Showing 293 results

Epic violet', a draft memoir covering his service with the Air Ministry and the BEF, 1939-1940, notably pre-war air intelligence, the 'phoney war' and air reconnaissance in France, Sep 1939-Apr 1940, the German invasion of France, May 1940, and the evacuation of UK troops from Dunkirk, May-June 1940, written in [1957]. 'Skies to Dunkirk', a memoir based on the above draft,published in 1982.

Photocopy of typescript copy of letters to his father, J P Goldsmith, 1914-1919, covering his service in the North Sea, 1914-1918, notably action at Heligoland Bight, Aug 1914, and the Battle of Jutland, 31 May 1916, and in the Black Sea during the Russian Civil War, 1919, written in 1914-1919, with copy of covering letter from his daughter to the Centre, 1983.

Papers relating to his service in the RN, 1939-1940, comprising typescript account of his service on HMS MALAYA, Indian Ocean, 1939, Atlantic, 1940, and Mediterranean, 1940-1941, written in [1941-1944]; 'Impressions of a dental officer serving in HMS MALAYA, September 1939-May 1941', text of talk given to Allied Forces Dental Society, Jan 1944.

Papers including appreciations, reports and battle instructions relating to operations of 20 Indian Division in Burma including the Kabaw Valley and Kyaukchaw, Apr 1942-Mar 1944; Shenam and Kalewa, Apr-Dec 1944; Monywa and the Irrawaddy, including the capture of Kyaukse, Jan-Aug 1945. Papers including reports and operational orders relating to operations of 20 Indian Division in French Indo-China, Aug 1945-May 1947. Typescripts of and related papers for unpublished history of 20 Indian Division, 1944-1958 including accounts of operations of particular units. Translations of Japanese documents on operations in Burma, 1941-1945, including summaries of operations by particular units and war diary of Japanese 15 Army, 1943-1945. Copies of South-East Asia Translation and Interrogation Center Historical Bulletin (Jul 1946-May 1947) including history of particular units of Japanese Army.

Various military papers, mainly dating from the nineteenth century, including standing orders, despatches and a paper by Gen Sir Frederick Roberts on Russia, all probably collected by Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, 1805-1811, 1871-1885, 1918-1921. Correspondence and papers relating to Lt Gen Sir Robert Grant (see above), including material concerning his career, and correspondence from Gen Sir Henry Redvers Buller, 1900. Letters and papers of Charles John Cecil Grant, notably correspondence with Rosebery, mainly letters written whilst on active service on the Western Front, World War One, 1914-1927, French Gen Maxime Weygand, including comments on the Versailles Treaty and the death of French Marshal Ferdinand Foch, 1919-1948, and Lt Gen Sir Oliver William Hargreaves Leese, 3rd Bt, on military operations in Italy during World War Two, 1943-1944. Copies of diary entries and notes written by Charles John Cecil Grant whilst serving as a liaison officer to French Headquarters on the Western Front, World War One, Mar-Nov 1918.

Papers relating to his RAF service, 1931-1961, principally comprising his flying log book, 1931-1954, including details of bombing missions, North West Europe, 1944-1945; unsigned typescript report recommending the rearming of No 232 Wing and No 252 Sqn with Mosquito XXVIs, [1945-1946]; photograph of portrait of MRAF Hugh Montague Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard, by Francis Beresford, signed by Beresford, 1955.

Copy of his account of Battle of Jutland, 31 May 1916, written on 4 Jun 1916. Copy of text of his despatch from HMS SCYLLA on the Normandy landings, 6-7 Jun 1944, broadcast on the [Forces Programme], 7 Jun 1944, with covering letter, 24 Jun 1944. Copies of extracts from his diary covering his discussion with Adm Hon Sir Alexander Robert Maule Ramsay about the planningof the Normandy landings, Dec [1944], and his visit to Germany, Jun 1945, including his observations on German scientific and technical developments and his interviews with British and German naval officers. Two letters to Grenfell's wife from Baron von Müllenheim-Rechberg, a survivor of the sinking of the Bismarck, May 1941, dated 1978, concerning Grenfell's book The Bismarck episode (Faber and Faber, London, 1948).

Photocopy of typescript account of his work with Future Operations Planning Section of the Joint Planning Staff, War Office, 1940-1941, [1941].

Microfilmed copies of the manuscript diaries of FM Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, 1914-1919, and letters to his wife Dorothy Vivian Haig, Aug 1914-Mar 1919. Included in the papers are passages relating to the formation and composition of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), under the command of FM Sir John Denton Pinkstone French, July 1914; Haig's reaction, as General Officer Commanding 1 Army, British Expeditionary Forces in France and Flanders (BEF), to the British retreat following the First Battle of Ypres, Dec 1914; plans for the British offensive at Loos, Jul-Sep 1915; correspondence with FM Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener of Khartoum and Broome, relating to the French's command of the Artois-Loos Offensive, Sep 1915; correspondence with Gen Sir William (Robert) Robertson, Chief of General Staff, relating to the proposed increase of British fighting forces in France, Oct 1915; the dismissal of French and the succession of Haig as Commander-in-Chief, British Armies in France, Dec 1915; Haig's recommendations for Lt Gen Sir Henry Seymour Rawlinson as his successor as General Officer Commanding 1 Army, Dec 1915; correspondence with Rt Hon Richard Burdon Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane of Cloan, relating to Haig's appointment to Commander-in-Chief, British Armies in France, Dec 1915; orders from Kitchener to Haig concerning proposed Allied offensives in France and liaison with French Gen Joseph Jacques Cesaire Joffre, Jan 1916; letter from Robertson, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, to Haig relating to possible British offensives in the Balkans, Iraq and Germany, Jan 1916; discussions with Gen Sir Herbert Charles Onslow Plumer, General Officer Commanding 2 Army, British Armies in France, relating to possible British offensives at Ypres, Jan 1916; the German offensive at Verdun and the resultant requests by the French General Staff for a British relief offensive from Ypres to Armentières, Feb 1916; alleged incompetence within 2 Canadian Div command, Apr 1916; discussions with Robertson, Maj Gen Sir Launcelot Edward Kiggell, Chief of General Staff to British Armies in France, and Brig Gen Richard Harte Keatinge Butler, Deputy Chief of General Staff to the British Armies in France, relating to the proposed offensive at the Somme (Jul-Nov 1916), May 1916; Haig's instructions to Rawlinson, General Officer Commanding 4 Army, British Armies in France, regarding the proposed limited infantry attack on the Somme, Jun 1916; Haig's reaction to British Cabinet criticism of British casualty figures during the Somme offensive, Jul 1916; analysis of German casualty figures during the Somme offensive, Nov 1916; Haig's reaction to replacement of Rt Hon Herbert Henry Asquith, Prime Minister of Great Britain and First Lord of the Treasury, with Rt Hon David Lloyd George, 1916; Haig's reaction to replacement of Joffre as Commander-in-Chief of the French Armies with French Gen Robert Georges Nivelle, 1916; Haig's promotion to FM, 1917; supplies and manpower required for proposed British and French combined Nivelle offensive, 1917; Haig's reaction to German withdrawal to defensive positions along the Hindenburg Line, 1917; Haig's reaction to Calais Conference proceedings, in which combined British and French command council is proposed, 1917; Haig and Robertson' s veto of Gen Sir Henry Hughes Wilson as proposed British Chief of Staff liaison to Nivelle's Headquarters; the re-organisation of the Allied command structure as a result of the Calais Agreement, 1917; the failed French offensive at Aisne, Apr 1917; plans for the Passchendaele Campaign (Jul-Nov 1917) and the choice of General Hubert (de la Poer) Gough's 5 Army as the main British assaulting force, 1917; Haig's fears of a French civil and military collapse, 1917; conference with Gen John Joseph Pershing, Commander-in-Chief American Expeditionary Forces in Europe, Jul 1917; severe criticism levelled at Haig concerning his command of the Passchendaele Campaign, Jul-Nov 1917; Haig's reaction to the establishment of the Inter-Allied War Supreme War Council at Versailles, France, and the posting of Wilson as its British representative, 1918; Robertson's replacement as Chief of the Imperial General Staff by Wilson, 1918; the shortage of British military reserves in France, 1918; the failure of the German 'spring offensives' at Arras, France, Lys, Belgium, and Aisne, France, Mar-May 1918; straining relations between Haig and FM Ferdinand Foch, Marshal of France and Generalissimo of the Allied Forces, France, 1918; the Battle of Amiens, Aug 1918; the terms of the armistice, Nov 1918; perceptions of the Paris Peace Conference and the resultant Treaty of Versailles, 1919.

Liber in vinculis or the Mock Turtle's adventure , a meditation on his life and career, with particular reference to the Battle of Crete, 1941, written as a POW in Germany, 1941-1945, and including a short essay on the Battle of Crete, 1941, by Dr Mark Mazower, privately published by Trinity College, Cambridge in 1989.

Tobruk: Siege, Breakout, Victory', typescript memoir covering operations at Tobruk, 1941-1942, written in [1991] and later published as Tobruk: the great siege reassessed (Arms and Armour Press, London, 1996)

Papers relating to his work as Engineer-in-Chief, South East Asia Command, 1943-1946, dated 1943-1947, principally comprising official photographs showing construction work on roads, bridges and airstrips, 1943-1946; official photograph of Acting Adm Louis (Francis Albert Victor Nicholas) Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia and US Gen Lewis APick, [1945]; 'The construction of forward airfields in SEAC Areas', Engineer-in-Chief (India) Pamphlet No 12, prepared by Harrison and Maj Gen Horace Eckford Roome, Engineer-in-Chief, General HQ, India, 1945; 'Royal Engineers training memorandum No 20: rafting andbridging', pamphlet issued by the War Office, 1946; 'Memorandum on the training and employment of officers of the Royal Engineers and Indian Engineers in preparation for war', issued by General HQ, Delhi, 1945; letter from Harrison to AQ Plans, South East Asia Command relating to the building of the Ledo Road, Burma and India, Dec 1945; 'Major Engineer: lessons of the war in South East AsiaCommand', copy of unsigned typescript text, [1945]; pre-publication edition of Mountbatten's Report to Combined Chiefs of Staff by the Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia, 1943-1946 (London, 1951), 1947; 'Annexure A', unsigned typescript text on Engineer organisation, South East Asia Command, 1943-1946, written in [1946] and later reworked and published as Annexure 6 of Mountbatten's Report to Combined Chiefs of Staff by Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia, 1943-1946 (London, 1951). Unsigned text of lecture to the Senior Officers' School on organisation and work of Royal Engineers, 31 Dec 1941.

Papers relating to his RAF career, 1939-1951, dated [1939-1951], 1984-1985, [1987], 1991, 1993, particularly his service in the USSR, 1941, and Sweden, 1948, principally comprising photographs of Haw and his RAF colleagues, [1939-1951]; press cuttings, 1941, [1946], 1948, 1956, [1987], 1991, [1993]; 'Pilot's notes for Spitfire 22 and 24 Griffon 61 engine' (Air Publication 2816 B andC), prepared by the Air Ministry, 1947, with amendments list, 1950. Audio tape of interview with Paul Hamlin, 1993, concerning Haw's service at Coolham Airfield in 1944.

Photocopies of papers relating to his service in World War Two, 1943-1944, dated 1944, 1947 and 1980, principally comprising notes for a lecture to the Royal Engineers Officer Cadet Training Unit on the role of 3 Infantry Div during the Normandy landings (Operation OVERLORD), Jun 1944, written in [Oct] 1944.

Photocopy of the report 'The Enemy Side of the Hill, the 1945 background on interrogation of German commanders', compiled by Maj Kenneth William Hechler, chief interrogator, 1949.

Copy of 'Tim', a typescript account of Hely's life and career, 1902-1990, notably his service with 60 Field Regt in the Western Desert, including action around Sidi Rezegh, Nov 1941, and with 7 Indian Div in India, 1942 and Burma, 1943-1945, including the Japanese attack on 15 Indian Corps' administrative base at Sinzweya, Burma, Feb 1944, written in 1991 by 'L R L', Hely's Bde Maj, Royal Artillery, 7 Div, 1942-1944. Includes extracts from Hely's descriptions of actions at Sidi Rezegh and Sinzweya written for The Royal Artillery Commemoration Book, 1939-1945 (G Bell and Sons, London, 1950).

Papers, mostly photocopies, relating to Operation FRESHMAN, an abortive British-Norwegian assault on a heavy water plant at Vemork, Norway, Nov 1942, written in 1942-1945 and [1983], notably operation orders, Nov 1942; letter to Maj Pardon, dated Jul 1945, giving extracts from Henniker's report on the operation, written in [1942]; summary of information received about the movements of personnel from the crashed gliders, Jun 1945.

Official photographs of the British Army in North Africa, [1940-1943], principally depicting personnel, tanks and infantry.