Private Papers of Colonel J B Whitehead CBE MC TD DL JP

[BASIC ACCESSION RECORD] A large collection of reports, operational orders, lecture and training notes, and other items, relating to his command of 41st Royal Tank Regiment (24th Armoured Brigade, 8th Armoured Division, Eighth Army), in North Africa, 1942 – 1943, including the preparation for the Battle of El Alamein, and command of the Yorkshire Hussars, BLA. Including: Ts Eighth Army Training Programme No 1 (5pp); 8th Armoured Division Cloth Model Exercise (February 1942); Lessons on Operations in Libya and Cyrenaica by 12th Royal Lancers (4pp, April 1942); ts summaries of decisions and discussions in meeting by commanders of 24th Armoured Brigade Group (May 1942); 8th Armoured Division Operational Order No 1 (1p, May 1942); notes to assist unit commanders with training programmes (July 1942); 8th Armoured Division Training Memorandum No 4 (5pp, September 1942); a list of radio frequencies and code words for September 1942; Notes on a Conference by Major General C H Gairdner CBE (11 October 1942); HQ 10th Armoured Division Intelligence Summary No 41 (October 1942); 24th Armoured Brigade Group Operational Order No 2 (6pp, 20 October 1942); 24th Armoured Brigade Operational Instruction No 2 (3pp, 21 October 1942); A file relating to Armoured Regiments including a copy of War Establishment of an Armoured Regiment I/5E/2 (12pp, April 1942), notes on a discussion of 24th Armoured Brigade (18 September 1942); ts/ms agenda and ts record of 8th Armoured Division discussion (18 – 23 September 1942); X Corps Training Instruction No 1 (September 1942); 8th Armoured Division Training Instruction No 5 (September 1942); ts timetable and details for an 8th Armoured Division Tactical Exercise Without Troops (TEWT) (September 1942); ts notes (4pp) of 24th Armoured Brigade MG AFV on Operations (23 – 29 October 1942); two copies of a ‘Draft Pamphlet on the Handling of an Armoured Division in the Middle East’ (18pp each); A folder relating to the Tank Reorganisation Group with a flow chart of total time on a circuit for a tank passing through ‘A’ Armoured Fighting Vehicles Inspection and Servicing Unit, REME, Tank Output Forecasts, and ms lecture notes on the TRG, as well as printed talks for all COs in the Middle East ‘A Talk About Tyres’ and ‘A Talk About Stopwaste’; Photocopy of a ts diary of events (4pp) written by Whitehead in November 1942 concerning the operations of 19 - 29 October 1942 relating to 41st RTR, with an ms sketch map; a brief history of 41st RTR; a ts list of officers in 41st RTR; ms lecture note about lessons learnt from El Alamein; A ts booklet (30pp) entitled ‘The Battle of the Minefields, October 1942’ compiled and written by Major N P McDonald, telling the part played by ‘B’ Squadron, 41st RTR, and including sketch maps, nominal rolls, details of claims of enemy destroyed by the Squadron, and copies of letters of thanks to 24th Armoured Brigade by Lt Gen H Lumsden and Maj Gen C H Gairdner CBE; Maps of Cairo, Alexandria, and Wadi el Farigh, Egypt; and some letters and reports relating to his command of the Yorkshire Hussars, BLA.

Cataloguer SJO