Item MACLEOD 2/2/1 - Copy extracts, [1965], from letters by Field Marshal Lord Ironside to Macleod, written 1931-1959

Unpublished volume containing extracts of letters from FM Sir (William) Edmund Ironside, 1st Baron of Archangel and Ironside, to Macleod, 1931-1959, linked by narrative and biographical material provided by Macleod, notably Ironside's descriptions of German army manoevres, Sep 1937, including a meeting with Hitler and an account of the final march in Berlin, Germany; his appointment as Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Sep 1939; the opening stages of World War Two, and his dealings with, and assessment of the character of, the Rt Hon Leslie Hore-Belisha, Secretary of State for War; British involvement in the Finnish-Russian War, Nov 1939-Mar 1940; reflections on the lessons learnt during the early campaigns of World War Two; views on the future of the British army, written in 1955; the writing of a book by Macleod on the early stages of World War Two, using Ironside's diaries as a reference, 1957; the death of Ironside, 1959. Appendices include confidential reports made upon Ironside while serving as Maj Gen, Lt Gen and Gen; letters from the Rt Hon Neville Chamberlain, the Rt Hon Robert Anthony Eden, the Rt Hon Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill and William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, on Ironside's vacating of the post of Commander in Chief Home Forces; a letter from Macleod to Gen Sir Ian Jacob concerning inaccuracies in the radio programme Dunkirk, broadcast on 8 Jun 1958. Includes several passages which were removed from the copy of this volume sent by Macleod to Capt Basil Henry Liddell Hart, and kept within the latter's papers at the Centre (Ref: LH 15/14/9). 1 vol.