BA-MA ZA Series

[Mihai Pica]

Hello all, does anyone have any idea if the ZA Studies are available also at NARA in the US or somewhere else ?

https://invenio.bundesarchiv.de/basys2- ... 7bfa0b2a5/

Attaching a link to the first entry as I can't link the fund itself

Thank you

[Mori]

These are identical to the Foreign Military Studies. Check sturmpanzer.com.

I have always thought that authors who quote these well-known sources as "BA-MA ZA 3..." instead of "NARA FMS..." do it with the sole purpose of blurring the reference. At least such was the case when BA-MA catalog was difficult to access (that is: 5 years ago or so).

[Mihai Pica]

Thank you Mori, will take a look.

[Andrew Arthy]

Hi Mihai and Daniel,

The ZA 3 files I have photographed actually contain much more than just the Foreign Military Studies. They include drafts, correspondence between the study authors and former Luftwaffe personnel, sketch maps, and lots of copies of source documents. There is a lot of repetition between the files, and much of the material can be found elsewhere, but they can still be very useful.

Cheers,
Andrew A.
Air War Publications - www.airwarpublications.com

[Tom Peters]

There are actually several versions of the FMS documents at College Park, that contain drafts, German language versions and so forth. I would imagine the ZA3 files contain these, but the organization is unknown to me other than the final versions.

Mad Dog

[Mihai Pica]

Hello all, indeed after posting I noticed that there are quite big differences between what is at BA/Ma and what ended up in the US as "finished studies".

Oh well, more stuff to order then !

All the best

[Mori]

Can you give an example (besides what Andrew mentioned), so that I realize the difference too?

[Tom Peters]

Many times, the organization of files at NARA leave me confused. I would of thought that it make more sense to include all versions of the same numbered document in the same set of files. However this is not the case. For the FMS documents, we have different locations for German language versions, English language drafts, English final versions, etc. Furthermore, these files can contain items not found in other versions. In many cases maps (sometimes in color) or other graphics that are in the German drafts are not in the English versions. I dont have the entire index in front of me, but from pull slip copies, I have the B-series English final versions located in RG549, 290 (stack)-35 (row)-30 (compartment)-1 (shelf). The english drafts are at RG549, 290-35-29-7. C-series drafts are at RG549, 290-35-32-4. A limited series of English translation of D series documents is at RG549 290-36-6-1.

All these numbers other than the RG549 change sometimes, so you have to consult the index books each time.

If you really want to make sure you get all the information you need to look through the final and draft versions. I have done this in many cases, to assemble a final-final versions with parts from multiple versions.

Mad Dog