British Army Manuals and TO&Es (Cold War)

Archive > Cold War > Cold War British Sources

This is the collection of British Army Manuals (Pamphlets) of the Cold War that I have either purchased myself, have been sent to archive, or am backing up from other archives to provide redundancy. An alternate free source is linked if I know of one.

Manuals

Infantry Training, Volume IV, Tactics - The Infantry Platoon in Battle (Provisional) (March 1960)†	Infantry Training, Volume IX, Pamphlet No.45, Part 2, The Infantry Platoon (Basic Tactics) (October 1980)‡ (Alternate: Internet Archive)

† Original purchase and scan by Battle Order

‡ Provided for archival by Battle Order

* Backing up public domain material from other archives

Staff Officers' Handbooks (SOHB)

Staff Officer's Handbook, Part I - Organisations (1967) (Alternate: What Do They Know)	Staff Officers' Handbook, Part I - Organisations (1976) (Alternate: What Do They Know)	Staff Officers' Handbook, Part I - Organisations (1984) (Alternate: What Do They Know)
Staff Officers' Handbook, Part I - Organisations (1988) (Alternate: What Do They Know)

Other Archives

• Vickers MG Collection & Research Association (VMGCRA) - Uploads free and paid versions of British field manuals (pamphlets), particularly to do with machine guns but other optics as well including infantry tactics. These manuals in particular might be of interest to those interested in small unit organization:

  • Infantry Training, Volume IV, Tactics, Infantry Section Leading and Platoon Tactics (1950)

  • Provisional Pamphlet for The General Purpose Machine Gun (1962)

• WarEstablishments.net (Defunct as of Jan 2026) - These are Wayback Machine links to digitizations of War Establishments, which are British TO&Es

  • Parachute Battalion (September 1949)

  • Divisional Regiment, Royal Armored Corps (February 1953)

  • Independent Airborne Squadron, Royal Armored Corps (November 1948)

  • Assault Squadron, Royal Engineers (June 1954)

  • Royal Marine Engineer Commando Troop (April 1947)

  • Commando Brigade Signal Troop, Royal Marines (January 1949)