TRANSPORTATION Official History Of The Second World War: Army Series

his volume forms part of the official Second World War, 1939-45: Army series of monographs and was originally issued as a RESTRICTED post-war publication compiled under the authority of the Army Council. Its purpose was to preserve and analyse the operational experience gained in the development and execution of military transportation during the Second World War. Written soon after the conflict by officers and specialists directly involved in wartime transport planning and execution, the study offers an authoritative and contemporaneous account of British Army transportation practices.

The movement of troops and materiel during World War II was a massive logistical undertaking, characterised by "total war" mobilisation where civilian infrastructure, such as railways and ports, was fully integrated into military supply chains. Allied success was largely driven by a superior, global logistics system that maintained supply lines over 10,000 miles long, while Axis forces struggled with resource shortages and overextended lines.

The book is organised by theatre of operations, with chapters covering:

Home Base and the War Office

France, 1939-1940

Middle East and Libya

Iraq and Persia

North Africa and Italy

Northwest Europe, 1944-1945

India Base and Ceylon

Burma and the Far East

Miscellaneous theatres, including Norway (1940) and East and West Africa