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Papers of Maj Gen Sir John Acland, 1979-1990, relating to his role as Commander of the Commonwealth Monitoring Force monitoring the ceasefire during elections in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Operation AGILA. Papers include general correspondence; situation reports; operational, planning and logistical instructions; maps; minutes; speeches; schedules; correspondence relating to award of operation medal and photographs and slides showing troops on deployment during the operation; Nov 1979 - Mar 1980. Papers evaluating the operation include reports on lessons learned; notes for talks and lectures on Operation AGILA; a detailed chronology of the events between May 1979 and Apr 1980; article, 'The Rhodesia Operation' by Acland, Apr 1980; article, 'Reflections from Rhodesia' by Brig John Hartley Learmont, Deputy Commander Monitoring Force; account of events by Capt Jonathan Bernard Appleton Bailey of the Monitoring Force, Jul 1980. Also copy of recording of Acland discussing the operation, Dec 1990, held at the Imperial War Museum (Ref 11753/3).

Official Conversations and Meetings of Dean Acheson, 1949-1953 are microfilmed copies of the minutes of conversations and meetings of Dean Acheson during his tenure as Secretary of State during the Truman administration, 1949-1953. Material includes minutes for meetings and conversations with Senator Arthur Hendrick Vandenberg concerning the Rhodes negotiations on the future of Palestine, 1949; Foreign Service employee George Frost Kennan relating to US-Soviet relations, 1949-1950; Rt Hon Sir Oliver Franks, British Ambassador to the US, concerning the former Italian colonies, the western mark for Berlin and the North Atlantic Pact, 1949; the US National Security Council relating to the re-training of the Austrian Army, Palestine, and the appointment of a military commander in Germany, 1949; President Harry S Truman concerning the Military Assistance Program, atomic energy, Palestine, British finances and the revolutionary situation in the Caribbean, 1949; Muhammad Riza Pahlevi, Shah-an-Shah of Iran, relating to financial assistance to Iran, 1949; Professor Hans Joachim Morgenthau concerning Cold War international relations; President Truman concerning the Korean crisis, 1950; US Department of Defense representatives concerning the Treaty of Peace with Japan, 1950, and the war in Korea, 1951-1953; US Gen George Catlett Marshall relating to the Economic Recovery Program (Marshall Plan).

Correspondence relating to leaving Burmah Oil Company and attempts to re-enlist in the Army and RAF, 1939-1940, and papers relating to promotions and appointments, 1940-1944. Papers relating to service in the Middle East and Sicily, 1942-1943, including 16 typescript reports, Staffs and Services Committee, Middle East, May-Jun 1942; typescript 'Report of Committee on Beach Organisation and Working', 13 Nov 1943; manuscript map entitled 'Sicily, ports, coast and main communications', scale 1: 500, 000 [1943]; typescript letter from Maj Gen Charles Harvey Miller, 15 Army Group, relating to operations in Sicily, 1943. Papers relating to service in India and Burma, 1943-1945, including typescript 'Summary of the economic developments in the Far East during the six months ending 30th June, 1944'; 41 captioned official photographs, Burma campaign, 1944, notably including the redeployment by air of 5 Indian Div from the Arakan to Imphal, Indian Army troops and units of 7 Indian Div, Arakan, 1944; typescript notes, 'Points on AFV (armoured fighting vehicles) situation in India' [1944]; typescript text of lecture by Abraham entitled 'Military economy' [1945]; printed volume entitled 'The India base', issued by the Commander-in-Chief's Secretariat, General Headquarters, India, Jan 1945. Papers relating to the oil industry, especially with regard to the Middle East and Burma, 1931-1961, including reports, printed articles, plans and tables of statistics and correspondence, also, typescript report entitled 'General impressions formed during a short visit to the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, December 1934'. Edition of Regimental Standing Orders of the Upper Burma Battalion, Auxiliary Force, (India) by Abraham (Mandalay Press, Mandalay, Burma, 1935). Typescript book manuscript entitled 'Time off for war. Recollections of a wartime Staff Officer' [1977], with copy of typescript letter from AF Rt Hon Louis (Francis Albert Victor Nicholas) Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, relating to the memoir, Dec 1977. Papers and correspondence relating to the Burma Star Association, 1964-1979, including letters from Mountbatten, 1968-1979, and from FM Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, 1964-1965, also typescript account entitled 'A short history of the Burma Star Association' [1978].

Papers collected or copied by Sqn Ldr David C Nutting and Lt Cdr Trevor James Glanville between [1974-1997] and used as research material for the book, Attain by surprise: the story of 30 Assault Unit Royal Navy/Royal Marine Commando and of Intelligence by capture (David Colver, Chichester, West Sussex, 1997) relating to the history of 30 Assault Unit, 1942-1946. Contemporary papers relating to 30 Assault Unit's service in North Africa, Greece, Sicily, Italy, North West Europe and South East Asia, 1943-1945, including typescript memorandum entitled 'Strategic and economic objectives (excluding port and town of Naples)', Italy, 1943; typescript memorandum from the Office of Flag Officer, Western Italy, Naples, entitled 'Co-ordination of organisations, SOE (Special Operations Executive), OSS (Office of Strategic Services), etc', 26 Oct 1943; typescript memorandum entitled 'Corsica, preliminary arrangements', Oct 1943; manuscript report, author unknown, of operations in Italy and Corsica, 34 Troop, 30 Commando, 15 Nov 1943; typescript and manuscript notes and messages, mostly relating to the requisitioning of Italian personnel and equipment, Italy, 1943-1944; typescript lists of potential operational targets for 30 Assault Unit in the Netherlands and Germany, 1944-1945. Copies of papers relating to 30 Assault Unit, 1943-1945, including typescript 'Inventory of documents and equipment taken from the German Embassy, Rome', Italy, 8-23 Jun 1944; typescript memorandum entitled 'Condensed summary of the organisation of the German Navy in the Paris area' [1944]; typescript 'Operational report' by Maj W Strachen, Officer Commanding Special Engineering Unit (Military Section), 30 Commando, on Operation CARIBOU, an infilitration behind German lines to gather information on German forces, Vinca, northern Italy, May 1945. Typescript memoirs and correspondence from former members of 30 Assault Unit, and typescript draft chapters for Attain by surprise: the story of 30 Assault Unit Royal Navy/Royal Marine Commando and of Intelligence by capture, 1974-1997.

The 1983: The Brink of Apocalypse documentary archive consists of transcripts of 31 interviews concerning events in Nov 1983 when a NATO command post exercise, code named ABLE ARCHER, caused the USSR to believe that NATO was planning a genuine nuclear attack.

Interviews were conducted with eyewitnesses from Britain, US, USSR and East Germany, including NATO, intelligence and military personnel, policy advisors and historians Werner Grossman, Gen Col Ivan Yesin, Capt Viktor Tkachenko, Stanislav Petrov, Victor Cherkashin, Adm Vladlen Smirnoff, Gen Igor Kondriatev, Oleg Gordievsky, Robert Gates, Gen John Chain, Robert McFarlane, Peter Pry, Col Spike Callender, Oleg Kalugin, Ben Fischer, Fritz Ermath, Charles Powell, Gene Gay, John Hughes Wilson, David Blythe, Joe Troxell, Col Charlie Simpson, Christopher Donnelly, Sergei Lokot, Capt William Bliss, Vladimir Kryuchkov, Boris Klyuyukov, General Rodionov, Col Maxim Devetyarov, Gen Ivan Tretyak, Gennady Ossipovich, Vitali Tsygichko and Rainer Rupp.

Subjects include: detente, the easing of strained relations between the Warsaw Pact and NATO in the 1970s; Andrei Gromyko, USSR Minister of Foreign Affairs 1957-1985; Yuri Andropov, USSR General Secretary, 1982-1984; Margaret Thatcher, UK Prime Minister 1979-1991; Richard Nixon, UU President 1969-1974; Jimmy Carter, US President 1977-1981; Ronald Reagan, US President 1981-1988; Vladmir Kryuchkov, Deputy Chairman of the KGB, 1978-1988, and Chairman of the KGB 1988-1991; Nikolai Orgakov, USSR Chief of General Staff (1977-1984); Dmitry Ustinov, USSR Minister of Defence 1976-1984; Tom Clancy, US fiction and non-fiction writer; the attempted assassination of Pope John-Paul II, 1981; Strategic Defence Initaitve (SDI) and Star Wars 1981; Operation RYAN, USSR monitoring of Western activity, 1981-1984; Beirut barracks bombing, 1983; invasion of Grenada Oct-Dec 1983; shooting down of Korean Airlines flight 007, Sep 1983; the USSR invasion of Afghanistan, 1979-1988.

Transcripts include questions and answers, and the tape counter numbering has been logged. The interviewer is not identified. Where interviews were translated this has been noted. Some names, places or phrases have been guessed at, or spelled phonetically by the transcriber. No information is given about the date or identity of the transcriber.

Edition of 14 Heavy Battery RGA War Diary (Robert Scott, London, 1919), including the war diary, 1914-1919; list of honours and awards to officers, non- commissioned officers, and soldiers who served with the battery; list of officers who served with the battery; and the battery roll of honour, 1914-1919