Private Papers of Major J M McSwiney DSO MC

Photocopy of a detailed and well-written ts memoir (135pp) covering his Second World War service in the Royal Artillery ultimately as a Major, beginning with his command of the 2nd Light Anti-Aircraft (LAA) Battery BEF in France (February - July 1940) near the Belgian border, and his retreat via Arras in the wake of the German Blitzkrieg to be evacuated from Dunkirk; then service with the Battery at various gunsights around the southeast of England (including Bomber Command HQ at High Wycombe) as part of the 1st LAA Regiment RA (August 1940 - January 1941); his voyage in February 1941 to Suez via Cape Town and, following a bout of pneumonia after arrival in Egypt, service in the Western Desert with the 2nd LAA Battery (7th Armoured Division) and 3rd LAA Battery (5th Indian Division), describing fighting conditions in the desert, his method of fitting shields to his guns, involvement in Operation BATTLEAXE (June 1941); Operation CRUSADER (November - December 1941), including the action at Sidi Rezegh, and the Battles of Gazala (May 1942), Knightsbridge (June 1942), and First Alamein (July 1942), and attending Montgomery's initial briefing before the Battle of Alam Halfa (August 1942) after which he entered hospital with jaundice; and service with 3rd LAA Battery on Leros in the Dodecanese from September 1943 until the landing of German forces in November and his escape with seven others in a leaking boat across the Aegean to Turkey, for which he was awarded the DSO and congratulated by Field Marshal Sir Henry Maitland Wilson (later Lord Wilson of Libya) in person.

Photocopy of a detailed and well-written ts memoir (135pp) covering his Second World War service in the Royal Artillery ultimately as a Major, beginning with his command of the 2nd Light Anti-Aircraft (LAA) Battery BEF in France (February - July 1940) near the Belgian border, and his retreat via Arras in the wake of the German Blitzkrieg to be evacuated from Dunkirk; then service with the Battery at various gunsights around the southeast of England (including Bomber Command HQ at High Wycombe) as part of the 1st LAA Regiment RA (August 1940 - January 1941); his voyage in February 1941 to Suez via Cape Town and, following a bout of pneumonia after arrival in Egypt, service in the Western Desert with the 2nd LAA Battery (7th Armoured Division) and 3rd LAA Battery (5th Indian Division), describing fighting conditions in the desert, his method of fitting shields to his guns, involvement in Operation BATTLEAXE (June 1941); Operation CRUSADER (November - December 1941), including the action at Sidi Rezegh, and the Battles of Gazala (May 1942), Knightsbridge (June 1942), and First Alamein (July 1942), and attending Montgomery's initial briefing before the Battle of Alam Halfa (August 1942) after which he entered hospital with jaundice; and service with 3rd LAA Battery on Leros in the Dodecanese from September 1943 until the landing of German forces in November and his escape with seven others in a leaking boat across the Aegean to Turkey, for which he was awarded the DSO and congratulated by Field Marshal Sir Henry Maitland Wilson (later Lord Wilson of Libya) in person.

Cataloguer APR

Catalogue date 1997-09-15