Booklets, parliamentary reports and related papers, 1940-1945
- STERN 2/36
- Subseries
- 1940 - 1945
Booklets, parliamentary reports and related papers, 1940-1945
Bound volumes of papers, Feb 1915 - Oct 1917, relating to the development of the tank
Copies of films, 1918, 1941-1942 and 1957, relating to trials of prototype tanks
Chiefly copies from originals held among the Stern personal papers collection in Kent History and Library Centre, Maidstone (ref: U1883)
File of correspondence and memoranda relating to Stern's evidence before the Sub-Committee of Production and Supply of the House of Commons Select Committee on National Expenditure, 4 Aug 1942, including a memorandum by Stern criticising the planning and progress of tank development, together with copies of letters directed by Stern to successive Minsters of State for War and Ministers of Supply and to Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, between 1940 and 1942 and a diary account of efforts made by Stern between 1939 and the disbanding of the Special Vehicle Development Committee, Ministry of Supply in Nov 1941, to secure the design and production of a heavy tank, Jul 1942; a memorandum by Stern headed 'Reasons for failure', criticising the absence of central tank design at the Ministry of Supply, the existing production of Matilda (Mark II Infantry), Valentine (Mark III Infantry) and Churchill (Mark IV Infantry) tanks and the proposed use of the Liberty engine in the Cruiser tank, Aug 1942 and correspondence between Stern and Sir George Ernest Schuster, M P, Chairman of the Sub-Committee of Production and Supply of the House of Commons Select Committee on National Expenditure, Aug-Oct 1942.
Correspondence and notes, Sep-Dec 1939, relating to Edward Burgin, Minister of Supply
File containing correspondence and a note of an interview between Stern and Gen Sir Maurice Grove Taylor, Senior Military Advisor to the Ministry of Supply, relating to the lack of draughtsmen at the disposal of Maj H Keays, Tank Design Department, Ministry of Supply, working on behalf of the Special Vehicle Development Committee, Ministry of Supply; the supply of three photographic enlargements taken from a film of the TOG 1 tank; the armament of the TOG 2 tank and a letter from Taylor apologising for his inability to attend a tank trial at Lincoln, Lincolnshire.
File of correspondence between Sir William Ashbee Tritton of William Foster and Company, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, Technical Advisor, Special Vehicle Development Committee, Ministry of Supply; W Rigby, William Foster and Company, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, Technical Advisor, Special Vehicle Development Committee, Ministry of Supply; Maj Kenneth P Symes, Special Vehicle Development Committee, Ministry of Supply and Stern relating to the mechanical design, armour, armament and testing of the TOG 1 and TOG 2 tanks, including a report by Stern for submission to the Tank Board, summarising the technical development of the TOG 1 and TOG 2 tanks and detailing design considerations for the TOG 3 tank, bearing manuscript emendations by Tritton, Apr 1941 ['TOG' - The Old Gang, the informal name for the Special Vehicle Development Committee members, some of whom had worked on tank development during World War One].
Correspondence, May 1942, about a Ministry of Supply enquiry into Stern's position at the Ministry
File of various, mostly undated, drafts, copies and part-copies of official memoranda and notes by Stern, including manuscript notes on US tanks, 25 Apr 1941; typescript note of a proposed specification for a medium tank for use on the continent of Europe or in the Middle East theatre of operations; note on the threat of fire in tanks; specifications and estimate of total costs of the TOG 1 and TOG 2 tanks and a manuscript draft of a letter by Stern addressed to Gen Sir Bernard Law Montgomery, 1943, explaining his work with the Special Vehicle Development Committee, Ministry of Supply and recommending to him the design of the TOG 2 tank. 25 documents