so the missing list is not really reliable right now. We're working to get things in order.
Just a minor addendum to the previous update, we're continuing our research and managed to add the following FMs to the library today:
FM 101-10 Staff Officers Field Manual. Organization, Technical and Logistical Data (1945)
FM 101-10-2 Staff Officers' Field Manual. Organizational, Technical and Logistical Data (1965)
FM 21-30 Concentional Signs, Military Symbols, and Abbrievations (1943)
FM 21-45 Protective Measures, Individuals and Small Units (1942)
FM 21-50 Military Courtesy and Discipline (1942)
FM 23-50 Browning Machine Gun, Caliber .30, HB, M1919A4 (1942)
FM 24-75 Telephone Switchboard Operating Procedure (1944)
FM 25-6 Dog Transportation (1944)
FM 30-15 Examination of Enemy Personnel Repatriates Documents (1940)
FM 30-25 Military Intelligence. Counterintelligence (1940)'
FM 31-25 Desert Operations (1942)
FM 31-50 Attack on a Fortified Position and Combat in Towns (1944)
FM 44-59 Service of the Piece--Multiple Gun Motor Carriage M15 and M15A1 (1944)
This brings the World War II manuals up to 403 manuals ald 75% of all manuals known to us as existing. Happy New Year everyone!
The free days over the holidays, when not spent with family, provided us opportunity for yet another round of research, reordering, and publishing. By no means done, we at least can present the first results:
A new website with 500+ US Army Field manuals published since 2000 (and yes, this means the Cold War collection will shrink by four years. If anyone is knowlegable enough to explain to us when exactly the US decided on the massive rewriting project that happened at the beginning of the 2000s, we would be gratefu indeed..
roughly 100+ new manuals of all ages, with some really exiting ones amongst them, curtesy of a different FM collection, hosted at https://electrtonicsandbooks.com/edt/manual/index.php?dir=Military%2FUSA%2FArmy%2FField+Manual%2F (thank you, unknown admins, for this!)
Plans for yet another site for the ATPs, FMIs and TCs of modern times, one for the Navy, the Air Force, and the USMC, as soon as we can establish where the FMs actually differe and since when.
Anyway, enjoy the new material, and have a wonderful 2026!
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