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WAR CABINET MINUTES (HMSO), 1939-1945

  • MFF1
  • Collection
  • 1939-1945

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.

US JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF OFFICIAL PAPERS, 1942-1945

  • MF111-MF160
  • Collection
  • 1942-1945

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.

MODERN GREEK ARCHIVE

  • MGA
  • Collection
  • 1935-1992

The Modern Greek Archive Collection includes records of the League for Democracy in Greece,1935-1992, the Greek Relief Fund, 1947-1984, and other associated bodies. Pre-1945 League for Democracy in Greece material includes a set of the Balkan Herald , 1935-1940, and surviving papers, 1943-1945, of the League's predecessor, the Greek United Committee, and one of its supporters, E Athanassoglou. Notably there are proofs of Sir Compton Mackenzie's The Wind of Freedom (published in London, 1944) and a photocopy of a telegram from Winston Churchill prohibiting favourable mention of EAM-ELAS by the BBC, 1944. The papers of the League itself date from 1945 to 1975 and include a large collection of press cuttings covering all British and some foreign press references to Greece during the period of the League's activity, with some later cuttings concerning Greece to 1992; material produced by the Greek News Agency including the Weekly Survey of Greek News and later monthly surveys, covering Greek and foreign press output and the Free Greek Radio Broadcasts, complete from November 1946 to September 1953 and January 1969 to January 1974 but otherwise incomplete, the contents of particular value for the period of the Civil War, 1947-1949, as they form a rare source for the broadcasts of Radio Free Greece; and eight volumes of the League's own duplicated information and organizational circulars. There are copies of all official British reports on Greece: TUC (Citrine), Legal Mission, March 1946 Election Observers, All-Party Parliamentary Delegation (1946); a fairly complete collection of Hansard for parliamentary references to Greece; reports of the UN Commission for observing the Balkans (1947-1950); daily broadcasts of the Greek refugee radio at Bucharest, 1970-1974; a large collection of pamphlets, leaflets and news bulletins, British and foreign; a large collection of material from similar organisations in other countries and from Greek refugee committees; and specialist journals. Over 280 files of the League's correspondence and information material cover its various campaigns. Over 23 files represent other organisations which donated material to the League's archives: British Branch of the Patriotic Anti-Dictatorial Front (PAM), Campaign for the Release of All Political Prisoners in Greece, European-Atlantic Action Committee on Greece, Greek Committee against Dictatorship. The papers include an important collection of archive material, arising from the League's work to stimulate British parliamentary action, particularly regarding persecution, on Greek government repression, Law 375/1936, the Emergency Measures Act of June 1946, Law 509/1947 on 'subversion', the operation of the special courts-material and the security committee, and the conditions in prisons and concentration camps, including dossiers on the cases of individual prisoners, supplemented by thesis material on Greek political legislation since 1921. There is a card index of junta detainees; material from the prisons and concentration camps, including two volumes of smuggled appeals (some in microscopic writing); and personal files on individual political prisoners and concentration camps detainees, 1945-1964, 1967-1974. A small library contains unusual publications of the Greek left. Other material comprises a photographic collection, in 18 albums, on occupation, resistance, liberation, civil war, prisons, prisoners, concentration camps, Greek refugee children, and activities abroad; loose photographic items; four reels of film including a Czech film of evacuated Greek children, c1949; and a collection of organisational stamps. Post-1975 material relates to the League's successor, the Friends of Democracy in Greece. Subjects covered by the Archive include the day-to-day evolution of the Civil War, 1947-1949; Greek political legislative and administrative measures; conditions in the prisons and concentration camps; the Greek trade unions; the 'kidnapped' or 'evacuated' children; the Greek political refugees in Eastern Europe; the operations of Greek anti-junta groups in Western Europe and the United States, 1967-1974; attitudes and action of the British Labour movement (Labour Party and trade unions) in regard to Greece, 1945-1974; individual political prisoners and concentration camp detainees; action regarding Greece in Western European countries, Australia, Canada, and the United States; and the operation of pressure groups (from the League's organisational material and correspondence with Members of Parliament and trade unionists). The papers from the Greek Relief Fund, 1947-1984, also contain material from its predecessor the League for Democracy in Greece Relief Committee, including minutes; administrative, legal and financial material; correspondence with donors and with organisations including branches of the Red Cross, relief funds, and pro-Greek democracy organisations in various overseas countries; material relating to appeals for funds for relief work; press cuttings on the visit of Queen Frederika of Greece to Britain, 1963; papers relating to visits to Greece and to conferences on Greece, including a draft paper, 1979, by Diana Pym on 'The British Philhellenic Movement, 1944-1974'; correspondence concerning the archives of the League for Democracy in Greece; and winding up of the Greek Relief Fund, 1984. The bulk of the material pertains to recipients of aid, including correspondence, and the papers are relevant to the resistance activities and prison records of individual Greeks opposed to the regime in Greece.

League for Democracy in Greece, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 1943-1974

MAURICE, Maj Gen Sir Frederick Barton (1871-1951)

  • MAURICE, FB
  • Collection
  • [1806]-1812

Papers of Major General Sir Frederick Barton Maurice, relating to his letter to the press concerning the government's statements about the strength of the British Army, May 1918, dated 1917-1971, principally comprising Maurice's diary, Jan-May 1918; printed and typescript texts by Maurice, 1918-1919, 1922, notably including 'The story of the crisis of May 1918', dated 1918; correspondence with family and colleagues, 1918-1922, 1925, 1934, 1936; newspaper cuttings, 1918, 1936, 1939; copies of Parliamentary and War Cabinet papers, 1918; correspondence relating to The Maurice Case (Leo Cooper, London, 1972) by Nancy Maurice (Nancy Spears, wife of Maj Gen Sir Edward (Louis) Spears, 1st Bt), 1967-1971. Papers collected by Maurice during the writing of The life of General Lord Rawlinson of Trent (Cassell and Co, London, 1928) and Haldane (Faber and Faber, London, 1937, 1939), comprising letters received by Rt Hon Richard Burdon Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane, 1894, 1898, 1902, 1915-1916, 1919, 1928; letters received by Henry Seymour Rawlinson, 1st Baron Rawlinson of Trent, 1888, 1914-1916, 1918, 1921, notably including letters from Maj Gen Henry Hughes Wilson and Gen Sir Alexander John Godley concerning the Battle of the Aisne, Sep 1914 and operations at Gallipoli, 1915.

Other papers relating to his life and career, 1888-1951, dated 1888-1971, principally comprising letters to his wife describing his service in South Africa, 1899-1900, and as General Staff Officer, 3 Div, France, 1914-1915, and Director of Military Operations, Imperial General Staff, 1915; correspondence, 1915-1919, relating to his service as Director of Military Operations, 1915-1918, notably including letters from Maj Gen Archibald Armar Montgomery-Massingberd, Maj Gen John Humphrey Davidson, Lt Gen Sir George (Norton) Cory, Lt Gen Sir William Raine Marshall, Maj Gen Sir Arthur Lynden Lynden-Bell concerning operations on the Western Front, 1916-1917, and in the Balkans, 1916-1917, Mesopotamia, 1917-1918, and Palestine, 1917; correspondence with Gen Sir Charles Harington Harington, [1923], 1925, 1932, 1934; printed and typescript articles, lectures and other writings, 1913-1943, notably including text of 'On the uses of the study of war', his inaugural lecture as Professor of Military Studies, London University, 1927, text of Maurice's Lee Knowles lecture 'Public opinion in war', and articles on arms limitation, 1921, 1926, the Graeco-Turkish War, 1922, the Corfu Incident, [1923], and the possibility of war between the USA and Japan, 1925; newspaper cuttings, 1912-1919, 1924-1927, 1938, 1945, 1951, principally comprising reviews of his books. Family papers, [1806-1812], principally comprising papers relating to Maurice's grandfather, Frederick Denison Maurice, [1833-1869], 1927; papers relating to his wife's family, [1806-1812], 1874-1879, 1896, 1909-[1915], 1921, notably including personal letters written by her great-grandfather, Spencer Perceval, [1806-1812], and an account of a day during the Paris Commune, written in [1871] by [Norman Spencer].

Maurice, Sir Frederick Barton, 1871-1951, Knight, Major General

EDMONDS, Brig Gen Sir James Edward (1861-1956)

  • EDMONDS
  • Collection
  • 1827-1838

Papers created or collected by Edmonds during the course of his life and career, dated 1827-1838, 1852, 1879-1881, 1890-1957, principally comprising typescript memoirs covering his life and career, 1861-1951, and notably concerning his work at the Royal Military Academy, 1890-1896, and in the Intelligence Division of the War Office, 1899-1901, 1904-1908, his service in South Africa, 1901-1902, and in World War One, 1914-1918, at the Geneva Conference, 1906, as General Staff Officer, 4 Div, 1911-1914, and in the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence, 1919-1949, written in [1951]; correspondence with Rt Hon Sir Winston (Leonard Spencer) Churchill, 1922-1954, relating to Churchill's book The World Crisis, 1911-1918 (Thornton Butterworth, London,1923-1929, abridged and revised, 1931); letters from FM Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig and his wife, 1903-1939, mainly relating to Edmonds' work on the official history of World War One; correspondence with Maj Gen Sir Ernest (Dunlop) Swinton, 1919-1950; texts of lectures,[1908-1947], notably relating to the American Civil War, 1861-1865, laws of war and the organisation of intelligence and information in warfare; typescript and printed articles, 1893-1957, mainly relating to World War One; official army handbooks and reports by Edmonds and others, 1899-1918, 1945; papers related to World War One collected by Edmonds, dated 1900, 1907, 1914-[1945]; presscuttings, [1906-1943], mainly concerning political and military developments and international relations; photographs, 1895-1918, mainly of Edmonds with Army colleagues.

Edmonds, Sir James Edward, 1861-1956, Knight, Brigadier General

DOBRSKI, Lt Col Count Julian A ([1901]-1968)

  • DOBRSKI
  • Collection
  • 1939-1945

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.

Dobrski, Julian A, 1901-1968, Lt Col, Count, Special Operations Executive Officer

BRITISH FOREIGN POLICY DOCUMENTS, 1945-1950

  • MFF13-MFF14
  • Collection
  • 1945-1946

Documents on British Policy Overseas, Series 1, Volume 4, and, Series 2 Volume 2, are microfilmed copies of documents relating to British foreign policy, 1945-1950. Part of a larger collection encompassing British foreign policy, 1945-1955, the microfiche in this collection relate specifically to Anglo-American relations, Dec 1945- Jun 1950. This collection is in two sections. The first includes documents relating to the establishment of an Anglo- American Cold War strategy; the exchange of atomic information and technology between the US and Britain; the use of British mainland and colonial bases by US armed forces; and the allocation of American funds to Britain as part of the European Recovery Program. The second section relates specifically to Anglo-American strategic and defence conferences which took place in London, Jan-Jun 1950. Documents concern the exchange of nuclear technology between the two powers; British and American political and military support to nations wishing to prevent communist insurrection; US involvement in the Middle East; the security of British and American sectors in the Federal Republic of Germany; British and American relations with Western European nations; and the strengthening of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).