Key Information
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1951 (Creation)
- 1941-1946 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent
3 boxes or 0.03 cubic metres
Scope and content
Papers relating to his service in World War Two, dated 1941-1946, 1941-1946, 1951, principally comprising semi-official and personal correspondence, 1941-1946, including letter to his wife describing events leading up to his dismissal from command of 7 Armoured Div, 1942; pamphlet on the Battle of Keren, Mar 1941, produced by Maj Gen Sir Nigel Trapp, HQEritrea District, for visit of Commander-in-Chief, Middle East Land Forces, to Keren battlefield, Eritrea, Mar 1947; Report to the Combined Chiefs of Staff by the Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia, 1943-1945 by AF Louis (Francis Albert Victor Nicholas) Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (London, HMSO, 1951); operational notes and training instructions for 7 and 9 Indian Divs during the Burma campaign, 1943-1945; 'Warfare in undeveloped countries. Part 1: desert warfare', War Office publication written by [Messervy] in 1954; printed histories by Messervy and others describing operations in Burma by 12 Army, 14 Army, 4 Corps, 15 Indian Corps, 23 Indian Corps, and 25 Indian Div; Ministry of Information publications, dated [1945], concerning campaigns in the Middle East and Far East, 1941-1945, the Merchant Navy, 1939-1944, Combined Operations, 1940-1942, Britain's anti-aircraft defences, 1939-1942, and civil defence in the UK, 1940-1941, and the war effort on the Home Front, 1942-1944; Government of India publications,dated [1944-1946], describing the service of various divisions of the Indian Army during World War Two.
System of arrangement
Arranged in the following sections: miscellaneous correspondence; reports, lessons and accounts relating to campaigns; reports, lessons and accounts relating to units; official and propaganda publications.
General Information
Name of creator
Biographical history
Born in 1893; educated at Eton College and Royal Military College, Sandhurst; 2nd Lt, Indian Army, 1913; joined 9th Hodson's Horse, 1914; served in World War One in France, Palestine, and Syria; Lt, 1915; Capt, 1917; served in India, 1919-1938, at regimental duty, as Bde Maj, 1 Risalpur Cavalry Bde, and as an instructor at Staff College, Quetta; attended Staff College,Camberley, 1925-1926; Maj, 1929; Lt Col, 1938; commanded 13th Duke of Connaught's Own Lancers, India, 1938-1939; Col, 1939; General Staff Officer Grade 1, 5 Indian Div, 1939-1940; Col 1939; commanded Gazelle Force, Sudan and Eritrea, 1940-1941; commanded 9 IndianInfantry Bde, Keren, Eritrea, 1941; commanded 4 Indian Div, Western Desert and Cyrenaica, 1941-1942; commanded 1 Armoured Div, Cyrenaica, 1942; commanded 7 Armoured Div, Western Desert, 1942; Deputy Chief of General Staff, General HQ, Middle East Force, 1942; commanded 43 Indian Armoured Div, 1942-1943; Director of Armoured Fighting Vehicles, General HQ, India Command, 1943; Maj Gen, 1943; commanded 7 Indian Div, and later 4 Corps, Burma campaign, 1944-1945; Lt Gen, 1945; General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Malaya Command, 1945-1946; General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command, India, 1946-1947; Commander-in-Chief,Pakistan Army, 1947; retired, 1948; died in 1974.
Repository
Custodial history
Presented to the Centre by Messervy in 1971.
Conditions governing access
Open, subject to signature of Reader's undertaking form, and appropriate provision of two forms of identification, to include one photographic ID.
Conditions governing reproduction
Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied from open material for research purposes only.
Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, via the Archives.
Language of material
Script of material
Uploaded finding aid
Related materials
Note
Compiled Mar 1997
Alternative identifier(s)
Subjects
- Amphibious warfare
- Armed forces
- Civil defence
- Defence
- Desert warfare
- Higher science education
- International conflicts
- International relations
- Military education
- Military engineering
- Military operations
- Military organizations
- Organizations
- State security
- War
- Warfare
- World wars (events)
- World War Two (1939-1945)
- Wars (events)
Place access points
People and Organisations
- Mountbatten, Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas, 1900-1979, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Admiral of the Fleet (Subject)
- Trapp, Sir Nigel, fl 1947, Knight, Major General (Subject)
- British Army (Subject)
- Indian Army (Subject)
- Merchant Navy (Subject)
Genre access points
Rules and/or conventions used
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000.