Showing 16 results

War Cabinet Minutes (HMSO), 1939-1945 is a themed microfiche collection containing copies of the minutes of the War Cabinet Meetings, Sep 1939-Jul 1945, and Cabinet Conclusions and Confidential Annexes, 1941-1945. Meeting minutes include British plans to create discord amongst the German High Command, Nov 1939; criticism of the military campaign in Norway, May 1940; First Lord of the Admiralty Winston (Leonard Spencer) Churchill's criticism of the Allied propaganda campaign in France, May 1940; speculation on the ability of the German population to sustain prolonged war, May 1940; reaction to the Allied withdrawals in France and Belgium, May 1940; the debate over the possible compromise peace with Germany, 26-28 May 1940; the decision to intern all enemy aliens in the United Kingdom; May 1940; Churchill's reaction to American isolationism, May 1940; the seizing of French warships in British and Egyptian harbours and the sinking of French warships at Mers-el-Kebir, Egypt, 23 Jun 1940; straining Anglo-French relations, Jul 1940; the Anglo-American 'destroyers for bases' agreement, Aug 1940; Churchill's attempt to take to court the Sunday Pictorial and the Daily Mirror over the newspapers' alleged anti-Government editorials, Oct 1940; preparations for the possible German invasion of the Britain, 1940; civil defence precautions in Britain, 1940; the British intervention in Greece, 1941; speculation on Soviet military collapses following the invasion of the Soviet Union by German armed forces, Jun 1941; Churchill's appeals to US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt for American intervention in the war, 1941; reaction over the fall of Singapore and Malaya to Japanese armed forces, Feb 1942; Anglo-American preparations for the invasion of North Africa, 1942; naval and air operations against France, 1943; the 'Beveridge Report' on social security in Britain, 1943; reports on Allied conferences at Casablanca, Jan 1943, and Washington, May 1943; the Allied decision to invade France made at the QUADRANT Conference, Quebec, Canada, Aug 1943; the planning and conduct of Operation OVERLORD, the Allied invasion of France, Jun 1944; the effect of the bombardment of London by German V1 pilotless aircraft and possible RAF reprisals against German civilian targets, Jun 1944; post-war reconstruction and rehabilitation in Europe, Jul 1944; plans for the Allied occupation of Germany and Austria, Nov 1944; British intervention in Greece in order to prevent a Communist take-over of the peninsula, Nov 1944; the establishment of the United Nations, 1945; arrangements for celebrating the end of the war in Europe, May 1945; the British General Election, Jul 1945.

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'.

OSS/London: Special Operations Branch and Secret Intelligence Branch War Diaries is a themed microfilm collection relating to US Office of Strategic Services (OSS)intelligence analyses and special operations in Western Europe, Jun 1942-Jun 1945. The collection includes Special Operations Branch organisation charts and directives, orders and summaries, Jun 1942-Jul 1944; Special Operations (SO) Branch and OSS training schedules; papers relating to Special Operations Branch liaison with Scandinavian Special Operations Executive (SOE) Section; reports on military and strategic objectives relating to Operation OVERLORD, the Allied invasion of France, Jan-Sep 1944; estimates of Special Operations personnel strength, Apr-Jun 1944; reports on resistance movements in Norway, Denmark, and Poland; summaries of Secret Intelligence Branch Operations, Apr-Sep 1944; list of decorations, commendations, and payments to families of the Special Operations and Secret Intelligence Branch casualties; biographies of Secret Intelligence personnel; reports from Secret Intelligence Branch operations in the Netherlands, France, Poland, Czechoslovakia; Germany; Secret Intelligence Branch liaison with the OSS; photographs of American and British Special Operations Branch officers; photographs of Maquis, French resistance, operatives; report from the Special Mission on German Methods of Demolition and Sabotage, Sep-Dec 1944; reports on Polish resistance fighters in France, 1944; lists of code names and code words used by the Special Operations Branch; reports from military, demolition, intelligence gathering, and espionage missions in Western Europe, 1944; after action summaries from the OSS Reports and Registry Division, London, and the OSS Reports Board, Paris, France, 1 Jan-15 Jun 1945.

This microfilm collection contains copied official documents relating to US naval operations in Europe and US naval liaison duties in Britain, 1941-1946. Many of the microfilmed documents are official reports sent to the Historical Section, US Navy, in 1946, for the purposes of compiling an official history. The collection includes material relating to the US naval administration, 1940-1946; the US Navy Special Observer missions in London, 1940-1946; the decision to post Adm Harold Raynsford Stark as Commander, [US] Naval Forces in Europe (COMNAVEU); COMNAVEU organisation and personnel, 1940- 1946; operational reports concerning [US] Naval Forces in Europe (COMNAVEU) and associated commands of COMNAVEU, including US 12 Fleet, 1941-1946; US naval intelligence and naval attaché duties; units under the command of COMNAVEU, including task forces and amphibious forces; supply and logistical activities, 1940- 1946; the history of Lend-Lease and Reciprocal Aid in Britain; the history of US naval bases in Britain; logistical planning for US Naval Forces in Europe for cross- channel operations; COMNAVEU's role in the planning and execution of Operation OVERLORD, the Allied invasion of France, 6 Jun 1944, and Operation NEPTUNE, the air and land assault on France, Jun 1944, including the naval bombardment of Axis forces and the use of US Navy amphibious forces to assault the beaches at Normandy, France assaults; a history of US Naval Task Forces in France, Germany, the Azores, the Mediterranean, and Italy, 1945-1946; relations with US Navy Pacific Command, 1941-1946.

Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, part 1: 1942-1945 is a themed microfilm collection containing copies of official documents of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1942-1945. Documents include meeting minutes and memoranda and reports relating to grand strategic issues, the Pacific theatre, the European theatre, and the Soviet Union. Meeting minutes include those for the conference held at Casablanca, Morocco, codenamed ANFA, in which the Anglo-American Combined Chiefs of Staff (CCS) first discussed the policies of German unconditional surrender, the Combined Bomber Offensive from Great Britain against Germany and the establishment of the French National Committee for Liberation, 14-24 Jan 1943; the Allied conference held at Washington, DC, codenamed TRIDENT, in which President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Prime Minister Rt Hon Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, and the Combined Chiefs of Staff (CCS) discussed the decision to delay the invasion of France until May 1944, the Italian surrender, and the Battle of the Atlantic, 11-25 May 1943; the Allied conference at Quebec City, Canada, codenamed QUADRANT, in which the Allies endorsed a plan for the invasion of the Normandy coast in France, formed a new theatre of war, South-East Asia Command, with Acting Adm Lord Louis (Francis Albert Victor Nicholas) Mountbatten as Supreme Allied Commander, and regulated the procedures for co-operation between Great Britain and the US regarding the development and production of the atomic bomb, 12-24 Aug 1943; the Allied conferences at Cairo, Egypt, codenamed SEXTANT, in which the Allies discussed combined operations in South-East Asia with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek's Chinese forces, 22-26 Nov and 2-7 Dec 1943; the Allied conference at Teheran, Iran, codenamed EUREKA, in which the Allies first co-ordinated future strategy with Soviet Prime Minister Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, including plans to coincide military operations against Germany in France and the Soviet Union in May 1944, 28-30 Nov 1943; the conference at Quebec City, Canada, codenamed OCTAGON, in which the Allies discussed the post-war division of Germany and a plan for its de-industrialisation, 12-16 Sep 1944; the conferences at Malta and Yalta, Soviet Union, codenamed ARGONAUT, in which the Allies discussed the division of post-war Germany, the occupation of Germany and Austria, Soviet involvement in the war against Japan, and the future government and frontiers of Poland, 30 Jan-9 Feb 1945; the conference at Potsdam, Germany, codenamed TERMINAL, in which the surrender terms for Japan were discussed, the boundaries and peace terms for Europe were determined and Poland's government and frontiers were debated, 16 Jul-2 Aug 1945. Papers relating to grand strategic issues include US Joint Chiefs of Staff documents on Allied production and assignment of war materials; British and US merchant vessel losses; US policy concerning assignments of Lend-Lease military aircraft, naval vessels and munitions to Great Britain; Allied petroleum supplies; propaganda and unconventional warfare; war crimes and prisoners of war; and the summit conferences held between the Allied powers of the US, Great Britain and the Soviet Union, 1942-1945. Papers relating to the European theatre include US Joint Chiefs of Staff memoranda and operational reports concerning the planning and conduct of Allied offensive operations in Europe, including the invasion of North Africa, codenamed Operation TORCH, Nov 1942; the invasion of Sicily, Italy, codenamed Operation HUSKY, Jul 1943; the US preparation for the invasion of Europe, codenamed Operation BOLERO; and the Allied invasion of Europe, codenamed Operation OVERLORD, Jun 1944. Papers relating to the Pacific theatre include US Joint Chiefs of Staff memoranda and operational reports concerning the Japanese war economy; Japanese Imperial Army logistical capabilities; locations and strengths of Japanese forces in the Pacific; British participation in long range bombing of Japan; Allied operational efforts in Burma, India, Malaya, and the Philippines; Soviet claims on the Sakhalin and Kuril islands; and the co-ordination of Allied strategic plans for the defeat and occupation of Japan, 1943-1944. US Joint Chiefs of Staff papers relating to the Soviet Union include estimates, memoranda, conference minutes and reports concerning the disclosure of Allied technical information to the Soviet Union; Soviet military action to facilitate Operation OVERLORD; liaison between Allied theatre commanders and the Soviet Army; Soviet capabilities with reference to the Far East; US Lend-Lease requirements for the Soviet Union; and estimates of Soviet post-war capabilities and intentions, 1943-1945.

Copies of typescript Indian Corps Intelligence Summaries, France, Aug 1915, and typescript account in French entitled 'Quelques faits importants de la Guerre par rapport a Merville', 1919. Papers relating to Sanderson's military intelligence work, 1940-1945, including typescript intelligence reports and summaries relating to the likely invasion of UK, 1940-1941, notably typescript Southern Command memorandum entitled 'Enemy craft likely to be used in invasion of UK and their employment', Jan 1941; typescript translations of German directives on the planned invasion of the UK, Operation SEELÖWE, 1940, taken from documents captured by the Allies in 1945; typescript copies, with translations, of Adolf Hitler's last will and his private and political testament, dated 29 Apr 1945. Printed volume, 'Notes on German preparation for invasion of the UK', prepared by General Staff, War Office, and issued to officers of MI14, Apr 1941. Printed volume in German entitled Informationsheft GB, produced by the Germans in World War Two as a manual on British life, customs, Government and administration [1940].

Papers of Sir David Ramsbotham, including reports, correspondence, photographs, lecture texts, press cuttings and ephemera, relating to his career, 1974-1995.Papers relating to Northern Ireland including Northern Ireland intelligence summaries, 22 Mar-11 Aug 1978; reports including report on 2nd Bn, Royal Green Jackets, Northern Ireland operations, Nov 1974-Feb 1975 and related correspondence; report on the organisation and operation of Bn search teams, 8 Aug 1974; report to Brigadier Ramsbotham from J.H. Dunlop on the subject of education in Belfast, 7 Jan 1980; 'Report on the situation in Belfast as at 14 July 1980'; report by Ramsbotham while commanding 39th Infantry Brigade to Major General Glover Commander Land Forces Northern Ireland, 15 Jul 1980 and situation report 39th Infantry Bde, Belfast, July 1980; training notes and reports; operation statistics, 6 Dec 1978-5 Dec 1979; papers relating to riot and crowd control in Northern Ireland, 19 Sep 1978; correspondence, 1971-1993, including two letters from Dervla Murphy Oct and Dec 1987; transcripts and notes for lectures on 2nd Bn, The Royal Green Jackets' time in Ireland between 1 Nov 1974 and 28 Feb 1975 and press cuttings and articles on Northern Ireland, 1971-1990.Papers relating to the Falkland Islands including detailed account of Ramsbotham's tour, 23 Jun-1 Jul 1982; photographs; related press cuttings and notes on a 1989 visit.Transcripts of speeches by Ramsbotham on defence and peacekeeping, 1982-1995; transcripts of speeches on military subjects by various speakers, 1982-1995; articles relating to defence 1959-1989; articles and talks by FM Lord Carver 1971-1996; papers relating to HRH Silver Jubilee review of the Army 1977; papers relating to official visits; papers relating to the United Nations, 1993-1997; booklets on military subjects, 1962-1995 and memoranda and copies of articles on defence and the media, 1982-1985.Photographs including of the Falkland Islands visit; the opening of the Adjutant General Information Centre; Ramsbotham's early career; presentation of the Imperial Service medal to June Small; visit to the Guides Infantry; visit to the USA; visit to the UNISYS International management centre; visiting troops during winter training; visits by Col Gen Omelichev to Winchester and Winchester Cathedral; meeting soldiers on patrol; official visits in Germany; on exercise Lone Star; visiting commonwealth troops in India and Africa and a visit to Gibraltar.

Papers, photographs and publications of Gp Capt James Henry Iremonger, relating to his career, 1936-1959, including: orders for 1 Airborne Allied Army for Operation MARKET, Netherlands, 17 Sep 1944; Second Army intelligence summaries, 2-4 May 1945; 83 Group intelligence summaries, 34 May 1945; stereoscopic slides of aerial photographs showing results of RAF bombing raids over France and Germany, 1943-1944; copy pages from Iremonger's flying log book, 1936-1958; Bag the Hun! (Air Ministry, Apr 1943), a booklet of mathematical exercises for fighter pilots.

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.

The papers cover the period 1914-1965 and include papers relating to service in England, France and with British Army of the Rhine, 1914-1919 in particular 35 Division Artillery Signals; Iraq, including diary, 1920-1921; Nigeria, including field message book, 1924; Quetta, India, including earthquake diary, 1935; newspapers covering death of King George V, 1936; command of Northern Rhodesia Regt, Lusaka, 1937-1940, including scrap albums; command of 26 (East African) Infantry Brigade, East Africa and Abyssinia, 1940- 1941, including operation reports; command of 22 (East African) Infantry Brigade, Madagascar, 1942, including operation reports; command of 28 (East African) Infantry Brigade and 11 (East African) division, Burma and India, 1944-1946 including accounts of operations; General Officer Commanding East Africa, 1946- 1948, including official circulars, speeches and addresses; General Officer Commanding Aldershot Command, 1948-1951, including speeches and lectures; Representative on Military Staff Committtee, United Nations, 1951-1953, including diary; Col Commandant of Northern Rhodesia Regiment, King's African Rifles and Kenya Regiment, including correspondence, 1952-1964, committee papers and publications; papers relating to Army Cadet Force Association including minutes of meetings, 1956-1959; Inter-Parliamentary Union, including account of journey to Warsaw, Poland, 1959; maps, 1914-1943, including Western Front, Iraq and India, Nigeria and Madagascar.

Copy of 'A soldier's story', a memoir of his life and career, 1905-1984, notably his service in India, 1935-1938, North West Europe, 1939-1940 and 1944-1945, including the arrest of the Grand Adm Karl Doenitz (Operation BLACKOUT) in May 1945, Palestine, 1947, Germany, 1948, and Egypt, 1954-1957, including the Suez Crisis, 1956, written in 1984. Photographs relating to the arrest of Doenitz, Germany, 1945.

Printed 'Report of the Board of Enquiry appointed to enquire into the circumstances in which the German Battle Cruisers (SCHARNHORST and GNEISENAU) and Prinz Eugen proceeded from Brest to Germany on 12th February, 1942, and on the operations undertaken to prevent this movement', Mar 1942, relating to Operation CERBERUS or the 'Channel dash', with typescript covering letter from Binney to AF Sir (Alfred) Dudley (Pickman Rogers) Pound, Mar 1942.

Collection includes five postcards, four of which are of British troops from 1 Airborne Div at Hotel De Tafelberg, Oosterbeek, Netherlands, during Operation MARKET GARDEN, the Allied attempt to establish a bridgehead across the Rhine river at Arnhem, 17 Sep-25 Sep 1944, and one of the Airborne Monument at Oosterbeek, built by J Maris, 1946; and a personal account by Henk B van der Horst entitled, Paratroopers Jump, Fury over Arnhem (Boekhandel Romijn, Oosterbeek, 1946), relating to the Allied airborne offensive at Arnhem, 17 Sep-25 Sep 1944.