World War II Research
There are hundreds of locations to conduct your own research, depending on what you are looking for. There are various types of information to look for, including:
The Modern Military Records Unit (NWCTM) has custody of the Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1917 - (Record Group 407) and Records of U.S. Army Commands, 1942 - (Record Group 338). Military unit files among these records consist mostly of historical reports, after action reports, unit journals, and general orders. Because the files are arranged hierarchically, identification of the specific unit (i.e., division, regiment, and battalion) is necessary before a search can be conducted. The Modern Military Records Unit is located at 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD, near the University of Maryland-College Park campus. Research room hours are 8:45 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Monday and Wednesday; 8:45 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday; and 8:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, except legal holidays.
Unit Rosters are in the custody of the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis. You may contact them, but for most of the war, these files are no longer extant. Their mailing address is the Military Personnel Records, National Personnel Records Center, 9700 Page Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63132-5100.
The U.S. Army Military History Institute, 22 Ashburn Drive, Carlisle Barracks, Carlisle, PA 17013-5008, has a large collection of published unit histories. Unit histories may also be available in bookstores, in libraries, from the publishers, from the units themselves, or from various veteran's associations. They are often published in limited quantities, however, and are frequently out of print. These works may be borrowed by libraries through the interlibrary loan service. You may wish to contact your local library concerning this service.
Replacing soldiers killed and wounded in combat units during the war was done on an individual basis, as has been the practice for most American wars. In World War II, except for those soldiers who arrived as a unit at the beginning of the war, men were sent individually to units to replace casualties.
Rather than pulling battle depleted units off the line and replacing them in combat with a fresh, rested unit, Army Chief of Staff George Marshall and Gen. Leslie McNair, Commander of Army Ground Forces, implemented the individual replacement system. The American Army strategy was to create replacement depots, called "repple-depples" by the GIs. These depots were located near the battle fronts, so that individual soldiers could be sent by generals to companies and battalions to replace the men lost.
This practice of sending individual soldiers to depleted infantry companies was often a disadvantage to both the soldier and the company. Obviously the replacement was not battle tested. In certain situations in the latter part of the war, the soldier had completed basic training, but had not been trained for infantry.
Because of heavy casualties, especially in the Battle of the Bulge, attrition required that men be pulled from noncombat units and placed in combat because the numerical need was so great. The new soldiers sometimes had difficulty assimilating. They felt alienated and unwelcomed and at first resented by the battle-hardened men because they were replacing buddies who had been killed or wounded.
Because the new men were not always properly trained, they sometimes caused extra risk for the others, due to their lack of awareness of the reality of combat. If a replacement proved to be capable, then he would be accepted and become part of the tightly knit group. However, some replacements quickly became casualties, so there was wariness among the old-timers at first, a reluctance to even learn the name of the newly arrived soldier.
In order to mitigate the failings of the replacement system, some leaders would implement an unofficial policy to protect both the incoming soldier and the group. The unit commanders would deliberately hold the replacements back until there was a break in active combat. This was done so that the new soldiers could at the very least get some infantry training with the group in a more relaxed setting, where lives were not on the line.
Once a soldier in World War II was sent to a combat division, he was not replaced unless he became a casualty. Unlike the practice in later wars, the World War II combatant remained overseas and ready for combat until the war ended.
| Depot | Location | Purpose(s) |
| Training Center No. 1 | Shrivenham, England | Retraining of limited assignment men for new duty |
| 2nd Replacement Depot | Thaon, France | US Seventh Army direct support depot |
| 3rd Replacement Depot | Verviers, Belgium | US First Army direct support depot |
| 9th Replacement Depot | Fontainebleau, France | Officer and officer candidate retraining center |
| 10th Replacement Depot | Lichfield, England | Processing of hospital returnees |
| 11th Replacement Depot | Givet, Belgium | US First Army intermediate depot; US Ninth Army intermediate depot |
| 12th Replacement Depot | Tidworth, England | Theater reception depot; Enlisted retraining center |
| 14th Replacement Depot | Neufchâteau, France | US Third Army intermediate depot; US Seventh Army intermediate depot |
| 15th Replacement Depot | Le Havre, France | Theater reception depot |
| 16th Replacement Depot | Compiegne, France | Enlisted retraining center |
| 17th Replacement Depot | Angervilliers, France | US Third Army direct support depot |
| 18th Replacement Depot | Tonges, Belgium | US Ninth Army direct support depot |
| 19th Replacement Depot | Etampes, France | Processing of hospital returnees |
| 51st Replacement Battalion | Charleville, France | US Fifteenth Army direct support depot |
| 54th Replacement Battalion | Marseilles, France | Theater reception depot |