Category: United States Forces

One of the technical pocketbooks in the series.

Based on eyewitness accounts.

A good account which judiciously mixes technical description and oral history. Initially deployed in the Atlantic, they slowly moved to serve in other theaters.

Covers the whole period from 1939 to 1945.

A catalogue of all American ships since the revolution, including those passed to Britain under Lease-Lend and vice-versa with leading details and a brief biography of each.

A significant account of this substantial undertaking, with a wealth of information on the bases as well as the management process.

The usual illustrated format of the series, with good coverage of the Atlantic forces.

Aims to reach a more rounded view of the US contribution.

Articles examining civil-military relations on such topics as aid to Russia, US fleet deployment in 1940–41, and the Italian armistice.

Enjoyable memoirs of an American's war in the Caribbean and Mediterranean in small patrol boats.

Bloodcurdling stories reprinted from magazines. The tales cover the Battle of the Java Sea, convoy ON166, and the sinking of U 66.

A fascinating view of all aspects of the RN at war from strategy to diagrams of A/S screens and including notes of time spent on Eskimo, Hood, Curacao,and Birmingham.

Seeley served and was sunk on USS Rowan. She served in the Atlantic and at Torch and Husky before sinking with heavy loss of life in September 1943 to the torpedo of a German E-boat. Numerous factual errors, but has an air of gritty realism.

An operational history of the deployment of the 479th and 480th USAAF Antisubmarine Groups to England and North Africa in late 1942 and 1943. Also explores the use of radar.

A comprehensive guide with operational summaries of every class which served in the war and full technical descriptions.

A full detailed account which is inevitably almost exclusively concerned with the Pacific.

An excellent semi-official history. Reprinted in paperback in 1957 as Tin Cans.

Called up in 1942 he joined PC 617 as an ensign. She did patrols and convoy work on the East Coast of the US and Caribbean, as well as working with the Q-ship Big Horn. In 1944 she took part in the D-Day landings and stayed in European waters until after VE-Day.

The Assistant Naval Aide to the President was on the fringes of all the great historic meetings and incidents of the war.

The war of the lads who hunt down and destroy the "rattlesnakes of the sea" in PT boats and destroyer escorts.

Some 71 US destroyers were sunk in World War II. The circumstances of each loss are described and a small history of each ship given. Global in scope but detailed in coverage, the book is full of excitement and pathos.

A good modern account of their busy war.

BROWN, Ken. U-boat Assault on America: Why the US was Unprepared for War in the Atlantic. xv, 208p., bibliog., illus., index. Barnsley: Seaforth, 2017. ISBN: 9781473887282.

A wide ranging study which covers everything from recruitment and training to links with the mafia and the poor defences of New York as the US responded to the U-boat threat.

WILLOUGHBY, Malcolm F. The US Coast Guard in World War II. xvii, 347p., illus., index. Annapolis: USNIP, [1957].

A good account of their involvement in lifesaving, Atlantic combat, and the support of invasions. Reprinted in 2016 by the Naval Institute Press, ISBN: 9781591146063.

UNITED STATES. War Department Historical Division. Omaha Beachhead, 6 June-13 June 1944 (American Forces in Action Series). viii, 167, xvi p., illus. Washington: USGPO, 1945.

Instant history at corps level and below. Some naval material. Reprinted and republished on numerous occasions.

UNITED STATES. Department of the Army Historical Division. Utah Beach to Cherbourg, 6 June-27 June 1944 (American Forces in Action Series). xii, 214, [xiv]p., illus. Washington: USGPO, 1947.

 “Prepared in the field” to describe the invasion at corps level and below, as part of a series “especially for the information of wounded men.” Some naval material. Reprinted and republished on numerous occasions.   

HARRISON, Gordon A. Cross-Channel Attack (United States Army in World War II: The European Theater of Operations). xvii, 519p., illus., index. Washington: Department of the Army, 1951.

The official American view of the planning and execution of the assault, up to the fall of Cherbourg on 1 July 1944. The Navy's supporting role is referred to. Reprinted numerous times.                  

MURCH, Muriel, MURCH, David & FAIRWEATHER, Len. The American Forces at Salcombe and Slapton in World War Two. 40p., illus. Plymouth: [authors], 1984.

A collection of annotated photographs, demonstrating the American presence in south-west England in the run up to D-Day.

BRUHN, David D. & HOOLE, Rob. Enemy Waters: Royal Navy, Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Norwegian Navy, U.S. Navy, and Other Allied Mine Forces Battling the Germans and Italians in World War II. 434p., illus. Berwyn Heights, MD: Heritage Books, 2019. ISBN:  9780788458729.

Some 150 illustrations are used to give a comprehensive account of the first conversions of merchant ships to minelayers in 1939, through to the role of minesweepers in assault landings. Follows an earlier volume covering WW1.

WYNN, Stephen. Disaster Before D-Day: Unravelling the Tragedy at Slapton Sands. 224p., bibliog., illus., index. Barnsley: Pen & Sword, 2019. ISBN: 9781526735119.

Retells the story of how some 750 American servicemen lost their lives on a pre-D-Day landing exercise, code-named 'Operation Tiger', on the evening of 23/24 April 1943 when attacked by German E-Boats off Slapton Sands.

CLAMP, Arthur L. Exercises Tiger and Fabius: An Illustrated Account of the American Forces Assault Exercises Held at Slapton Sands in 1944 as a Rehearsal for Part of the D-Day Landings in France. 16p., illus. [Plymouth, author, 1983].

An early account as much concerned with the effects on the South Hams as the tragedy of Tiger.

MOFFAT, Alexander W. A Navy Maverick Comes of Age, 1939–1945. 152p., illus., index. Middletown: Wesleyan UP, 1977. ISBN: 0819550159.

The engaging anecdotal memoirs of a reserve officer who returned to the colours and served afloat and ashore in the Boston area in an active war which culminated in taking the surrender of four U-boats. An earlier version (assumed as no copy seen) was published in 1976 by the same publisher, entitled Maverick Navy (ISBN: 0819550000).

CAREY, Alan C. Sighted Sub Sank Same: The United States Navy’s Air Campaign Against the U-Boat. xx, 217p., bibliog., illus., index. Casemate, 2019. ISBN: 9781612007830.

An interesting narrative history of naval air operations from 1941 to 1945. In 1943 the USAAF transferred responsibility for ASW to the US Navy along with the transfer of B24 Liberators. This is the story of how the eight Liberator squadrons based round the Atlantic along with the growing numbers of escort carriers helped win the Battle of the Atlantic. Spoiled by many typographical errors.

Suggests that the fleet's role in America's ultimate victory was far more crucial than commonly credited. The only single volume to treat every surface naval action involving major American warships, both famous and obscure. It places each action in its larger context and refutes the widely held notion that the attack on Pearl Harbor rendered surface warfare obsolete.

FRIEDMAN, Norman. U.S. Aircraft Carriers: An Illustrated Design History. xii, 427p., illus., index. London: Arms & Armour; Annapolis: NIP, 1983. ISBN: 0853685762 (UK); 0870217399 (US).

Includes information on the Lend-Lease CVEs which played a major role in the Battle of the Atlantic.

TOLLEY, Kemp. Caviar and Commissars: The Experiences of a US Naval Officer in Stalin's Russia. xvii, 289p., bibliog., illus., index. Annapolis: NIP, 1983. ISBN: 1557504075.

       The travelogue-type memoirs of an Assistant Naval Attaché, with some marginal comment on the Arctic convoys. He was a freelance intelligence officer in China, the Baltic states and eastern Europe from 1935 to 1937, and Assistant Naval Attache in Moscow from 1942 to 1944. Full of entertaining anecdote and numerous period photographs. 

A merchant sailor who served in the USN in Subchasers in the Caribbean, DEs in the Pacific and Atlantic. Modestly interesting.

CANT, G. America's Navy in World War II. 279p., illus. London: Hutchinson; New York: John Day, 1943.

A contemporary view of US naval operations to the end of 1942.

SIMPSON, B. Mitchell. Admiral Harold R. Stark: Architect of Victory, 1939-45. xii, 326p., illus., index. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, 1989. ISBN: 0872495965.
A solid if a little uncritical biography of Stark. Covers his controversial responsibility for Pear l Harbor, and has a good account of his time based in London as a key player in cementing the Anglo-American alliance

CROSS, Robert F. Shepherds of the Sea: Destroyer Escorts in World War II. xxi, 295p., bibliog., illus., index. Annapolis, Naval Institute Press, 2010. ISBN: 9781591141440.

        Based on personal tales, this is a history of the workhorse DEs which played an influential role both in the Atlantic and Mediterranean as well as the Pacific.

MESSIMER, Dwight R. Pawns of War: The Loss of the USS Langley and the USS Pecos. 248p., illus. Annapolis: NIP, 1983. ISBN: 0870215159.

The sinking of America’s first carrier and her rescue ship in a brave dash to deliver fighters to the Allied Forces in Java.    

CROSS, Robert F. Shepherds of the Sea: Destroyer Escorts in World War II. xxi, 295p., bibliog., illus., index. Annapolis, Naval Institute Press, 2010. ISBN: 9781591141440.

Based on personal tales, this is a history of the workhorse DEs which played an influential role both in the Atlantic and Mediterranean as well as the Pacific.

ATKINSON, Rick. An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa 1942-1943 (The Liberation Trilogy, Volume 1). 704p., bibliog., illus., index. London: Little Brown, 2003; New York: Holt, 2002. ISBN: 0316725099.

An American view which won the Pulitzer Prize. Has some naval coverage.

A pilot from Patrol Squadron 73 gives a complete history from formation to decommissioning, including the neutrality patrol, convoy support, U-boat sinkings, and operations based on North Africa.

In October 1941, well before Pearl Harbor, the movie actor chose to go to war, having been in the Naval Reserve. In his distinguished career and regularly in combat he served in the Neutrality Patrol, in PQ17 and on Wasp during her Malta Club Runs. He then joined Mountbatten's Combined Operations HQ and was soon in the Mediterranean with the American forces. He served in all the major and some minor Mediterranean landings in various forms of special or diversionary forces. He saw out the war in Washington. A light and self-deprecating account of a brave man.

A well-illustrated semi-official popular account of how US destroyers are armed and operated, with some minimal account of their service in all theaters.

Memoirs of the Allied Supreme Commander and future President. He directed the major European campaigns from Torch to VE-Day.

Principally the story of his service on Niblack in the Atlantic and in support of the Torch, Husky, Salerno, and Anzio landings.

One man's story of convoys, amphibious landings at Casablanca, Sicily, Salerno, Anzio and Southern France and service in the North Atlantic. Reached a fourth edition in 2009.

A good reference book covering the broad sweep as well as the minutiae, but rendered chronically unusable for many purposes by the lack of an index.

A fairly bland biography with some good tales of his war experiences in action.

The American General's story includes a detailed account of his secret meetings with the French in North Africa before Torch, to which he was transported by submarine.

A thorough account which makes clear the importance of the bases ashore and the fleet train afloat.

The story of the Lend-Lease corvette Haste, built for Canada but used by the US Coast Guard. The book is based heavily on the diary kept by the paymaster of the ship in 1943-44. Haste worked mainly on the New York-Caribbean convoys.

A memoir of a USCG Auxiliary unit which patrolled Boston Harbor. A minor but all too necessary corner of the war.

The job of U.S. Navy PB4Y-I Liberator aircrews was to keep German U-boats from successfully operating in the Bay of Biscay and the English Channel by going out day after day, often in miserable weather conditions, on unrelenting search and destroy missions. During the war, FAW-7 Liberators were responsible for the sinking of five U-boats and damaging many more.

The memoirs of a junior officer on Sterett. She served in the Atlantic in 1941–42 and with the Home Fleet during Wasp's attachment. She then went on to have a distinguished career in the Pacific.

This extensive record is largely compiled from diary entries recorded at the time on the instructions of Eisenhower, although he did not see them. More concerned with strategy than tactics.

"The most powerful naval officer in the history of the world" was often seen in Britain as more opponent than ally. A sympathetic study of his career and its controversies.

Some 203 sailors died when the US naval ships Pollux, Truxton, and Wilkes ran aground on the rocky Newfoundland coast in 1942.

In the dark days of 1942, the USN equipped two Q-ships, the Atik and Asterion, the author being supply officer of the latter. This tale of their disastrous deployment is well-told, including a reconstruction of the sinking of Atik by U 123.

A fact-rich but analytically poor attempt to cover every aspect of the relationship between the two countries from shipbuilding to war brides.

An administrative history.

A biography of Rear Admiral J. D. Bulkeley, a Medal of Honor winner who commanded PT boats in the Phillipines and went on to hold senior posts at the Dragoon and Neptune seaborne assaults.

Published in the same format as Rohwer's work on the Axis, it also includes all Allied successes in the Far East.

Mason was a destroyer escort commissioned in March 1944 with a largely African-American enlisted crew. She spent the rest of the war in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.

Describes six months on the USCG Nanok. A rich account of daily life on a converted trawler

A one-volume condensation of his monumental official history.

This is the most monumental of all the official histories and although it has its share of small flaws, it is an indispensable tool for any study of the war at sea.

An anthology of individual experiences of USCG personnel in all theaters of the war.

The story of the volunteer coastal defense forces, the Civil Air Patrol and the Coast Guard Auxiliary formed to counter the U-boat attacks of 1942–43. Has some official photos of sinkings.

First published by the USAF Historical Division in 1961. Covers units at group level and above, complementing the squadron level of his other work.

A reprint of a 1969 USAF Historical Division Publication called Combat Squadrons of the Air Force: World War II. It records lineage, assignments, weapons, bases, operations, and awards for each unit.

An excellent companion volume to his Pacific War Remembered, by the former Director of Oral History at the US Naval Institute, which contains 28 tales from US personnel who served in the Arctic, Atlantic, and Mediterranean.

The story of US destroyer Borie, from crew training beginning in November 1939 to ultimate duty in the Battle of the Atlantic, to patrols and then convoy duty, and finally "Hunter-Killer" operations. Borie's WWII action ended with a spectacular night surface battle with U 405 in which both ships were sunk.

These three reports cover the war service of the USN, including notes on the transfer of ships from the RN to the USN in 1942.

A contemporary account of the career of USS Madison which saw action in the Atlantic and Mediterranean from 1940 to 1944 before moving to the Pacific early in 1945. Has many line drawings of her activities.

United States PT boat operations, with reasonable coverage of their work in the Mediterranean and Channel.

Johnson served as an enlisted man on the cutter Haida and paints an interesting and informative picture of life away from the major theaters of war.

A history of Underwater Demolition Team 11 which, although American, assisted the Australian landings in Borneo. Their job was to clear the approaches to landing beaches, often under fire.

A Pulitzer prize-winning historian produces a frank and engaging personal memoir. As a new ensign in 1944 he joined an LCI which took part in landings at Omaha and Utah beaches and then in southern France before moving to the Pacific.

An unsung American commander who worked effectively as amphibious force commander at Torch, Husky, Salerno, D-Day, and in the Pacific.

An affectionate biography of the maverick Admiral which includes many of his own writings.

Gallery led the American task force which captured U 505. The book describes the career of U 505, coupled with the evolution of the author's plan to catch such a vessel. A thoroughly chauvinistic work. US title: Twenty Million Tons under the Sea.

An autobiography. He was a maverick as well known for his courting of controversy as the capture of U 505.

An engaging memoir, mainly concerned with his time on USS Guadalcanal.