Showing 4 results

Papers and publications of Maj Gen Edward Fursdon, 1942-2000. Material relating to Fursdon's career in the Royal Engineers including: research on Army equipment inventions, 1942-1960; orders, instructions, reports, staff lists, duties, returns and aquisitions logs for Headquarters, 19 Infantry Brigade, Operation MUSKETEER, Port Said, Egypt, 1956; The Assault River Crossing in Nuclear War , a dramatic dialogue by Fursdon, 1959; research and reports produced for the War Office Working Party on Infantry Field Defences, 1958-1960; report by Fursdon on an Explosives Course arranged by the Swedish Army at Gyttorp, May-Jun 1960; papers and photographs relating to Operation VANTAGE, Kuwait, Jul-Oct 1961; report by Fursdon on reconnaissance for Exercise VIKING WAY: The Randsfjord Road Project, Norway, 1969; photographs of Royal Engineer activities including the 34 Independent Field Squadron, Kenya, 1961; training including demolitions course, Sweden, 1960; trials, equipment and experiments including trials of digging machines, Sept 1958; explosive and drill excavation; design and materials for battle shelters and mobile roadblocks.

Papers on academic topics including research and interviews for Fursdon's MLitt thesis The European Defence Community Experience: Relevance and Failure, 1950-1989 ; and report entitled MBFR (mutual and balanced force reductions) Talks: the Preliminaries and the First Half Year , 1974.

Papers relating to Fursdon's activities as a journalist including original drafts and cuttings of articles written for various publications including The Daily Telegraph , 1980-1986; Army Quarterly , 1948-1998; Asia-Pacific Defence Reporter , 1982-1995; Navy International , 1986-1994; Salut: Journal of the South African National Defence Force , 1995-2000.

Audio cassette tapes of radio interviews and programmes, 1980-1994, including interviews with Fursdon on the Falklands War for the British Forces Broadcasting Service and BBC World-at-One, 1982; interviews with Fursdon on the aftermath of the Falklands War for Radio Kent, Radio Devon and the British Forces Broadcasting Service, 1988; Fursdon speaking on National Service for the British Forces Broadcasting Service, nd, and on conscription for LBC, London, nd; interviews conducted by Fursdon including with a Swedish Defence Official, 1982 and with Captain Rod Bell on the Falklands War, 1982; a programme on Iraq for the BBC World Service, 1991.

Research files (including press cuttings, field notebooks, photographs, press releases, correspondence, publicity material and maps) relating to the Iran Iraq war, 1980-1985, including photographs taken during Fursdon's time as a reporter embedded with the Iraqi Army showing: British, American and Soviet tanks, armoured personnel carriers and self propelled guns captured from Iran on display in Baghdad; captured Iranian mine clearing tanks, small arms, mines and other weaponry; an Iranian POW camp, Ramadi; desert battlefields north-east of Basra; Iraqi artillery deployed near border east of Basra; Maj Gen Maher Abed Al-Rashid, Commander 3 Iraqi Corps; Qasr-e-Ahirin, Iran; the battle for Khorramshahr docks, Shatt-al-Arab, Iran; Khorramshahr City, Iran, after capture; oil fires at Abadan, Iran; the first battle of the Howzeh (Al-Hawzah) Marshes at Al-Baydha; troops of the Presidential Guard Special Forces; Iranian attack craft and rubber assault boats; wounded cattle; village women waiting to be evacuated; Carol Jerome, Canadian journalist; Iraqi war memorial and military museum, Baghdad; and the aftermath of the Battle of Al-Azair, Iraq.

Research files (including press cuttings, field notebooks, photographs, press releases, correspondence, publicity material and maps) relating to topics including: the Falklands War and aftermath, 1982-1997; the first Gulf War, 1990; the Bosnian and Kosovan Wars and their aftermath, 1992-2000; post-war Europe, including the fall of the Iron Curtain, peacekeeping and arms control, 1979-1998; the 15th and 20th National Day of Oman, 1985 and 1990; the 50th anniversary of NATO, 1999; Northern Ireland, 1981; the Far East Pilgrimage Remembrance Trip to Burma, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, 1985; the European Defence Community, 1990; British Military Advisory and Training Team, Namibia, 1991; Swedish Naval Forces, 1992, Army Cadet Force Association, 1992; Royal Air Force Red Arrows, 1995; Reserve Forces Act and the Territorial Army, 1996; Royal Air Force Innsworth, 1996; Royal Navy and Marine Reserves, 1996; University Air Squadrons, 1997; University Royal Navy Units (URNUS), 1997; Royal Air Force Cadets (ATC), 1997; University Officer Training Corps, 1997; Army Cadet Force, 1997; Royal Navy Sea Cadets, 1997; Royal Navy and Royal Marines Combined Cadet Force, 1997; Boer War Centenary, 1997; Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, 1998; Royal Marines, 1998; Women in the Armed Forces, 1998; Joint Service Diving, 1998; Royal Air Force St Mawgan and Exercise BRILLIANT FOIL, 1998; simulation of battle including Direct Fire Weapons Effects Simulation (DFWES) and tactical engagement systems (TES) equipment, 1998; 21st Century Warfare, 1999; Joint Force 2000, 1999; Defence Systems and Equipment, 1999; Royal Air Force Kinloss, 1999; Royal Engineers Combat Engineer School, 1999; the efforts of HMS OCEAN and Commando Brigade to provide assistance following Hurricane Mitch, Honduras, 1999; The Regular Commissions Board, 1999; Army Air Corps, 1999; Army School of Logistics, Deepcut, and School of Army Catering, Aldershot, 2000; Defence Animal Centre, 2000; British Army Training Unit, Canada, 2000; Royal Military Police Training School, Chichester, 2000; 'Soaring and Sailing into the Next Millennium', Royal Navy and Royal Air Force potential future ships and aircraft, 2000.

The collection includes approximately 450 of Fursdon's collected books, journals, pamphlets and brochures on military topics.

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.

Papers relating to international peacekeeping and relief work, 1979-2000, chiefly by the United Nations, including: papers relating to Commonwealth ceasefire monitoring, Rhodesia [now Zimbabwe], 1979-1980; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Handbook for Emergencies (Geneva, Switzerland, 1982); United Nations Standing Operating Procedures (SOPS), for United Nations missions in Cyprus, 1984, Iraq-Kuwait border, 1991, Cambodia, 1992, and Liberia, 1993; account of Joint Task Force PROVIDE COMFORT for humanitarian relief in Turkey to Kurdish refugees from Iraq, 1991; reports and information bulletins on peacekeeping and relief operations, former Yugoslavia, 1993-1994. United Nations Department of Peacekeeping publications, 1995-1997, including guidelines and handbooks for peacekeeping and policing procedures, and printed maps of disaster relief and peacekeeping operations areas, including Beirut, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Also NATO peacekeeping guidelines, and United States Army and British Army Field Manuals relating to peacekeeping and general tactical doctrine 1977, 1985, 1993-1995.

Pre-war papers and correspondence, 1898-1914, including lectures, texts and notes written whilst Commandant of the Staff College, Camberley, Surrey. Papers relating to his service as Quartermaster General to the BEF (British Expeditionary Force), Western Front, 1914-1915, including correspondence with Maj Gen Sir Stanley Brenton von Donop, Master General of the Ordnance, and Maj Gen Sir John Steven Cowans, Quartermaster General to the Forces, relating to supplies of equipment, provisions and munitions. Papers and correspondence, 1915, as Chief of General Staff, BEF (British Expeditionary Force), Western Front, principally comprising reports and memoranda prepared for the War Office and the War Council by General Headquarters Staff, 1915; memoranda relating to general military strategy, 1915, notably in the Balkans, Dardanelles, Gallipoli and Egypt; papers in French concerning the Allied Conference at Chantilly, 1915. Papers relating to service as Chief of the Imperial General Staff during World War One, 1915- 1918, principally comprising Army Council and War Cabinet papers relating to manpower, 1915-1918; papers of FM Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener of Khartoum and Broome, Secretary of State for War, given to Robertson following Kitchener's death in Jun 1916; personal telegrams, 1916- 1917, mainly comprising unofficial messages to and from various army commanders and military attachés in Salonika, Russia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Italy, Romania, Palestine and the Western Front; memoranda and papers on military operations in the Middle East, 1915-1917, and general strategy, 1917-1918, prepared by Robertson for the War Cabinet; documents relating to the creation of the Allied Supreme War Council, and its various powers and functions, 1917-1918. Papers created as Commander in Chief, Eastern Command and Home Forces, 1918-1919, consisting of inspection reports of various depots and units in the UK, and general correspondence. Papers created as General Officer Commanding in Chief, BAOR (British Army of the Rhine), 1919-1920, including printed memoranda by French Marshal Ferdinand Foch, Allied Supreme Commander on the Western and Italian Fronts, on the conditions required to ensure peace in Europe, 1918-1919; papers relating to the organisation and functions of the British Zone of Occupation in Germany, 1919; correspondence with Gen Sir Henry Hughes Wilson, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, the Rt Hon Winston (Leonard Spencer) Churchill, Secretary of State for War, and Maj Gen Sir Charles 'Tim' Harington Harington, Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff, 1919; inspection reports of BAOR (British Army of the Rhine) units, 1919. Private correspondence, mainly relating to Robertson's work during World War One, including correspondence with Lt Col Arthur John Bigge, 1st Baron Stamfordham, Private Secretary to HM King George V, 1914-1918; Maj Gen Charles Edward Callwell, Director of Military Operations at the War Office, 1915; Gen Sir Archibald (James) Murray, Chief of the Imperial General Staff and General Officer Commanding in Chief, Egyptian Expeditionary Force, 1915-1916; the Rt Hon David Lloyd George, Secretary of State for War, 1916, and Prime Minister, 1916-1918; FM Sir Douglas Haig, Commander in Chief, British Armies in France, 1915-1918; Maj Gen Frederick (Barton) Maurice, Director of Military Operations at the War Office, 1917-1918; and the Rt Hon Winston (Leonard Spencer) Churchill, Secretary of State for War, 1919-1920. Also including correspondence, memoranda and notes concerning the events leading up to the resignation of Robertson as Chief of the Imperial General Staff in Feb 1918, dated Jan-Feb 1918. Semi-official papers and private correspondence, 1915-1918, collected by Brig Gen Cecil Courtenay Lucas, Robertson's Aide de Camp, mainly comprising correspondence between Robertson and Gen Sir Archibald (James) Murray, Gen Sir Beauchamp Duff, Gen Sir Charles Carmichael Monro, and Gen Sir Edward Henry Hynman Allenby, relating to military operations in India, Mesopotamia, Egypt and Palestine, 1916-1918; Lt Col Sir Maurice Pascal Alers Hankey, Secretary to the War Cabinet and the Committee of Imperial Defence, 1916-1917; Lt Gen the Rt Hon Jan Christian Smuts, South African Representative on the British War Cabinet, 1917; Gen Sir (Francis) Reginald Wingate, Governor General of the Sudan, 1916, and High Commissioner of Egypt, 1917; and Lt Col Charles A'Court Repington, Military Correspondent of The Times, 1916-1917. General correspondence with various on military matters, 1916-1918, including Reginald Baliol Brett, 2nd Viscount Esher, Lt Gen George Francis Milne, French Gen Robert Georges Nivelle, Italian Gen Luigi Cadorna, Lt Gen Sir Frederick Stanley Maude, and Gen Sir Herbert Charles Onslow Plumer.