Showing 437 results

Papers of Wg Cdr James Redman, 1930-1943, comprise copy photographs relating to the career of Wg Cdr James Redman: aircraft including Vickers Victoria V, Bristol Type 105 Bulldog, Handley Page Heyford, Hawker Hart, Hawker Hind, and various crashed aircraft, 1930s; HMS GLORIOUS after refit as an aircraft carrier, [1935]; and group personnel photograph with an Avro Lancaster, [1943].

Papers relating to service in HMS GLOUCESTER, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, World War Two, including photocopy of diary, 1939-1940, naval messages, 1940-1943, and photographs; official service records, 1941-1958; and papers relating to naval career, 1949-1964, including article dated 1965, 'A Perspective View of Naval Engineering', on the Electrical Branch of the Royal Navy.

Fifty editions of Tee Emm, the Department of the Air Member for Training, Air Ministry, training memoranda monthly magazine, Apr 1941-Mar 1946. In addition to containing RAF training procedures and memoranda relating to RAF administration, navigation techniques, airmanship, crew co-operation requirements, gunnery, and aerial intelligence matters, the magazines included leisure articles and cartoons; fictional accounts of air operations; RAF honours lists; and updates on technological developments in the RAF

Official illustrated edition of RAF Middle East: The Official Story of Air Operations in the Middle East, from February 1942 to January 1943 (His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1945); official illustrated edition of Atlantic Bridge: The Official Account of RAF Transport Command's Ocean Ferry (His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1945)

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].

Memorial addresses and obituaries, 1994, including details of his service as Commander, RAF Tengah, Singapore, 1942, and his subsequent capture and imprisonment by the Japanese, 1943-1945.

Typescript report, '23rd Armoured Bde operations in Greece, October 15 1944-January 7 1945' issued by Headquarters, Royal Armoured Corps, Central Mediterranean Forces, May 1945, and typescript volume, 'The Second World War 1939-1945 - Army - Planning' by Col Robert David Quixano Henriques, issued by the War Office, 1954.

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.

List the bugle, reminiscences of an Irish soldier (Greystone, Antrim, 1993), a memoir of his life and career, 1921-1976, notably his service in the UK and France, 1942, including the Allied raid on St Nazaire,1942, his experiences as a POW, Germany, 1942-1945, his service in Palestine, 1945-1946, Egypt, 1949-1951, Malaya, 1956-1958, and Cyprus, 1958, and his command of the 1 Bn, Royal Ulster Rifles, Borneo, 1963-1964, and of the Sultan's Armed Forces, Oman, 1967-1970.

Papers relating to his service in the Far East in 1942-1945 and 1950, dated 1942-1945 and 1950, principally comprising two photograph albums of Keijo (Seoul) POW camp, 1942-1944; copy of obituary from The Lancashire Lad, North Lancashire Regt (Loyal Regt) journal (Dec 1950); copy of covering letter to the Centre from Joan Procter (Procter's sister), 1992.

Prentice's manuscript diaries, mainly detailing his services at General Headquarters, Middle East Command, Cairo, Egypt, including mention of Long Range Desert Group operations in the Western Desert, 1942; manuscript diaries and notebooks kept by Prentice and Wickstead, mainly relating to SOE operations in West Macedonia, Greece, 1943-1944; reports, mainly compiled by Allied Military Mission personnel, detailing demolition, intelligence and reconnaissance missions in West Macedonia, combined missions with Ethnikos Laikos Apeleftherotikos Stratos (ELAS) 9 Div, liaison operations with Raiding Support Regiment and US Operational Group 7 personnel, sabotage targets, and administrative and operational procedures, 1943-1944; papers, in Greek, mainly relating to ELAS partisan activities in West Macedonia, including a copy of the 'National Bands Agreement', memoranda to Allied Military Mission regarding struggles with Ellinikos Dimokratikos Ethnikos Stratos (EDES) factions, political proclamations and ELAS propaganda; papers, in Greek, relating to Greek partisan forces not under the jurisdiction of the Allied Military Mission, including memoranda, propaganda and military orders from the Ellinikos Ethnikis Stratos (EES) and Kommounistiko Komma Elladas (KKE) and official Greek government notices, 1943- 1944; maps and photographs of Allied Military Mission areas of operation, 1943- 1944; correspondence between Allied Military Mission commanders and sub-area commanders, 1943-1944, including correspondence between Greek partisan commanders and Prentice, 1944; personal letters from Allied personnel to Prentice, 1946-1955; correspondence between Wickstead, Officer Commanding Signals, Area 1, and Allied personnel, 1944; papers relating to wireless/telegraphy signals, Allied Military Mission, 1943-1944; papers, relating mainly to the administration and supply of the Allied Military Mission; German papers, including German 1 Mountain Div operational orders, propaganda, personal letters from German soldiers to family members and German-language newspapers; Greek political papers, notably including propaganda newspapers and party leaflets, including letters to Maj Gen Arthur Wilmot Wadeson Holworthy, 1941-1946; Wickstead's post-war index of Allied Military Mission signals, [1989]; papers relating to post-war publications about SOE operations in Greece, including the working papers for Lt Col Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond's, The Allied Military Mission and the Resistance in West Macedonia (Institute for Balkan Studies, Thessaloniki, 1993); post-war Greek newspapers, leaflets and war memorial publications, 1945-[1991]. 3.3.4 Arrangement: Arranged in the following sections: diaries and notebooks of Maj Ronald R Prentice and Capt H Arthur Wickstead, 1942-1944; documents and papers relating to Allied Military Mission operations, West Macedonia, 1943-1944; papers relating to Greek partisan activities, 1943-1944; maps and photographs of Allied Military Mission areas of operations, 1943-1944; correspondence between Allied Military Mission commanders, 1943-1944 and former Greek partisans, 1946-1955; papers relating to wireless/telegraphy signals, Allied Military Mission, 1943-1944; papers relating to the administration, finances and logistics of the Allied Military Mission, 1943-1944; German papers, documents and newspapers during the occupation of Greece, 1943-1944; Greek political papers, documents and newspapers, 1941-1946; Wickstead's post-war partial index of signals, Allied Military Mission, West Macedonia, [1989]; papers relating to post-war publications about the resistance movement in West Macedonia, [1989-1991]; post- war Greek newspapers, leaflets and war memorial publications, 1945-[1991].

Papers and maps chiefly concerning the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, [1918]-1959, including typescript copy of war diary, 1 Armoured Reconnaissance Bde, British Expeditionary Force (BEF), Belgium and France, 30 Mar-30 May 1940, with typescript recommendations for awards, 1940; typescript account, dated Jun 1942, of dispositions and operations of B Sqn, 1 Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, Belgium and France, 14 May-1 Jun 1940; typescript list entitled '1 Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, nominal roll of casualties sustained in France, 1940'; article by Maj Otho Munton Bullivant, Adjutant, 1 Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, entitled 'With the BEF [British Expeditionary Force] in Flanders', from The Tank [1941]; typescript 'Precis of activities of 1st Fife and Forfar Yeomanry', British Liberation Army, North West Europe, Oct 1944-Feb 1945, and 'Details of activities of 1st Fife and Forfar Yeomanry', 1-31 Mar 1945; correspondence with various officers concerning Regimental affairs, 1943-1945, including Col James Younger, 2nd Viscount Younger of Leckie, Honorary Col, Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, 1945; correspondence, dated 1944-1945, relating to the return of the Regimental band instruments, abandoned by the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry during the retreat to Dunkirk, 1940, and kept by the local townspeople, France, 1940-1944; official correspondence concerning Prain's Army pension and war disablement compensation, 1946-1956; correspondence, dated 1947-1959, relating to the writing and publication of The Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, 1919-1956 by Robert James Batchen Sellar (William Blackwood, Edinburgh and London, 1960). Twenty five photographs relating to the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, 1923-1945, including group photograph of Armoured Car Company, Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, Annesmuir camp, Scotland, Jul 1923; five photographs of Fife and Forfar Yeomanry Vickers Light Tanks Mark VIB and Universal carriers, France, 1940; official photograph of Infantry Tank Mark IV Churchill Crocodile flame-throwing tank, storming of the Senio river, Italy, Apr 1945.

Twelve detailed, narrative, manuscript diaries, Jan 1933-Aug 1936 and Jan 1938-Dec 1944 (with postscripts added in Jan and Sep 1945), including Pownall's time as Military Assistant Secretary, Committee of Imperial Defence, 1933-1935, Commandant, School of Artillery, Larkhill, Wiltshire, 1936-1938, Chief of General Staff, BEF (British Expeditionary Force), France, 1939-1940, Commander-in-Chief, British Forces in Northern Ireland, 1940-1941, and Chief of Staff to Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia Command, 1943-1944, with aerial photograph of Belfast, Aug 1940, and a group photograph of the officers of South East Asia Command [1945], typescript extracts from reports, letters and typescript extract from the diary of Maj Gen Edmund Archibald Osborne, on the campaign in France, 1940. Also, printed order of service in memory of FM John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort, 10 Apr 1946, and related newspaper cuttings. The diaries were published as Chief of Staff. The diaries of Lieutenant General Sir Henry Pownall, edited by Brian James Bond (Leo Cooper, London, 1972).

Papers, 1902-1975, mostly concerning Weihaiwei, northern China, including typescript notes on the history of Weihaiwei, 1934, with three printed Annual Colonial Reports entitled Weihaiwei (HMSO, London, 1902, 1920 and 1929) and edition of the Weihaiwei Government Gazette containing the Convention for the rendition of Weihaiwei (5 May 1930); various invitations, menus, concert and sports programmes, Weihaiwei, 1938-1940, with booklet in French entitled Croiseur Lamotte Picquet (Pierre Le Conte, Caen, 1929); nine typescript HM Consular Notifications by Scott Langshaw Burdett, Consul, stating official instructions and advice for British subjects in the event of a Japanese takeover of Weihaiwei, Jan-Apr 1938, with typescript memorandum by Cdr Ralph Alan Bevan Edwards, Senior Naval Officer, Weihaiwei, on emergency procedures to be adopted for communication with HM Consul, Jan 1938; eleven Japanese propaganda posters, distributed in Weihaiwei, 1938, with typescript translations; newspaper cuttings relating to Weihaiwei, 1938-1939, with edition of the North China Daily News Magazine Supplement, 8 May 1938; thirty-four typescript reports by Pomfret to Commander-in-Chief HM Ships and Vessels, China Station, on prevailing situation and conditions in Weihaiwei and on Liu Kung Tao Island, Apr 1938-Nov 1940; personal and official correspondence, 1938-1975, including letter of introduction for Pomfret to Japanese V Adm Kichisaburo Nomura, from Capt Percival Henry Gwynne James, Royal Naval Liaison Officer, Shanghai, Nov 1939, letters from Elizabeth 'Betty' Clark on the Japanese occupation of Weihaiwei, Mar 1938, and letter from Surgeon Capt Harald Ernest Bruckshaw Curjel, Royal Navy, on memories of Weihaiwei, 1975; financial statements and typescript inventories for Royal Naval establishments, Liu Kung Tao Island, Weihaiwei, 1939-1940.

Papers relating to his career with the Royal Naval Reserve, 1926-1950, dated 1926-1950, 1985-1986, 1989, 1994 and 1995, notably including commands, reports, correspondence and notes concerning his service on HMS GLOXINIA, North Atlantic and Mediterranean, 1940-1942, on the staff of Flag Officer, Liverpool, HMS EAGLET, 1942-1943, on HMS DELHI, Mediterranean, 1943-1945, and on the staff of Cdr in Chief, Mediterranean Fleet, 1945-1946. Text on Gen Sir Bernard Law Montgomery's role in the North Africa campaign, 1942-1943, by Peter Solly-Flood, 1986.

Bound copy of text of Platt's Lee Knowles lectures on 'The campaign against Italian East Africa, 1940-1941', given at Cambridge University, 1951.

Copy of typescript memoirs of the service in Africa of John Pitt, 1940-1943, entitled 'Adui Mbele (Enemy in Front): Some Recollections of a Platoon Commander in the East African Campaign (1940-41) and on Brigade Staff in Madagascar (1942-43)', detailing the arrival in South Africa of Pitt, the background to the campaign, personalities and expeditionary summaries.

Papers of Barrie Pitt relating to military history, 1940-1991, including draft of book Special Boat Squadron by Pitt, annotated with corrections; draft of book Crucible of War: Western Desert 1941 by Pitt, annotated with corrections; transcripts of radio and television broadcasts on the First and Second World Wars including transcripts of the BBC 1 series 'Grand Strategy' on the Second World War, 1972; scripts and other papers relating to the BBC TV series, 'The Great War', 1964 and transcripts of 'European Service: General News Talk' 26 Jun 1964-20 Aug 1964; correspondence chiefly on the subject of historical research; photographs of Malta during the Second World War; copy photographs used by Pitt to illustrate his books and articles, chiefly photographs of the North African Campaign, to illustrate Pitt's book Crucible of War: Western Desert, 1941, also photographs of Adolf Hitler, Albrecht Kesselring; Sicily, 1943 and aerial warfare, Malta, 1940-1943; papers used for research including press cuttings, magazines and magazine cuttings, offprints of articles and correspondence notably on the subject of Europe 1900-1914 and the Middle East; papers relating to Basil Liddell Hart including photographs, draft articles by Liddell Hart, copies of Liddell Hart's correspondence and press cuttings; draft papers by Eric Dorman O'Gowen and related correspondence and copies of British History Illustrated.

Copy of dossier containing maps, plans and technical data on the port of Boulogne, produced by the Director of Ports and Inland Water Transport, War Office, for the use of port construction and repair companies engaged on the rehabilitation of ports damaged by enemy action, [1943-1944].

Papers relating to Piggott's service in World War Two, 1939-1945, notably the sinking of HMS VAN MEERLANT, 4 Jun 1941, including typescript list of the ship's company, annotated to show survivors of the sinking, with manuscript notes by an unknown survivor relating to Piggott's exemplary conduct during the sinking, Jun 1941; manuscript letter to Piggott from Hugh G Collins, HMS WILDFIRE, relating to Piggott's injuries, the loss of HMS VAN MEERLANT, and to the writing of sympathy letters to the crew's next of kin, Jul 1941; letter to Piggott from Cdr Humphry Gilbert Boys-Smith, Royal Naval Reserve, relating to accomodation for Naval officers, Mar 1945; typescript notes on Piggott's career [1996].