"The General Staff was established as a separate and distinct staff organization, with supervision over most of the branches of the military service-both line and staff. The General Staff was under the direction of the Chief of Staff, who in turn acted under direction of the President or of the Secretary of War representing him. The duties of the General Staff were to gather information and to prepare plans for the national defense and for the mobilization of the military forces in time of war; to investigate and report upon all questions affecting the efficiency of the Army and its state of preparation for military operations; and to render professional aid and assistance to the Secretary of War and to general officers and other superior commanders. As originally constituted the War Department General Staff included a Chief of Staff, a General Council, and three divisions." By 1918 there were five divisions: Personnel, Military Intelligence, Operations and Training, Supply, and Operations. The records described in this group are "primarily for the years 1903 to 1947-from the inception of the War Department General Staff until the Department of the Army replaced the War Department…This inventory is divided into four sections: records of the Office of the Chief of Staff, records of the General Staff divisions, records of the Special Staff division, and records of boards."
Harry W. John and Olive K. Liebman
(1967), 2007, CD-ROM, Graphic Images, Adobe Acrobat v6, PC or Mac, 68 pp.
ISBN: 9780788440410
101-CD4041
