Papers of Lt Col Robert Verelst Boyle, 1897-1943, including: Battalion standing orders of the 1st Battalion The Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire) (Gale & Polden, Aldershot, 1930); notes and correspondence regarding the Combined Operations Training Centre, Comox, Vancouver Island, Canada, 1942-1943; papers relating to lectures given while GSO1, HQ Combined Chiefs of Staff, USA, including: text of lecture on commandos, Economic Society, Detroit, 4 May 1942; article on commandos in Military Review, Command and General Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Jul 1942; text of lecture considering how to attack a strongly defended coast, Junior Staff College, RMC Kingston, Ontario, Canada, Aug 1942; text of lecture on commandos given to the Annual Convention of American Newspaper Editors, New York, 1942; text of lecture on ship-to-shore operations, given at the US Army Amphibious Training Centre, 1942; text of lecture on preparations for the resumption of the land offensive, given to US Army Armoured Training Centre, 1942.

Formal photographs of Combined Chiefs of Staff events at Fort Benning and Fort Jackson, USA, including photographs of FM Sir John Dill, General George Marshall, Chief of Staff, US Army, Admiral Louis Mountbatten, Chief of Combined Operations, Lt Gen Mark Clark and Lt Col Dennis Price, meeting troops, watching parades, demonstrations and exercises, and inspecting weaponry. Also photograph labelled 'My official yacht whilst I started and commanded the Canadian Combined Operations Training Centre at Comox, Vancouver Island, 1942-43'.Photograph album, invitation and programme of events for the Presentation of New Colours to the Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire), in Famagusta, Cyprus, 7 Oct 1949.

Also items belonging to Boyle's father in law Lt Col Adrian Grant Duff: The Pathan Revolt in North-West India by H Woosnam-Mills (Civil and Military Gazette Press, Lahore, India, 1897) and Razmak station standing orders (Commercial Steam Press, Dera Ismail Khan, India, 1931).

Edition of Combined Operations pamphlet number 14(b) prepared under the direction of the Chief of Combined Operations entitled, Landing Craft Signal Pamphlet, relating to signals requirements for RN landing craft; methods of communication available to the RN; radio/telegraphy and wireless/telegraphy equipment procedure; formation deployments; and flag signalling, Aug 1942. Edition of Combined Operations pamphlet number 14(e) prepared under the direction of the Chief of Combined Operations, entitled R/T Procedure Pamphlet, relating to radio/telegraphy procedure for combined operations, including table of the phonetic alphabet; procedure phrases; call signs; and message verification procedure, Aug 1943

• Memoir by Captain Stanley Brian de Courcy-Ireland, A Naval Life (Englang Publishing, Poulton, Gloucestershire, second edition, 2002), written in 1990, detailing his life and career, 1900-1951, including the scuttling of the captured German Fleet at Scapa Flow, 1919, and his service at Combined Operations Headquarters, 1944-1945, under Maj Gen Robert Edward Laycock. Also, further notes on the scuttling of the German fleet, 1919, written as a review of Dan Van Der Vant's THE GRAND SCUTTLE (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1982); notes on the visit, 25 Dec 1944, to HMS AJAX in port at Piraeus, Greece, by Archbishop Damaskinos Papandreou, Archibishop of Athens, for talks with Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

Papers and photographs relating to Ebbutt's career, 1944-1946, including Senior Bombardment Liaison Officer's notebook containing manuscript accounts and technical notes on shore bombardment and targets engaged by ships lying off southernFrance, 1944-1945; Senior Bombardment Liaison Officer's diary, 1944-1945; notebook with manuscript notes by British Naval LiaisonOfficer [1944], with three photographs of a RN destroyer (Pennant number, G86). Printed booklet in French entitled 'La Première DivisionFrançaise Libre' [1945]. Citation of the award of the French Croix de Guerre with Silver Star to Ebbutt, and related papers, 1945. Photograph of Ebbutt receiving the US Legion of Merit from US Col Claude M Thiele, Commanding Officer, US Army London Area Office, 1946, with related papers 1945. Copy of published booklet Soldier, sailor, compiled by Geoffrey Sanders (The Bombardment Units Association, Gloucester, 1946).

Papers, mostly photocopies, relating to Operation FRESHMAN, an abortive British-Norwegian assault on a heavy water plant at Vemork, Norway, Nov 1942, written in 1942-1945 and [1983], notably operation orders, Nov 1942; letter to Maj Pardon, dated Jul 1945, giving extracts from Henniker's report on the operation, written in [1942]; summary of information received about the movements of personnel from the crashed gliders, Jun 1945.

Papers relating to his life and career, 1917-1963, principally comprising official correspondence with Lt Gen M Brocas Burrows, British Military Mission, Moscow, 1944-1945, Gen Mark Wayne Clark, US Army, 1943-1944, 1951-1952, Maj Gen Richard Henry Dewing, UK Army and RAF Liaison Staff, Australia, 1943-1944, Maj Gen Gordon Edward Grimsdale, Military Attaché andhead of Military Mission to Chungking, China, 1942-1943, AF Sir Roger John Brownlow Keyes, Bt, Director of Combined Operations, War Office, 1940-1942, Lt Gen Sir Henry Pownall, South East Asia Command HQ, 1944-1945, Lt Gen Sir Harold Redman, British Joint Staff Mission, Washington DC, 1943-1944, AF Sir James Somerville, Commander-in-Chief Eastern Fleet, 1943-1947, and Maj Gen Sir Edward Spears, Minister to the Lebanon, 1940-1944, and Lt Gen Albert C Wedemeyer, US Army, Deputy Chief of Staff; South East Asia Command, 1944; personal correspondence with and about FM Lord Alanbrooke, 1946-1947, 1957-1963, FM Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, 1941-1961, and FM Archibald Percival Wavell, Viscount Wavell of Cyrenaica and of Winchester, 1943-1946; official andpersonal correspondence with Dwight David Eisenhower, 1942-1965, and AF Louis (Francis Albert Victor Nicholas) Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, 1943-1954, 1960-1964; correspondence with publishers and colleagues, including Gen Sir Richard Nugent O'Connor; papers relating to India, 1947-1951, including his correspondence as Chief of Staff to Mountbatten, 1947, notes on interviews with Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahomed Ali Jinnah, 1947, letters describing the political situation in India, 1947-1948, and correspondence concerning compensation for Indian Government servants, 1948-1951; correspondence concerning the proposed defence reorganisation, 1955-1963; papers relating to his service as Secretary General, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), 1952-1957, including his official progress reports, 1952-1956; newspaper cuttings, statements to the press and texts of speeches and broadcasts, 1952-1957; papers relating to his memoirs, [1940-1960] including correspondence with publishers, 1960-1961, and colleagues, 1957-1960, notebooks, 1940-1960, and drafts and proofs, [1960]. newspaper cuttings, 1943, 1948, 1951-1952, 1957; texts of speeches, 1943-1958; correspondence relating to operations in Somaliland, 1917-1920; notes and papers relating to his studies at Staff College, Quetta and RAF Staff College, 1922-1924. Papers relating to Rt Hon Sir Winston (Leonard Spencer) Churchill, 1940-1965, including personal correspondence with Churchill, 1940, 1943-1945, 1947-1964; correspondence relating to Churchill's memoir The Second World War (Cassell, London, 1948-1954), 1946-1956, including correspondence relating to Dieppe Raid, Aug 1942, dated 1950, and galley proofs, [1948-1954]. Printed material, 1941-1945, 1947, 1951, notably including copies of telegrams sent by Winston Churchill as Prime Minister, 1941-1942; minutes of Chiefs of Staff meetings, 1943-1944; minutes of Combined Chiefs of Staff meetings, 1943, 1945.

Personal and military papers of Major General Sir Robert Edward Laycock, 1923-1968, chiefly relating to service with Special Service Brigade and as Chief of Combined Operations, 1940-1946. Includes papers on volunteering for Special Service Brigade, including completed application forms for volunteer Commando officers, 1940. Papers on Special Service Brigade training 1940-1941, including gas, bayonet and signalling training. Memoranda, reports, instructions and other papers, 1940-1942, relating to LAYFORCE (commanded by Laycock in the Middle East), including papers on the Folbot Section (later to become Special Boat Service). Papers on Special Service Brigade, [1941-1946], including memoranda, reports, minutes, papers on their reorganisation, disbandment and the future of Combined Operations, also including papers belonging to Lord George Jellicoe relating to Special Service Brigade in the Middle East; reports and other papers on Special Service Brigade operations, notably Operation TORCH, (the invasion of North West Africa, Nov 1942) and Operation HUSKY, (the invasion of Sicily, Jun 1943). Laycock's official and personal correspondence,1923-1968, chiefly relating to Special Service Brigade. Lectures and speeches to and on Special Service Brigade, chiefly by Laycock. Draft publications, scripts and press cuttings relating to Laycock and Special Service Brigade. Memoirs and accounts of Commando action, including parts of Robert Edward Laycock's memoirs and memoirs of members of 'G' Troop, 7 Commando. Papers on Laycock standing as Conservative parliamentary candidate for Bassetlaw in the 1945 general collection and on his refusal to stand for the 1947 bye-election. Papers relating to Laycock's time as Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Malta. Poems by Laycock.

Papers relating to his service in World War Two, dated 1941-1946, 1941-1946, 1951, principally comprising semi-official and personal correspondence, 1941-1946, including letter to his wife describing events leading up to his dismissal from command of 7 Armoured Div, 1942; pamphlet on the Battle of Keren, Mar 1941, produced by Maj Gen Sir Nigel Trapp, HQEritrea District, for visit of Commander-in-Chief, Middle East Land Forces, to Keren battlefield, Eritrea, Mar 1947; Report to the Combined Chiefs of Staff by the Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia, 1943-1945 by AF Louis (Francis Albert Victor Nicholas) Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (London, HMSO, 1951); operational notes and training instructions for 7 and 9 Indian Divs during the Burma campaign, 1943-1945; 'Warfare in undeveloped countries. Part 1: desert warfare', War Office publication written by [Messervy] in 1954; printed histories by Messervy and others describing operations in Burma by 12 Army, 14 Army, 4 Corps, 15 Indian Corps, 23 Indian Corps, and 25 Indian Div; Ministry of Information publications, dated [1945], concerning campaigns in the Middle East and Far East, 1941-1945, the Merchant Navy, 1939-1944, Combined Operations, 1940-1942, Britain's anti-aircraft defences, 1939-1942, and civil defence in the UK, 1940-1941, and the war effort on the Home Front, 1942-1944; Government of India publications,dated [1944-1946], describing the service of various divisions of the Indian Army during World War Two.

Papers relating to his service with the Commandos, 1942-1945, dated [1942-1981]comprising:

papers on service with No.4 Commando, May-Dec 1942, principally on the Dieppe Raid, Aug 1942, including report by Mills-Roberts on training exercise on the Isle of Arran, 25-26 Jun 1942; reports on Orange Beach landing; report on destruction of 6 inch gun battery at Varangeville; detailed report 'Lessons Learned on Combined Operations'; and letters of congratulation on award of MC;

papers on service with No.6 Commando, Apr-May 1943, North Africa, including letters from General Dwight D Eisenhower and Maj-Gen Robert Laycock and letters of congratulation on award of DSO;

papers on service with 1st Special Service (Commando) Bde, Jun 1944 - May 1945 including: account of part taken by No 1 Special Service Brigade in Operation OVERLORD, 6 Jun - 26 Aug 1944; narrative by Mills Roberts on action from 16-21 Aug 1944; report of No 1 Special Service Bde operations around Dozule and L'Epine, 19-21 Aug 1944; report of operations by 1st Commando Bde east of the River Maas, 19 Jan - 1 Feb 1945; 'Five Rivers' - account of 1st Commando Bde in Germany, 1945, on the advance from the Meuse to the Baltic, crossing the Meuse, Rhine, Weser, Aller and Elbe; 'United We Stand' diary of L Cpl Cliff Morris, No 3 Troop, 6 Commando, detailed personal account of action from 6 Jun 1944 - 7 May 1945; papers relating to the arrest of FM Erhard Milch in 1945, dated 1946, 1969; maps of Ouistreham, St Aubin, Caen, Dozule;

papers on commando training, 1942-1950 including account of 6 Commando training by Mills-Roberts, 1943-1944;

manuscript of Clash by Night (William Kimber, London, 1956) and notes to Simon Christopher Joseph Fraser Lovat, 17th Lord Lovat, concerning Lovat's book March Past (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1978), dated 1977-1981;

photographs, 1942, 1944-1945, 1947, including German propaganda photographs of Dieppe Raid, 1942, and photographs relating to Commando service in World War Two, 1944-1945, dated 1944-1945, 1947, including Normandy, Jun 1944, and Germany, 1945.

Personal and military papers of Brig Gerald Charles Stokes Montanaro, 1938-1965. Comprising pocket diaries, 1938-1946, 1948, including detailed diaries for 1941-1945, of service with 101 Troop, Special Service Brigade (Commando Special Canoe Troop), 1941-1942 and as commander of MF Flotilla of large submersible diesel-engined craft designed for anti-submarine work, 1942-1945; correspondence and papers (3 files) on administration and training and operations of 101 Troop, Special Service Brigade, 1940-1942, comprising standing and daily orders, reports on training, including landing and anti-invasion exercises, shooting, map-reading and navigational work, swimming, canoeing, mountaineering, and signalling; chart of proposed general organisation for small boat operations; notes on proposed establishments for Special Boat Squadrons attached to the Royal Navy; memorandum 'Lessons from Crete, with points of particular interest to Commandos' by Brig Joseph Charles Haydon, Commanding Officer Special Service Brigade, Jul 1941; printed leaflet 'Commando Training Instruction No.1', Aug 1940; report on 101 Troop's raid on sinking of an oil tanker in Boulogne Harbour, Apr 1942, including correspondence about the raid with Maj Gen Ridley Pakenham Pakenham-Walsh, 1950; report on reconnaissance between Gravelines and Calais, France, Nov 1941; photographs (4 albums and 15 packets of loose photos) on personal and service subjects (1940-1945), including commando training construction and operation of midget submarines and photgraphs of girlfriends and family friends; propaganda material from Korea, 1952-1954; album of photographs of Montanaro's inspection of 653 Sqn, Army Air Corps, Aden, Feb 1965

Copies of detailed narrative diaries and transcripts of Naval signal messages on RN operations, 1939-1945, including service at RN Gunnery School, Chatham, Kent, 1939, on HMS JERVIS in the North Sea, 1940, with the Mediterranean Fleet, 1940-1941, with Combined Operations Command, Dieppe and Normandy, 1942-1944, and the British Pacific Fleet, 1945-1946. Also, typescript copies of operational orders for Operation NEPTUNE, Normandy, 1944.

Copy papers relating to career of Col R G Philipps: Historical Record and Comments on the Mounting of OVERLORD, a personal impression by Southern Command , with accompanying maps, by Col John N Oliver, Head of Planning Staff, 20 Aug 1944; and report 'Operation MEDLOC - Planning Staff Report No 3 and Proposed War Establishments', by Lt Col R G Philipps, 22 Feb 1945.

This microfilm collection contains copied official documents relating to US naval operations in Europe and US naval liaison duties in Britain, 1941-1946. Many of the microfilmed documents are official reports sent to the Historical Section, US Navy, in 1946, for the purposes of compiling an official history. The collection includes material relating to the US naval administration, 1940-1946; the US Navy Special Observer missions in London, 1940-1946; the decision to post Adm Harold Raynsford Stark as Commander, [US] Naval Forces in Europe (COMNAVEU); COMNAVEU organisation and personnel, 1940- 1946; operational reports concerning [US] Naval Forces in Europe (COMNAVEU) and associated commands of COMNAVEU, including US 12 Fleet, 1941-1946; US naval intelligence and naval attaché duties; units under the command of COMNAVEU, including task forces and amphibious forces; supply and logistical activities, 1940- 1946; the history of Lend-Lease and Reciprocal Aid in Britain; the history of US naval bases in Britain; logistical planning for US Naval Forces in Europe for cross- channel operations; COMNAVEU's role in the planning and execution of Operation OVERLORD, the Allied invasion of France, 6 Jun 1944, and Operation NEPTUNE, the air and land assault on France, Jun 1944, including the naval bombardment of Axis forces and the use of US Navy amphibious forces to assault the beaches at Normandy, France assaults; a history of US Naval Task Forces in France, Germany, the Azores, the Mediterranean, and Italy, 1945-1946; relations with US Navy Pacific Command, 1941-1946.

Undated typescript account of his military service, 1940-1944, principally comprising a diary of his work as Landing Officer, 3 Canadian Div, Normandy, on and around D-Day, 5 Jun-5 Sep 1944.

Papers relating to his service in Italy, 1943-1944, principally comprising 1 Div, 3 Infantry Bde and 3 Field Ambulance operation orders concerning the landings on Pantelleria (Operation CORKSCREW), May-Jun 1943, and at Anzio (Operation SHINGLE), Jan 1944; report on the action at Campoleone, 30 Jan-4 Feb 1944, written by J G James, Commander, 3 Infantry Bde, 12 Feb 1944; 3 Infantry Bde intelligence summary for Operations ANT and APHIS; three aerial photographs of Anzio beaches, 1943, and plan of Blue Beach (North), Anzio, 1944; two parts of 'The First Division in action' covering the Anzio campaign, Jan-Jun 1944, written in Apr and Jul 1944.

Papers relating to his service with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, 1943-1945, principally comprising official report by [Woods] on waterproofing technology, 1945; official reports on the waterproofing of 'A' and 'B' vehicles and equipment, 1943-1945, by Brig Hugh Roberts Howard, Deputy Director Mechanical Engineering (Wading), War Office, 1944-1945; 'Waterproofing of army equipment for amphibious operations', official report by Woods, [1943-1945]; photographs of wading tests on army vehicles, 1944; Combined Operations pamphlets on the responsibilities of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, 1944, and the waterproofing of vehicles and equipment, 1944; 'The Army waded ashore', a typescript account of the role of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in the preparations for D Day, 6 Jun 1944, written by Woods in [1944-1945].