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).

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).

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.

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 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.

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.

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].

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 papers, 1940-1982, including narrative manuscript diary covering service with 3 Div Royal Engineers, Belgium and France, May-Jun 1940, with printed map entitled Lille-Ghent, North West Europe, sheet No 2, scale 1: 250, 000 (GSGS 4042, War Office, 1938); narrative manuscript diary covering service with 51 Highland Div Royal Engineers, North West Europe, Oct 1944 and Feb-May 1945, with typescript nominal roll of officers, list of casualties between Jun 1944 and May 1945, and typescript programme for the 51 Highland Div victory parade, Bremerhaven, Germany, May 1945; five printed maps of North West Europe entitled 'Brussels and Liege', 'Walcheren and Amsterdam', 'Osnabruck', 'Hamburg', 'Hannover' (no publication details or scale), with printed map of the Rhine entitled 'Outline of 51(H) Div RE plan, Operation PLUNDER', annotated with dispositions of Royal Engineers units for the Rhine crossing, 1945; correspondence with Maj Karol John Drewienkiewicz, 25 Field Sqn Royal Engineers, 1982, concerning operations of 3 Div Royal Engineers (May 1940); typescript text of lecture, given at Antwerp, 1982, on operations to clear the Scheldt Estuary, 1944.

Papers relating to role of 6 Guards Tank Brigade in Operation BLUECOAT, Normandy, Jul 1944; operations of 7 Armoured Division, Aug-Nov 1944, including capture of Ghent; 1 Guards Brigade, Feb 1944-May 1945, including Battle of River Po and situation reports, Northern Italy and Southern Austria; pamphlets, 1943-1946 including 21 Army Group reports; campaign maps, including Turkey, 1922-1923; France, Belgium, Holland and Germany, 1944 and Italy and Austria, 1945; working papers for unpublished typescript 'Airborne Forces'. Notes and draft papers of Maj Peter V Verney for Anzio 1944 An Unexpected Fury (Batsford, 1978) and planned publications on Marlborough's wars and 'The Gaiety and the Glory: the Irishman at War'.

OSS/London: Special Operations Branch and Secret Intelligence Branch War Diaries is a themed microfilm collection relating to US Office of Strategic Services (OSS)intelligence analyses and special operations in Western Europe, Jun 1942-Jun 1945. The collection includes Special Operations Branch organisation charts and directives, orders and summaries, Jun 1942-Jul 1944; Special Operations (SO) Branch and OSS training schedules; papers relating to Special Operations Branch liaison with Scandinavian Special Operations Executive (SOE) Section; reports on military and strategic objectives relating to Operation OVERLORD, the Allied invasion of France, Jan-Sep 1944; estimates of Special Operations personnel strength, Apr-Jun 1944; reports on resistance movements in Norway, Denmark, and Poland; summaries of Secret Intelligence Branch Operations, Apr-Sep 1944; list of decorations, commendations, and payments to families of the Special Operations and Secret Intelligence Branch casualties; biographies of Secret Intelligence personnel; reports from Secret Intelligence Branch operations in the Netherlands, France, Poland, Czechoslovakia; Germany; Secret Intelligence Branch liaison with the OSS; photographs of American and British Special Operations Branch officers; photographs of Maquis, French resistance, operatives; report from the Special Mission on German Methods of Demolition and Sabotage, Sep-Dec 1944; reports on Polish resistance fighters in France, 1944; lists of code names and code words used by the Special Operations Branch; reports from military, demolition, intelligence gathering, and espionage missions in Western Europe, 1944; after action summaries from the OSS Reports and Registry Division, London, and the OSS Reports Board, Paris, France, 1 Jan-15 Jun 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.

Copies of typescript Indian Corps Intelligence Summaries, France, Aug 1915, and typescript account in French entitled 'Quelques faits importants de la Guerre par rapport a Merville', 1919. Papers relating to Sanderson's military intelligence work, 1940-1945, including typescript intelligence reports and summaries relating to the likely invasion of UK, 1940-1941, notably typescript Southern Command memorandum entitled 'Enemy craft likely to be used in invasion of UK and their employment', Jan 1941; typescript translations of German directives on the planned invasion of the UK, Operation SEELÖWE, 1940, taken from documents captured by the Allies in 1945; typescript copies, with translations, of Adolf Hitler's last will and his private and political testament, dated 29 Apr 1945. Printed volume, 'Notes on German preparation for invasion of the UK', prepared by General Staff, War Office, and issued to officers of MI14, Apr 1941. Printed volume in German entitled Informationsheft GB, produced by the Germans in World War Two as a manual on British life, customs, Government and administration [1940].

Copies of papers relating to service of Colonel Dan Dunglinson Ridley, Berlin, Germany, 1945-46. Diary kept during work with American military government detachment in Remschied, Germany, assessing local infrastructure, May 1945. Account, written after his retirement, 1970, of his work for the Military Government of the Greater Berlin Area (MGGBA) administrating the Wilmersdorf District, British Sector, Berlin, Germany, under Lieutenant Colonel "Fritz" Norman (Dudley Stewart Norman, East Yorkshire Regiment), describing problems of liaison with occupying Russian forces and assessing former civilian members of Nazi party before allocating jobs; and account of work in Military Government Headquarters, Charlottenburg District, British Sector, under command of Brigadier "Loony" Hinde (Sir William Robert Norris Hinde); dealing with running of the city and describing social conditions for civilian population. Also original pass issued by Russian Army to allow free passage in Wilmersdorf District, Berlin, Germany.

Papers relating to his life and career, 1936-1961, principally comprising diary of tour of Germany to assess capacity of industrial installations, Apr-Jun 1945, written in [1945-1946] and including related reports and photographs of sites visited, 1945; record of service pocket book, 1936-1948.

Some recollections of a Scots Guardsman, 1935-1947', a memoir covering his military career during the period 1935-1947, notably his service at General HQ, Middle East Land Forces, 1940-1943, and with the Scots Guards in Italy, 1943-1944 and 1947, and Germany, 1945, written in [1992].

The collection covers Pyman's career from 1937 until 1963 when he suffered a severe stroke which forced his retirement in 1964. The earliest papers date from Pyman's work with the Royal Tank Cadre in converting the 17/21 Lancers from a cavalry to an armoured regiment. There are also papers from Pyman's period as an instructor at the Staff College in Quetta, India, 1939-1941. Pyman was involved in the World War Two campaigns by the 8 Army in the Western Desert, in 1941 as General Staff Officer with 7 Armoured Div, 30 Corps and in 1942-1943 as Commander of the 3 Royal Tank Regiment, 10 Armoured Div, 30 Corps. The papers consist mostly of Pyman's assessments of lessons learned from the ongoing campaigns particularly with regard to tanks and armoured units. In 1944-1945 Pyman was Brigidier General Staff, 30 Corps, 2 Army in the Normandy landings and the invasion of Northern Europe, with particular responsibility for organisation and planning of the Rhine crossing and advance to the Baltic. This is reflected in the papers which largely consist of planning studies and reports for the operations involved, this section also contains maps used in the campaign. Pyman's next appointment was as Chief of General Staff, Allied Land Forces, South East Asia, 1945-1946 which is documented by a series of diaries which reflect the tasks faced by Pyman in this command including dealing with the build up of tension between newly liberated former colonies keen to assert their right for independence and the former colonial powers such as France and Netherlands. Pyman spent 1946-1949 as Chief of Staff, Middle East Land Forces and kept monthly diaries which form the bulk of this section of the collection. The diary entries and additional papers reflect the debate over policy in the Middle East in the British Government and Military command, they include detail on the British withdrawal from Greece, the problem of illegal Jewish immigrants and their internment in Cyprus, the end of the British mandate in Palestine and the the effect of this on relations between Britain with Egypt and the other Arab states and the subsequent Arab Israeli conflict. This section of the collection also contains correspondence between Pyman and Maj Gen Sir Miles Christopher Dempsey on personal matters and on the Middle East. There are also papers from Pyman's work at the Ministry of Supply as Director General of Fighting Vehicles, 1951-1953, Director of Weapons Development, War Office, 1955-1956 mostly brief diary entries and lecture texts. Pyman was also General Officer Commanding, British Army on the Rhine, 1953-1955 and General Officer Commanding, 1 British Corps, 1956-1958 and the papers relating to these commands consist mostly of lectures, reports and directives reflecting his interest in armoured divisions and training. There are some papers, mostly personal correspondence and press cuttings, from Pyman's final command as Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces Northern Europe in North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). The collection also contains correspondence relating to Pyman's role as Colonel Commandant of the Royal Tank Regiment and The Royal Armoured Corps and a series of letters covering the reorganisation of the Berks and Westminster Dragoons, of which he was Honorary Colonel. The rest of the collection consists of diaries, correspondence, speeches, writings including the draft copy and papers relating to his autobiography, some preparatory work on a history of the 2 Army and reference works. The collection also includes the Boer War diaries and other papers of Col James Redmond Patrick Gordon who commanded the 1 Cavalry Bde of the South African Field Force 1900-1901 which were given to Pyman by a friend.

Papers of Lt Col Robert Malcolm Parker, 1945-1946, relating to his career in the Royal Engineers, comprising account of the operations of 8 Corps in North West Europe, Mar-May 1945, entitled 'The River Rhine to the Baltic Sea: a narrative account of the pursuit and final defeat of the German Armed Forces, March-May 1945', with a foreword by Lt Gen Evelyn Hugh Barker, as Commanding Officer, 8 Corps; account of the Finkenwärder U Boat pen, Hamburg, Germany, with site plan, and description of the intended method of demolition, by 224 Field Coy, Royal Engineers, and 8 Corps Troops, Royal Engineers, [1945]; papers relating to Exercise SWANSONG, Germany, Mar 1946, including Royal Engineer commands and staff planning for the assault crossing of wide rivers, accounts of exercise operations, situation reports, printed maps and sketch maps; uncaptioned official Army photograph of the construction of a large bridge, [Germany, 1945]; telegram announcing German surrender, 4 May 1945 and chart of Allied formation badges, in colour, 8 May 1945.