Showing 5 results

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including Turkey, 1922-1923; France, Belgium, Holland and Germany, 1944 and Italy and Austria, 1945; working papers for unpublished typescript 'Airborne Forces'.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'.

Typescript memoir, written in 1992, as Commanding Officer, 1 Bn, Herefordshire Regt, 11 Armoured Div, 21 Army Group, North West Europe, 1944-1945, entitled '1st Bn The Herefordshire Regiment route and battles from the Normandy bridgehead to the R Elbe in Germany, June 1944 to April 1945, including route maps and CO's pocket maps for specific incidents', with seven printed maps of France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, annotated with routes taken and unit dispositions. Papers relating to Turner Cain's tenure as Chief Instructor, Tactical Wing, School of Infantry, British Army of the Rhine, Sennelager, Germany, 1946-1947, including typescript training notes on exercises, tactics of armoured forces and river crossing techniques, with manuscript explanatory notes written by Turner Cain in 1992.

Copies of papers relating to Stone's career, 1939-1982, including typescript account entitled 'Duck shooting in the upper Jordan valley, 1938-1939', a shoot organised by Maj Gen Bernard Law Montgomery, General Officer Commanding 8 Div, northern Palestine, 1939; typescript extracts from letters by Stone to his wife whilst serving in Palestine, 1938, and extracts from letters to his wife whilst serving as Chief Engineer, Berlin, Germany, 1945-1946; letter from Lt Col Desmond Harrison, Royal Engineers, dated 26 Jun 1940, relating to the campaign in France and the evacuation of the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) from Dunkirk, 26 May-Jun 1940; typescript 'Chief Engineer's diary', 16 Apr 1942-5 Nov 1945, with an account by an unknown English woman who spent the war in Germany, entitled 'Notes on Berlin in April 1945'; typescript account by Stone of the Normandy invasion and advance of 2 Army to the Netherlands, Jul-Oct 1944; typescript extracts from letters by Stone to his wife, Greece, Feb-Oct 1946, and letters from Mount Zion College, Jerusalem, Palestine, Jul 1946; typescript autobiography, 1895-1950; typescript notes on Atomic Research Centre, Aldermaston, Berkshire, 1950-1958; printed booklet in French and English entitled Keep in mind. La Batisse aux Anglais (1977) by Philippe Bauduin, with related correspondence, 1976; typescript draft obituary, 1983.

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.