Description
Object description
Ts memoir (138pp, written in 1984) about his service with the Royal Engineers and SOE during the Second World War with early chapters covering his childhood and pre-war army career with the Royal Engineers (from 1926) including his service as a sapper in Egypt, and then his wartime service initially in the Western Desert as a field engineer in charge of Engineer Works Services (autumn 1939), his visit to Turkey as a member of a small inter-service reconnaissance party to plan the development of bases and lines of communication should Germany invade Turkey (January 1940), his brief posting as General Wavell's staff officer RE when Wavell became Commander in Chief Middle East Command (March – April 1940), his posting as acting Major to 7th Armoured Division in command of 2nd (Cheshire) Field Squadron RE (Summer 1940 – March 1941), his return to Cairo where he became an instructor at Middle East Staff College (March 1941 – January 1942) and then as an Army Instructor at the Combined Training Centre at Kabrit (January – August 1942) training formations in amphibious warfare and where he was trained to jump by the SAS Parachute Training School, before becoming acting Army Head of Combined Operations in GHQ Cairo (August 1942) where he was approached by SOE for an operation in enemy occupied Greece as acting Brigadier, his return from Greece with delegation of Resistance leaders (September 1943), his return to London where SOE and the Foreign Office clashed over the handling of the Greek crisis, his posting as Liaison Officer between operational staffs of European Sections in SOE HQ and G3 Operations staff of SHAEF in London (January 1944) where he was responsible for keeping SOE country sections informed of plans and requirements of SHAEF while keeping G3 SHAEF informed of SOE capabilities and successes, his involvement in preparing the JEDBURGH teams for their role in Operation Overlord and Operation Anvil (later Dragoon, Overlord's equivalent in the Mediterranean) which involved him flying to SOE HQ Mediterranean, 'Massingham', Algiers (May 1944), his posting as Commander RE in the 1st Airborne Division (summer 1944) and his role during the Battle of Arnhem (September 1944) and the liberation of Norway, before being sent to the Far East as Deputy Director of Intelligence as a colonel in charge of all counter-intelligence and security in South East Asia Command (July 1945 – January 1946) based at Mountbatten's HQ in Ceylon and then Singapore, where his duties included interrogating Japanese prisoners of war in Delhi, and then after the Japanese surrender (August 1945) aiding and repatriating Allied prisoners and internees, his involvement in procuring evidence for trials of suspected war criminals and collaborators, his repatriation to the UK (January 1946), his post war service with the Joint Intelligence Bureau (1946 – 1948), his command of 32 Assault Engineer Regiment in Devon (1948 – 1950) before his posting as brigadier as CRE of the British Commonwealth Division in Korea (1951 – 1952) responsible for strengthening the front against the Chinese south of the Imjin river and their attack across the Imjin (October 1951) and finally his remaining service in the Army (1952 – 1959) as Chief Engineer, British Troops in Egypt, and then Deputy Director Personnel Administration at the War Office in London, with interesting comments throughout on the difference between fighting the Italians and Germans in the Western Desert, meeting his wife at GHQ Cairo (August 1942) and their marriage (October 1943), his frustration and despair at the inability of the Foreign Office to grasp the nature of the political crisis in Greece, his meeting with Churchill (September 1943) and his disappointment at not being allowed to return to Greece and help prevent civil war, his knowledge of invasion plans four months prior to D-Day, his prior knowledge of the expected V1 attacks, what went wrong at Arnhem, his impressions of Mountbatten, and his thoughts on the prospects for independence in South East Asia after the end of the war, the difficulties of settling down to peacetime soldiering and the challenges of fighting and serving in Korea.
Content description
Ts memoir (138pp, written in 1984) about his service with the Royal Engineers and SOE during the Second World War with early chapters covering his childhood and pre-war army career with the Royal Engineers (from 1926) including his service as a sapper in Egypt, and then his wartime service initially in the Western Desert as a field engineer in charge of Engineer Works Services (autumn 1939), his visit to Turkey as a member of a small inter-service reconnaissance party to plan the development of bases and lines of communication should Germany invade Turkey (January 1940), his brief posting as General Wavell's staff officer RE when Wavell became Commander in Chief Middle East Command (March – April 1940), his posting as acting Major to 7th Armoured Division in command of 2nd (Cheshire) Field Squadron RE (Summer 1940 – March 1941), his return to Cairo where he became an instructor at Middle East Staff College (March 1941 – January 1942) and then as an Army Instructor at the Combined Training Centre at Kabrit (January – August 1942) training formations in amphibious warfare and where he was trained to jump by the SAS Parachute Training School, before becoming acting Army Head of Combined Operations in GHQ Cairo (August 1942) where he was approached by SOE for an operation in enemy occupied Greece as acting Brigadier, his return from Greece with delegation of Resistance leaders (September 1943), his return to London where SOE and the Foreign Office clashed over the handling of the Greek crisis, his posting as Liaison Officer between operational staffs of European Sections in SOE HQ and G3 Operations staff of SHAEF in London (January 1944) where he was responsible for keeping SOE country sections informed of plans and requirements of SHAEF while keeping G3 SHAEF informed of SOE capabilities and successes, his involvement in preparing the JEDBURGH teams for their role in Operation Overlord and Operation Anvil (later Dragoon, Overlord's equivalent in the Mediterranean) which involved him flying to SOE HQ Mediterranean, 'Massingham', Algiers (May 1944), his posting as Commander RE in the 1st Airborne Division (summer 1944) and his role during the Battle of Arnhem (September 1944) and the liberation of Norway, before being sent to the Far East as Deputy Director of Intelligence as a colonel in charge of all counter-intelligence and security in South East Asia Command (July 1945 – January 1946) based at Mountbatten's HQ in Ceylon and then Singapore, where his duties included interrogating Japanese prisoners of war in Delhi, and then after the Japanese surrender (August 1945) aiding and repatriating Allied prisoners and internees, his involvement in procuring evidence for trials of suspected war criminals and collaborators, his repatriation to the UK (January 1946), his post war service with the Joint Intelligence Bureau (1946 – 1948), his command of 32 Assault Engineer Regiment in Devon (1948 – 1950) before his posting as brigadier as CRE of the British Commonwealth Division in Korea (1951 – 1952) responsible for strengthening the front against the Chinese south of the Imjin river and their attack across the Imjin (October 1951) and finally his remaining service in the Army (1952 – 1959) as Chief Engineer, British Troops in Egypt, and then Deputy Director Personnel Administration at the War Office in London, with interesting comments throughout on the difference between fighting the Italians and Germans in the Western Desert, meeting his wife at GHQ Cairo (August 1942) and their marriage (October 1943), his frustration and despair at the inability of the Foreign Office to grasp the nature of the political crisis in Greece, his meeting with Churchill (September 1943) and his disappointment at not being allowed to return to Greece and help prevent civil war, his knowledge of invasion plans four months prior to D-Day, his prior knowledge of the expected V1 attacks, what went wrong at Arnhem, his impressions of Mountbatten, and his thoughts on the prospects for independence in South East Asia after the end of the war, the difficulties of settling down to peacetime soldiering and the challenges of fighting and serving in Korea.
History note
Cataloguer KM