Welcome to the World War II Digital Archive of the History Department at California State University, Fresno

This website will maintain a collection of digitized original World War Two documents, some of which are available on other websites and/or through the National Archives II (College Park, Maryland) online services, and some of which are only available on this site. The purpose of the site is to make these documents available to students as well as the larger community and thus to foster a greater understanding of the conflict through the study and analysis of original primary source documents such as division reports, maps, memo’s, and other relevant material. The selection process was an extremely difficult one given the overwhelming number of documents related to the Second World War. This site will include material related to several different countries, (Axis and Allied), as well as different military divisions and areas of conflict. It should be noted, however, that no individual or random documents have been included, only documents that relate to each other and which taken together provide information on a specific division or aspect of the war. The site currently contains the records of the U.S. 7^th Armored Division after-action reports for the years of 1944 and 1945 as well as some of the records of the Deutsches Afrika Korps (German Africa Corps).  

This site is organized along chronological lines and will ultimately have records dealing with all years of the war which began in 1939 and ended in 1945. After clicking on a specific year, a list of all the documents for that year will appear. Every document will appear under a heading, indicating the nature and extent of the documents related to that topic, and then each document will be listed in chronological order. To view an individual document just click on it. An attempt will be made to create a searchable database allowing individuals to easily determine if any documents of interest to them appear on the site but for the time being the only way to identify documents of potential interest is to scroll down underneath each year and note the headings and individual documents listed.

It is necessary to acknowledge and to thank Wesley Johnston, who has carried out extensive research at the National Archives, and who has digitized thousands of pages of National Archives documents related to the U.S. 7^th Armored Division and made them available on his own website. Wesley Johnston provided the digitized records as well as the transcriptions, relating to the 7^th Armored Division, used on this site and provided the History Departments with photocopies of these records. It would have taken much longer to make this site a reality without his assistance. Other individuals who have transcribed or digitized documents are acknowledged elsewhere on this site. Erick Regalado did the actual work of creating this site, assisted in its design and truly made this website possible through his technical expertise and by his willingness to be available during the summer. His effort should also be recognized and he deserves a sincere thank you as well.    

Most of the documents and other materials on this site are government documents and/or part of the National Archive collection of records and are in the public domain (thus copyright issues do not apply). HOWEVER, individuals who copy or use material from this site are responsible for proper citation of the material (citing the National Archives Records and Administration and not just this site) and any other issues such as plagiarism or misuse of the material which might occur. Any documents which are donated and/or which have a copyright will have a statement indicating that copyright does attach and it is the responsibility of the user to avoid any violation of the copyright. Copyrighted documents which have been authorized to appear on this website may not be reproduced or used without gaining individual permission to take such actions.  

Although a description of the documents and some basic facts about specific documents and events are provided, no extensive commentary or analysis has been included. This is a digital archive providing access to the documents and not a site created to advocate any specific theories or arguments in record to World War II. The opinions, attitudes, and views contained within the documents do not reflect those of the History Department at California State University , Fresno or any other individuals at the University. For more information or questions about the appropriate citation of National Archives Documents, please contact the author and supervisor of the Website.

 Dr. Melissa Jordine
             Assistant Professor
             History Department
             California State University, Fresno
             mjordine@csufresno.edu

Copyright Erick J. Regalado & Melissa Jordine