Marshall Victory Report + Naval Radio Traffic On The Eve Of The Armistice (from original scanned-in source docs)

In late 1945, General Marshall made his final report on the conduct of the Second World War to President Harry Truman. The government decided to declassify his report and make it available to the general public, price $1. It tells you -- not with the polish of history on it, but at the time -- what the people running the American war effort were up to; what decisions they made and why they made them. Strategy, tactics, logistics, weapons development and doctrine, the rations the GI's ate, why we never produced a heavy battle tank, why we didn't invade Normandy in 1943... everything, all in minute detail, including a lot of stuff that never seems to make it into the history books. (You'll never fully appreciate, for example, what a horrendously complex operation DE-mobilization after a global war is until General Marshall explains to to you.)

They must have printed millions of these, each with its own advertisements for local businesses and a section of What Our Community Did During The War, but after a lifetime of haunting estate sales and antique shops this is the only copy I have ever been able to find. And now it is yours. I've scanned in everything in order, blank pages included. All you have to do is print out double-sided copies on heavy paper stock and have it spiral bound, and you will have a very fair copy of the original.

I've also included a completely unique historical document -- a transcript of the telegraph traffic on the eve of the Armistice as recieved by the British Home Fleet. In 1917, my grandfather ran away from home and joined the Navy as soon as he heard we'd declared war on the Kaiser. He spent the rest of the war working in the #2 magazine of the USS Arkansas, itself attached to the Sixth battle Squadron, which in turn was attached to the Home Fleet. Pop-pop had a friend who was telegraph operator on board USS New York, the American flagship, and asked him to save this document, thinking it might be interesting to look at later. So -- despite a potential firing squad for both of them, since the war was still officially on -- his friend stuck these papers down his pants leg and walked off the ship with them. It contains a full account of His Majesty's address to the Fleet, the Brits and Germans talking urgently with each other about where everybody's minefields and submarines were, and the British and American task forces signing off to each other. (The British farewell is especially lulzy. 'Come back soon' indeed...)

Pop-pop is long gone, as his his ship. But the document has survived, still held together by a rusty steel paper clip. There is very likely no other copy in existence.... except yours. Keep it well for me. (The original scan was of both top and bottom of each page, since the original stock was too long to fit on my scanner. Many thanks to the kind anon on 4chan who photoshopped them together).