Description
Object description
Papers relating to his military service: as a junior officer in No 8 Commando and L Detachment (as part of LAYFORCE then the SAS Brigade) taking part in operations in the Western Desert (1941 – 1942), including contemporary ms and ts transcripts (total 44pp) of 3 letters written in 1943 in which he describes his last mission in November – December 1942, capture by the Italians, imprisonment, principally at Fontanellato camp in Italy, and experiences as an evader after the Italian armistice, together with his undated ms notes (10pp) on the Long Range Desert Group and a dramatic ms account (32pp) of the successful raid on the Fuka airfield (July 1942), ms and ts drafts (total 26pp) for an article on the Qattara Depression covering raids on enemy aerodromes between Mersa Matruh and Daba (summer 1942) and the nerve wracking return journey to Cairo, an ms draft (85pp and ts transcriptions, 82pp and 87pp) of a vivid account of his experiences prior to, during, and after a raid on Benghazi (August – October 1942) with an incomplete ms article (8pp) on his desert journeys and his ts notes (1p and associated papers 6pp) on operations from Tobruk (1941), as well as papers relating to Lieutenant Jock Lewes comprising his ts letter (6pp), dated September 1941, with graphic detailed descriptions of raids from Tobruk (July 1941), photocopies (21pp) of extracts from further letters (December 1940 – December 1941) covering his service in special forces units with good references to (Colonel Sir Archibald) David Stirling, training and living conditions and photocopies (total 7pp) of correspondence written about Lewes after his death (December 1941), a ts memorandum (2pp) by Stirling on the training of parachute troops (circa August 1941), photocopies of 2 letters (2pp, October – November 1941) concerning No 8 Commando, documents relating to operations by B Squadron SAS in Tripolitania (December 1942) comprising a ts transcript (4pp and letter 1p) of notes by Lieutenant A Hough, photocopies of items (12pp and covering letter 1p) written by (Major General) Vivian Street comprising an article covering also his capture and subsequent dramatic escape from a torpedoed Italian submarine and a letter dated April 1943 concerning Captain Hore-Ruthven, who was killed, also correspondence (7pp) with Sir David Hunt concerning the Benghazi raid (1942) and his review (2pp) of Alan Hoe's biography of David Stirling; as liaison officer to Field Marshal Montgomery (1942, 1944 – 1946) including comments (5pp) by his brother, Sir William Mather, on General Herbert Lumsden and Montgomery, a photocopy (4pp) of an article on General De Gaulle's visit to Montgomery's TAC HQ, corps commanders conference notes, a ts report (2pp) on a liaison visit to General Hodges during the Battle of the Ardennes (December 1944),a detailed ts account by Major P Odgers (10pp with map) of 21 Army Group, TAC HQ between April 1944 and May 1945 and 6 carbon ts reports on 8 Corps district (August 1945 – March 1946); with the Welsh Guards in Palestine (1946 – 1948) and elsewhere in the Middle East, including reports on operations (4pp January 1948), 3 ms letters and other documents concerning his dramatic journey by camel across the Sinai to Aqaba (March – April 1948), recalling the experiences of T E Lawrence, his visit to St Katharine's monastery and also his plans (ms notes 10pp and printed version 13pp with map) for a reconnaissance of the southern Libyan passes; also photocopies of 23 letters from Field Marshal Montgomery to Mather and his family (January 1943 – May 1961) with interesting personal comments and advice, a photocopied signal from Churchill to Montgomery (April 1945) about the fate of his liaison officers and details of the ceremony at which Montgomery received the freedom of the City of London (July 1946), a pamphlet on tanks (total 17pp) annotated by Colonel Hobart (?1945), Mather's ts report (4pp) dated December 1943 on the No 1 French Parachute Battalion, a ts proposal (2pp) for a book about the SAS, papers relating to the Phantom GHQ Liaison Squadron (2 GHQ Liaison Regiment from January 1945) principally in Italy in 1945, with individual patrol reports, but also covering its earlier operations in North Africa (1941 – 1943), and ts diary notes (48pp) by Sir Hereward Wake covering his service as a sergeant in the 5th Battalion Scots Guards (ski battalion) while under training at Bordon, Hampshire and Chamonix, France (February – March 1940) in preparation for the war in Finland.
Content description
Papers relating to his military service: as a junior officer in No 8 Commando and L Detachment (as part of LAYFORCE then the SAS Brigade) taking part in operations in the Western Desert (1941 – 1942), including contemporary ms and ts transcripts (total 44pp) of 3 letters written in 1943 in which he describes his last mission in November – December 1942, capture by the Italians, imprisonment, principally at Fontanellato camp in Italy, and experiences as an evader after the Italian armistice, together with his undated ms notes (10pp) on the Long Range Desert Group and a dramatic ms account (32pp) of the successful raid on the Fuka airfield (July 1942), ms and ts drafts (total 26pp) for an article on the Qattara Depression covering raids on enemy aerodromes between Mersa Matruh and Daba (summer 1942) and the nerve wracking return journey to Cairo, an ms draft (85pp and ts transcriptions, 82pp and 87pp) of a vivid account of his experiences prior to, during, and after a raid on Benghazi (August – October 1942) with an incomplete ms article (8pp) on his desert journeys and his ts notes (1p and associated papers 6pp) on operations from Tobruk (1941), as well as papers relating to Lieutenant Jock Lewes comprising his ts letter (6pp), dated September 1941, with graphic detailed descriptions of raids from Tobruk (July 1941), photocopies (21pp) of extracts from further letters (December 1940 – December 1941) covering his service in special forces units with good references to (Colonel Sir Archibald) David Stirling, training and living conditions and photocopies (total 7pp) of correspondence written about Lewes after his death (December 1941), a ts memorandum (2pp) by Stirling on the training of parachute troops (circa August 1941), photocopies of 2 letters (2pp, October – November 1941) concerning No 8 Commando, documents relating to operations by B Squadron SAS in Tripolitania (December 1942) comprising a ts transcript (4pp and letter 1p) of notes by Lieutenant A Hough, photocopies of items (12pp and covering letter 1p) written by (Major General) Vivian Street comprising an article covering also his capture and subsequent dramatic escape from a torpedoed Italian submarine and a letter dated April 1943 concerning Captain Hore-Ruthven, who was killed, also correspondence (7pp) with Sir David Hunt concerning the Benghazi raid (1942) and his review (2pp) of Alan Hoe's biography of David Stirling; as liaison officer to Field Marshal Montgomery (1942, 1944 – 1946) including comments (5pp) by his brother, Sir William Mather, on General Herbert Lumsden and Montgomery, a photocopy (4pp) of an article on General De Gaulle's visit to Montgomery's TAC HQ, corps commanders conference notes, a ts report (2pp) on a liaison visit to General Hodges during the Battle of the Ardennes (December 1944),a detailed ts account by Major P Odgers (10pp with map) of 21 Army Group, TAC HQ between April 1944 and May 1945 and 6 carbon ts reports on 8 Corps district (August 1945 – March 1946); with the Welsh Guards in Palestine (1946 – 1948) and elsewhere in the Middle East, including reports on operations (4pp January 1948), 3 ms letters and other documents concerning his dramatic journey by camel across the Sinai to Aqaba (March – April 1948), recalling the experiences of T E Lawrence, his visit to St Katharine's monastery and also his plans (ms notes 10pp and printed version 13pp with map) for a reconnaissance of the southern Libyan passes; also photocopies of 23 letters from Field Marshal Montgomery to Mather and his family (January 1943 – May 1961) with interesting personal comments and advice, a photocopied signal from Churchill to Montgomery (April 1945) about the fate of his liaison officers and details of the ceremony at which Montgomery received the freedom of the City of London (July 1946), a pamphlet on tanks (total 17pp) annotated by Colonel Hobart (?1945), Mather's ts report (4pp) dated December 1943 on the No 1 French Parachute Battalion, a ts proposal (2pp) for a book about the SAS, papers relating to the Phantom GHQ Liaison Squadron (2 GHQ Liaison Regiment from January 1945) principally in Italy in 1945, with individual patrol reports, but also covering its earlier operations in North Africa (1941 – 1943), and ts diary notes (48pp) by Sir Hereward Wake covering his service as a sergeant in the 5th Battalion Scots Guards (ski battalion) while under training at Bordon, Hampshire and Chamonix, France (February – March 1940) in preparation for the war in Finland.
History note
Cataloguer AC