War Cabinet Minutes (HMSO), 1939-1945 is a themed microfiche collection containing copies of the minutes of the War Cabinet Meetings, Sep 1939-Jul 1945, and Cabinet Conclusions and Confidential Annexes, 1941-1945. Meeting minutes include British plans to create discord amongst the German High Command, Nov 1939; criticism of the military campaign in Norway, May 1940; First Lord of the Admiralty Winston (Leonard Spencer) Churchill's criticism of the Allied propaganda campaign in France, May 1940; speculation on the ability of the German population to sustain prolonged war, May 1940; reaction to the Allied withdrawals in France and Belgium, May 1940; the debate over the possible compromise peace with Germany, 26-28 May 1940; the decision to intern all enemy aliens in the United Kingdom; May 1940; Churchill's reaction to American isolationism, May 1940; the seizing of French warships in British and Egyptian harbours and the sinking of French warships at Mers-el-Kebir, Egypt, 23 Jun 1940; straining Anglo-French relations, Jul 1940; the Anglo-American 'destroyers for bases' agreement, Aug 1940; Churchill's attempt to take to court the Sunday Pictorial and the Daily Mirror over the newspapers' alleged anti-Government editorials, Oct 1940; preparations for the possible German invasion of the Britain, 1940; civil defence precautions in Britain, 1940; the British intervention in Greece, 1941; speculation on Soviet military collapses following the invasion of the Soviet Union by German armed forces, Jun 1941; Churchill's appeals to US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt for American intervention in the war, 1941; reaction over the fall of Singapore and Malaya to Japanese armed forces, Feb 1942; Anglo-American preparations for the invasion of North Africa, 1942; naval and air operations against France, 1943; the 'Beveridge Report' on social security in Britain, 1943; reports on Allied conferences at Casablanca, Jan 1943, and Washington, May 1943; the Allied decision to invade France made at the QUADRANT Conference, Quebec, Canada, Aug 1943; the planning and conduct of Operation OVERLORD, the Allied invasion of France, Jun 1944; the effect of the bombardment of London by German V1 pilotless aircraft and possible RAF reprisals against German civilian targets, Jun 1944; post-war reconstruction and rehabilitation in Europe, Jul 1944; plans for the Allied occupation of Germany and Austria, Nov 1944; British intervention in Greece in order to prevent a Communist take-over of the peninsula, Nov 1944; the establishment of the United Nations, 1945; arrangements for celebrating the end of the war in Europe, May 1945; the British General Election, Jul 1945.

Copies of extracts from 'Wells, a family history', produced by Tessa J Harfield, 1988, principally comprising a brief account of the life and RAF career of Sidney McLeod Wells (Wg Cdr Maurice Clunes Wells' brother), 1906-1941, written by Harfield in 1988; transcription of Brig (then Lt) Brian Gordon Wells' account of a big game hunt in Northern Rhodesia, 1931, written in [1931-1932], with his record of service, 1923-1955, dated 1955; transcription of 'My career in the RAF, 1935-1950' written by Wg Cdr Maurice Clunes Wells, written in [1980-1985]. Original manuscript of 'My career in the RAF, 1935-1950'. Photographs relating to Wg Cdr Maurice Clunes Wells' army career, dated [1940-1945] and [1980-1988], notably his internment as a POW, [1940-1945].

Wartime diaries, typescript correspondence, memoirs and poetry by Victor West, concerning the campaign in Greece, Crete and as a prisoner of war during World War Two, with recent poetry, 1941-1999; notably including a bound typescript memoir, 'The loss of Creforce Reserve: "The side show"', written 1981, including list of officers and other ranks of 9 Bn, King's Royal Rifle Corps, killed in Greece and Crete, 1941, and a copy article, 'The Rangers in Greece and Crete: a story of devotion and toil', printed 1941 in the house magazine of the Gas Light & Coke Ltd; 3 volume bound typescript memoir, 'Wash me in the water: a personal account of the first Greek campaign, 1941. The battle for Crete, including the story of the loss of Creforce Reserve', written 1983; bound typescript 1941 personal war diary, a transcription of West's original diary; bound typescript copy letters to West from a Spanish fellow POW, Sgt Basilio Marin, 1944-1945 and photocopy typescript and manuscript notes (untitled) on the Crete campaign, 1941; bound typescript 'We from Crete: Pep talks in Stalag 383', written 1982, relating to life in a POW camp (first and second drafts); bound typescript, 'Escape involuntary (we couldn't help it)', recounting West's escape from a POW camp, Germany, Apr 1945; Victor West, The horses of Falaise: poems on the experiences of a fighting soldier in World War II (Salamandar Imprint, London, 1975), bound photocopy; Victor West, Part 2 orders: WWII poems (Salamandar Imprint, London, 1999), bound photocopy; notes on West's career and on the history of 1 Rangers, King's Royal Rifle Corps; copy correspondence and illustrations relating to a painting by West presented to Winston Churchill, 1955.

Papers of ACM Sir Neil Wheeler including training account, report, press cuttings and photographs, 1939-1991, notably a comprehensive report on the Royal Air Force Operations in Malaya, June 1948-March 1949, produced by Air Headquarters, Royal Air Force Malaya, May 1949; text for talk by Wheeler on early aerial photographic reconnaissance, delivered at a Royal Air Force Historical Society seminar, 1991; undated detailed account of training for, planning and leading wing strikes against shipping convoys, 1942-1943. Cutting of article 'Cameramen of the Air: Photographing bomb damage - vital work of RAF PRU'S (Photographic Reconnaissance Units)', from The Times, 1 Sept 1943. Printed maps of Norwegian, English, French and German coastlines, [1942], with handwritten annotations. Album of Photographic Reconnaissance Unit photographs, 1940-1941, many with captions, showing locations in France, the Netherlands, Germany and Norway including: Brest harbour; anti-aircraft fire over Cherbourg; Morlaix; Brest; Chateau Bougon Aerodrome, Nantes; Nantes; St Nazaire; La Rochelle; La Pallice; Rochefort; Bordeaux; Dunkirk, showing wrecks on beaches; Le Havre; Zeebrugge; Boulogne; railway yards near Calais; Vlissingen Aerodrome; Antwerp; Ter Neuzen; Flushing; St Inglevert Aerodrome; Knickerbein W/T beam stations; Amsterdam; Ijmuiden; Gravelines; the Nordzee Canal; Caen; Schipol aerodrome; Stavanger; Bergen; Egersund Port; convoys in the Skaggerak area; Herl-Herdla Aerodrome; Lista aerodrome; Kiel; Bremerhaven; Brunsbuttel; Wilhelmshaven; The Hague; Dieppe; Rotterdam; Poix Aerodrome; Ostend; also photograph of shelling damage in Guernica, Spain, 2 Jun 1941; photograph of office showing maps and operations board for 8 Apr 1941; printed map with drawn annotations showing the ranges in nautical miles of medium range, long range, super long range and extra super long range Spitfires from Wick, St Eval and Heston. Loose photographs, 1939-1943, many with captions, showing: aircraft including a Maryland, a Swordfish, a Hawker Fury and a Heyford; Wheeler and colleagues at airfields in Wick, Scotland and St Eual, Cornwall, 1941; Wheeler and aircrew of 236 Squadron, 1943. Also painting of the insignia of 236 Squadron.

Newspaper cuttings from The Daily Telegraph and The Financial Times, 1982-1991, relating to the Middle East, 1982-1991, and modern Germany, particularly with reference to World War Two 1939-1945, and reparations for Holocaust victims, 1987-1997.

Papers of Paul Willert mainly on his wartime service, 1939-45; including letters (6 files) to his wife, Brenda (nee Pearson), daughter of Weetman Harold Miller Pearson, 2nd Viscount Cowdray, 1936-1946, from Germany, New York and Paris, c.1936-1940; during RAF training, 1941; from the Isle of Man [c.1942]; from Northern Ireland [1943-44], and from Paris, 1944-1945; file on propaganda work, in London and Paris, 1940-41, including detailed note, 'Report of a conversation on the evening of January 7, 1940' with pencil addition, 'Georges Mandel, Colonial Minister', re German-Soviet relations, the dismissal of Isaac Leslie Hore-Belisha as Secretary of State for War, morale in France, British propaganda in France, and propaganda in enemy; detailed notes on the present political situation in France, 10 Feb 1940; note criticising British propaganda to France, with suggestions for improvements, [c. 1940]; notes on the government of Paul Reynaud, France, dated Mar 1940; notes on 'France and its government, 27 May 1940'; 'Notes on the situation in France, May 14, 1940'; two letters to Willert from [?signature illegible], Political Warfare Executive (PWE), Electra House, London, re the staffing of Electra House and Willert's Paris office, and Willert's secret service activities in France, 31 May and 6 Jun 1940; correspondence (2 items) with Col Dallas Brooks, head of Electra House, 2 Jun and 6 Jun 1940, re arranging a military commission for Willert, and details of changes in the political situation in France; formal letter of introduction for Willlert from the British Embassy, Paris, signed by Donald Maclean, 9 Jun 1940; notes on the formation and operations of 'Department EH', Jul 1940, with criticisms of the division between Department EH (based at Electra House) and the Ministry of Information in disseminating propaganda to Europe; two letters, 26 Nov 1940 and 11 Dec 1940, re suggestion that PW should be appointed as representative of Special Operations Executive (SOE) at Gibraltar, working initially on propaganda, and his reasons for declining the post; detailed notes on the future of British relations with the USSR, c 1940; letter (to 'Sammy') [probably Samuel Hood, 6th Viscount Hood] re the organisation of propaganda and the deployment of the BBC overseas services, c 1941; letter to Dr Hugh Dalton re Willert's leaving SOE, 1941; two letters, from 'Sammy', [Samuel Hood, 6th Viscount Hood] 3 Jul 1941, and 'Gerald', 15 Jul 1941, both Ministry of Information, re suggestion that Willert should take charge of propaganda to France and Germany, and his refusal; detailed note on morale in the RAF, c 1942; file containing notes on individual members of the French resistance, [c 1944]; note on Gaston Bergery, 1930s pro-German French politician; official documents (3 items) re his post as Air Attaché (17pp) re service Sep 1939 - Jul 1940 (attached to propaganda mission in Paris, led by Noel Coward; details of work with co-operative Germans in Paris, for anti-German propaganda, subsequently helping some of them escape to England, after the German invasion of France; Willert's own escape and call up by RAF in Jan 1941; file of copy correspondence with and about Arthur Koestler, on the French resistance 1941-1943; file of copy documents from the former Public Record Office (PRO), now The National Archives, re planning, May 1940, for the evacuation of the French government and of the British Embassy from Paris; copy PRO documents re the evacuation of British civilians from France, Jun 1940; two signed photographs of Lord Northcliffe, 1913 and 1917, [friend of Willert's father, Sir Arthur Willert, _Times _correspondent, Washington DC, 1910-1920); manuscript diary, 21 Apr - 4 June1940, kept while serving with propaganda mission in Paris, attached to British Embassy.

Typescript thesis for MD (Doctor of Medicine), Dublin University, entitled 'The prevention of malaria in a military cantonment in northern India' [1933]. Correspondence, 1935-1954, mostly personal letters of thanks and congratulations, including letter from Edwina Cynthia Annette Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma, following a visit to military hospitals in West Germany, 1950. Typescript 'An account of the first two years with the East African Groundnut Scheme' [1948]. Correspondence, pamphlets and certificates, relating to retirement from the Royal Army Medical Corps, 1961-1962, awards and appointments, 1950-1977, and the Royal Army Medical Corps centenary celebrations, 1960. Typescript minutes of meetings of the Council of Col Commandants, Royal Army Medical Corps, 1964-1969. Correspondence and papers relating to Royal Army Medical Corps Regimental ties, uniform and dress regulations, orders, decorations and medals, 1966-1968. Correspondence relating to visits to military establishments as Col Commandant, Royal Army Medical Corps, Jan-Dec 1967. Correspondence with the War Office, 1961, and the Ministry of Defence, 1969-1970, relating to pay and conditions of retirement as President of the Command Standing Medical Board, Military Hospital, Tidworth, Hampshire.

The collection is 26 copies of the Daily Mirror newspaper, 29 Jul-11 Jun 1916. Included in the newspapers are photographs and articles concerning World War One, most notably the Austro-Hungarian declaration of war on Serbia, 28 Jul 1914; the mobilisation of Russian troops, 1 Aug 1914; Britain's declaration of war on Germany, 4 Aug 1914; the Battle of Liege, Aug 1914; the French seizure of Alsace, Aug 1914; the French invasion of Lorraine, Aug 1914; the landing of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France, Aug, 1914; the German capture of Louvain, Aug 1914; the drowning of FM Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Viscount Kitchener of Khartoum and Broome, Jun 1916; and the defeat of Austrian Slav troops in Romania by Russian troops, Jun 1916

British publications relating to the Allied war effort and the Home Front, 1940-1954, including editions of His Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) pamphlets Frontline, 1940-41; The official story of the civil defence of Britain (HMSO, London, 1942), Combined Operations, 1940-1942 (HMSO, London, 1943), Target: Germany. The US Army Air Forces' official story of the VIII Bomber Command's first year over Europe (HMSO, London, 1944), Among those present: the official story of the Pacific Islands at war (HMSO, London, 1946). Also pamphlet, 'The battle of South London', by Arthur L Woolf (Crystal Publications Ltd, London, c 1945), with photographs and accounts of bombing in South London, Second World War, and Westminster at War by William Sansom (Faber and Faber, London, 1947).

Publications, 1939-1956 relating to World War Two, comprising: 'Final report by the Rt Hon Sir Neville Henderson, GCMG, on the circumstances leading to the termination of his mission to Berlin, September 20 1939' (HMSO, 1939); 'The outbreak of war, 22 August-3 September 1939' (Ministry of Information, 1939); 'Documents concerning German-Polish relations and the outbreak of hostilities between Great Britain and Germany on September 3, 1939' (HMSO, 1939); 'The battle of Egypt' (Ministry of Information, 1943); 'The Army at war: Tunisia' (Ministry of Information, 1944); 'Nations at war' (Ministry of Information, 1945); 'German, Italian and Japanese U-Boat casualties during the war' (HMSO, 1946); 'Report by the Supreme Allied Commander Mediterranean to the Combined Chiefs of Staff on the operations in Southern France, August 1944' (HMSO, 1946); 'Strength and casualties of the Armed Forces and Auxiliary Services of the United Kingdom, 1939-1945' (HMSO, 1946); 'Ships of the Royal Navy statement of losses during the Second World War' (HMSO, 1947); 'British merchant vessels lost or damaged by enemy action during Second World War' (HMSO, 1947); 'Report by the Supreme Allied Commander Mediterranean to the Combined Chiefs of Staff on the Italian Campaign: Part 2, 10 May 1944 to 12 August 1944: Part 3, 13 August 1944 to 12 December 1944' (HMSO, 1948); 'The Second World War, 1939-1945: a list of British naval anniversaries' (produced by Department of Naval Information [1949]); 'Report to the combined chiefs of staff by the Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia, 1943-1945' (HMSO, 1951); 'The Italian campaign, 12 December 1944 to 2 May 1945: a report to the Combined Chiefs of Staff by the Supreme Commander Mediterranean Field Marshal The Viscount Alexander of Tunis' (HMSO, 1951); and 'The official names of the battles, actions and engagements fought by the Land Forces of the Commonwealth during the Second World War, 1939-1945' (HMSO, 1956).