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Only top-level descriptions France, Normandy Chemical actions and uses
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LEAKEY, Maj Gen Arundell Rea (1915-1999)

  • LEAKEY
  • Collection
  • 1963

Papers relating to his life and career, 1915-1991, dated 1963, 1969 and [1991], principally comprising 'Nine lives, a soldier's story', a typescript memoir covering the period 1915-1991, including his service in North Africa and the Western Desert, 1939-1942 and 1943, the Middle East, 1942-1943 and 1954-1956, Normandy, 1944, and France, Belgium and Germany, 1945-1947, and hiswork as Director General of Fighting Vehicles, 1964-1966, and General Officer Commanding, Malta and Libya, 1967-1968, written in [1991].

Leakey, Arundell Rea, 1915-1999, Major General

MULLENEUX, Cdr Hugh Headworth Hubback (1911-1990)

  • MULLENEUX
  • Collection
  • 1939-1946

Copies of detailed narrative diaries and transcripts of Naval signal messages on RN operations, 1939-1945, including service at RN Gunnery School, Chatham, Kent, 1939, on HMS JERVIS in the North Sea, 1940, with the Mediterranean Fleet, 1940-1941, with Combined Operations Command, Dieppe and Normandy, 1942-1944, and the British Pacific Fleet, 1945-1946. Also, typescript copies of operational orders for Operation NEPTUNE, Normandy, 1944.

Mulleneux, Hugh Headworth Hubback, 1911-1990, Commander RN

PYMAN, Gen Sir Harold English (1908-1971)

  • PYMAN
  • Collection
  • 1860-1901

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.

Pyman, Harold English ('Pete'), 1908-1971, Knight, General

WILSON, Louis Edward (1884-1973)

  • WILSON, LE
  • Collection
  • 1914-1959

Papers of Louis Edward Wilson, 1914-1959, relating to World War One Fundraising Tank Campaign and to the waterproofing of tanks during World War Two, including: booklet, The German Raid on the Hartlepools, December 16th 1914 , with photographs of bomb damage and list of the dead, 1914; correspondence, photographs, brochures, programmes, invitations and publicity material relating to the National Tour around the UK of the Tank Campaign of the National War Savings Committee, 8 Jan 1917-19 Dec 1919; letters from Maj Gen Sir Ernest Swinton, contributor to the invention of the tank and first commander of the Tank Corps, 18 Aug 1922-18 Jul 1945; correspondence concerning Wilson's career and the process of tank waterproofing, 14 Sept 1939-28 Jun 1946 and 3 Jan 1959; papers relating to tank waterproofing, 1940-1945, including: notes on supplies for the Dieppe raid, Aug 1942; notes taken from minutes of Tank Committee meetings, Aug 1942-Jun 1943; lists of companies manufacturing tanks, 1945; summary of the uses of Bostik in tank wading, Aug 1940-Jan 1945; 'A Tank Goes for a Swim', illustrated article from Picture Post , 21 Oct 1944; German aerial photograph of Coventry, showing Armstrong Siddeley aircraft engine works, Oct 1940; photographs of tank landings on manoeuvres in the UK, 1943, in Sicily and Italy, 1943, and in Normandy, 1944; booklets containing waterproofing and wading instructions, 1943-1944, for tanks including the Churchill Mk I, II, III, and IV; Light Tank M5, M5A1 and Howitzer motor carriage with radio equipment; Sherman Mk III and Mk V; Stuart Mk III and Mk V; Car, Scout and Humber Mk I and II; Armoured Car and Humber Mk I, II, III and IV; Valentine Bridgelayer; Armoured Car, Staghound; Churchill AVRE; Churchill ARV; Centaur Mk IV; 3in gun motor carriage M10; Carriers; Crusader, Gun Tractor Mk I; Cromwell Mk I, II, IV, V, VI and Centaur Mk I, III, IV. Also copy of We Planned the Second Front by Maj John Dalgleish (Gollancz, 1945) with mention of the waterproofing efforts.

Wilson, Louis Edward, 1884-1973

WOODS, Col Arthur Graham (1886-1964)

  • WOODS, AG
  • Collection
  • 1943-1945

Papers relating to his service with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, 1943-1945, principally comprising official report by [Woods] on waterproofing technology, 1945; official reports on the waterproofing of 'A' and 'B' vehicles and equipment, 1943-1945, by Brig Hugh Roberts Howard, Deputy Director Mechanical Engineering (Wading), War Office, 1944-1945; 'Waterproofing of army equipment for amphibious operations', official report by Woods, [1943-1945]; photographs of wading tests on army vehicles, 1944; Combined Operations pamphlets on the responsibilities of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, 1944, and the waterproofing of vehicles and equipment, 1944; 'The Army waded ashore', a typescript account of the role of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in the preparations for D Day, 6 Jun 1944, written by Woods in [1944-1945].

Woods, Arthur Graham, 1886-1964, Colonel