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Wartime diaries, typescript correspondence, memoirs and poetry by Victor West, concerning the campaign in Greece, Crete and as a prisoner of war during World War Two, with recent poetry, 1941-1999; notably including a bound typescript memoir, 'The loss of Creforce Reserve: "The side show"', written 1981, including list of officers and other ranks of 9 Bn, King's Royal Rifle Corps, killed in Greece and Crete, 1941, and a copy article, 'The Rangers in Greece and Crete: a story of devotion and toil', printed 1941 in the house magazine of the Gas Light & Coke Ltd; 3 volume bound typescript memoir, 'Wash me in the water: a personal account of the first Greek campaign, 1941. The battle for Crete, including the story of the loss of Creforce Reserve', written 1983; bound typescript 1941 personal war diary, a transcription of West's original diary; bound typescript copy letters to West from a Spanish fellow POW, Sgt Basilio Marin, 1944-1945 and photocopy typescript and manuscript notes (untitled) on the Crete campaign, 1941; bound typescript 'We from Crete: Pep talks in Stalag 383', written 1982, relating to life in a POW camp (first and second drafts); bound typescript, 'Escape involuntary (we couldn't help it)', recounting West's escape from a POW camp, Germany, Apr 1945; Victor West, The horses of Falaise: poems on the experiences of a fighting soldier in World War II (Salamandar Imprint, London, 1975), bound photocopy; Victor West, Part 2 orders: WWII poems (Salamandar Imprint, London, 1999), bound photocopy; notes on West's career and on the history of 1 Rangers, King's Royal Rifle Corps; copy correspondence and illustrations relating to a painting by West presented to Winston Churchill, 1955.

Papers principally relating to operations of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in Italy, Greece, the Aegean and the Balkans, 1941-1945, including: SOE training manuals, and various SOE memoranda relating to the 'Rhine mine', poisons, inland waterways, and the 'New Zionists', 1941-1944; memoranda and directives on SOE infiltration of Italy and the recruitment of Italian agents, the production of propaganda for use in Italy, transcripts of subversive propaganda broadcasts to the Italian people via Radio Jerusalem, letters from Stefano Terra, regarding the activities of the anti-fascist group Giustizia e Libertà, 1940-1943; diary of Capt R Guy Turrall during his SOE sabotage mission to Crete, 1941-1942; papers concerning SOE Operations BASILIC and ERRATIC (infiltration of Scarpanto and Rhodes), 1943; papers concerning propaganda operations in conjunction with the Political Warfare Executive, particularly Operations KREIPE and KRIMSCHILD, May 1944, to demoralize German troops on Crete; reports, 1943-1945, relating to SOE activities on Crete, including reports on the kidnapping by SOE of German Maj Gen Heinrich Kreipe; appreciations of SOE activities in Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria, Rumania, 1943; correspondence of Headquarters Force 133 (SOE Cairo, Egypt) in regard to promotion, welfare, training, transfers and postings of personnel, including confidential reports on individual staff, 1944-1945; diary of Maj John Mulgan, British Liaison Officer in Greece, 1944; correspondence relating to the winding up of SOE organisation in Greece, 1944-1945; various other papers, comprising correspondence with Anne René Pleven, 1939-1941, on the German bombing of London and the reaction of the French people to German occupation and the Vichy government; report on René Pleven, French Minister of Defence, concerning Pleven's attitude to the French political situation, policy towards Indo-China and the French High Command, 1949; papers relating to the reorganisation of Lyons Silks Ltd, French Silhouettes and Arnold Securities, 1949-1950; newspaper article on German penetration of the SOE network in the Netherlands, 1942-1944, dated 1953.