Civil Affairs in World War II

While the concept of civil affairs has been around for centuries, it was not until WWII that the U.S. government institutionalized the program in the Army. The key missions of civil affairs during WWII consisted almost entirely of military governance. Civil affairs in WWII was successful in developing and instituting training programs, in deploying many small detachments specialized in installing the types of governance and infrastructure that were known to be in need of rebuilding, and in recognizing the end of military involvement in civil affairs when there was no longer interference from civilians or the need to support a military mission.