Grandes Unités Françaises (full title: Guerre 1939-1945 Les Grandes Unités Françaises) is a monumental six-volume (the fifth volume is actually composed of four separate works) World War IIorder of battle and military unit history reference compiled by the historical service of the chief of staff of the French Army. The volumes were published in Paris by the Imprimerie Nationale.
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.
In modern use, the order of battle of an armed force participating in a military operation or campaign shows the hierarchical organization, command structure, strength, disposition of personnel, and equipment of units and formations of the armed force. Various abbreviations are in use, including OOB, O/B, or OB, while ORBAT remains the most common in the United Kingdom. An order of battle should be distinguished from a table of organisation, which is the intended composition of a given unit or formation according to the military doctrine of its armed force. As combat operations develop during a campaign, orders of battle may be revised and altered in response to the military needs and challenges. Also the known details of an order of battle may change during the course of executing the commanders' after action reports and/or other accounting methods as combat assessment is conducted.
The French Army, officially the Ground Army to distinguish it from the French Air Force, Armée de l'Air or Air Army, is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other four components of the Armed Forces. The current Chief of Staff of the French Army (CEMAT) is General Jean-Pierre Bosser, a direct subordinate of the Chief of the Defence Staff (CEMA). General Bosser is also responsible, in part, to the Ministry of the Armed Forces for organization, preparation, use of forces, as well as planning and programming, equipment and Army future acquisitions. For active service, Army units are placed under the authority of the Chief of the Defence Staff (CEMA), who is responsible to the President of France for planning for, and use, of forces.
The volumes progress chronologically through the war, are divided by sections devoted to each corps or division of the French Army, and detail, day-by-day, the subordination of the units, their sub-units, location of the command posts, and the actions of the units.
The volumes are written in French, but the tabular organization of much of the information allows the volumes to be used by any researcher familiar with French Army terminology of World War II. The entire series runs to thousands of pages; Part 2 of Volume 5 alone has 1,422 pages.
The volumes, their content, and their publication date are:
Volume 1. 1940: Corps, Fortified Regions, and Groups. 1967.
Volume 2. 1940: Infantry Divisions, Light Chasseur Divisions, and North African Divisions. 1967.
Volume 4. November 1942 - July 1944: French forces in North Africa, French Expeditionary Corps in Italy, subordinate divisions of these corps, and the operations on Corsica and Elba. 1970.
Volume 5, Part 1. August 1944 - May 1945: 3rd Algerian, 4th Moroccan, 9th Colonial, and 27th Alpine Divisions. 1972.
Volume 5, Part 2. August 1944 - May 1945: 1 March, 2nd Moroccan, 10th Infantry, 14th Infantry, 1st Armored, 2nd Armored, and 5th Armored Divisions. 1975.
Volume 5, Part 3. August 1944 - May 1945: I and II Corps. 1976.
Volume 5, Part 4. Maps to accompany Volume 5, Parts 1 through 3. 1976.
Volume 6. August 1944 - May 1945: The Atlantic and Alpine Fronts. 1980.
Among order of battle researchers and enthusiasts, the volumes are often referred to as the GUF, or sometimes, the LGUF.
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