Description
Object description
A very detailed contemporaneous ms account (c.300pp) of Operation Archery, the Commando raid on Vaagso, Norway, in December 1941, written by Captain (later Brigadier) Peter Young commanding 6 Troop, No 3 Commando (on detachment from 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment), comprising a daily journal (with some later explanatory notes, and later recollections written in 1942) and lists of officers and men involved, with his transcription of a diary of events kept by Corporal Higgins, and covering embarking on HMS PRINCE LEOPOLD from Greenock (11 December 1941), details of officers on board and where they came from, numbers of detachment on board, and a list of all the men under his command, his troop being under strength due to men not being sent from other Regiments and illness, injuries to men from boxing match, details of accommodation, details of objectives in the raid from Major Jack Churchill MC, and planning for operations, conducting a court martial on board, setting sail (14 December 1941), intelligence regarding enemy strength, sea sickness aboard, details of Norwegian Officers involved, an accident involving a hand grenade, sketches of Maaloy (Måløy) Island, 6 Troop's objective, lists of equipment, loads, distribution of ammunition, seating in boats, details of conferences of senior officers aboard HMS PRINCE CHARLES, exercises on Scottish Islands near Scapa, games played on board, fears and anxieties about the operation, the story of how Major Churchill came to join the Commandos, moving to the Shetland Islands, the raid postponed on Christmas Day, orders for the operation, a detailed description of the raid on Maaloy Island (27 December 1941), before he crossed over to Vaagso with 6 Troop to reinforce the attack, sketches of the town and buildings, witnessing casualties, shooting Germans, full lists of casualties, descriptions of wounds, details of prisoners taken and interrogation reports, lists of those recommended for honours and awards, the citation for his Military Cross, details of a conversation with Lieutenant R Clement about No 2 Troop's part in the raid, and a transcription of Lieutenant B T Giles' report on No 3 Troop. Together with an account (2pp) of a landing in Sicily, Italy, in July 1943, written to Captain Young by Lance Corporal F Darts, 5949117, 12 Section, 6 Troop, No 3 Commando.
Content description
A very detailed contemporaneous ms account (c.300pp) of Operation Archery, the Commando raid on Vaagso, Norway, in December 1941, written by Captain (later Brigadier) Peter Young commanding 6 Troop, No 3 Commando (on detachment from 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment), comprising a daily journal (with some later explanatory notes, and later recollections written in 1942) and lists of officers and men involved, with his transcription of a diary of events kept by Corporal Higgins, and covering embarking on HMS PRINCE LEOPOLD from Greenock (11 December 1941), details of officers on board and where they came from, numbers of detachment on board, and a list of all the men under his command, his troop being under strength due to men not being sent from other Regiments and illness, injuries to men from boxing match, details of accommodation, details of objectives in the raid from Major Jack Churchill MC, and planning for operations, conducting a court martial on board, setting sail (14 December 1941), intelligence regarding enemy strength, sea sickness aboard, details of Norwegian Officers involved, an accident involving a hand grenade, sketches of Maaloy (Måløy) Island, 6 Troop's objective, lists of equipment, loads, distribution of ammunition, seating in boats, details of conferences of senior officers aboard HMS PRINCE CHARLES, exercises on Scottish Islands near Scapa, games played on board, fears and anxieties about the operation, the story of how Major Churchill came to join the Commandos, moving to the Shetland Islands, the raid postponed on Christmas Day, orders for the operation, a detailed description of the raid on Maaloy Island (27 December 1941), before he crossed over to Vaagso with 6 Troop to reinforce the attack, sketches of the town and buildings, witnessing casualties, shooting Germans, full lists of casualties, descriptions of wounds, details of prisoners taken and interrogation reports, lists of those recommended for honours and awards, the citation for his Military Cross, details of a conversation with Lieutenant R Clement about No 2 Troop's part in the raid, and a transcription of Lieutenant B T Giles' report on No 3 Troop. Together with an account (2pp) of a landing in Sicily, Italy, in July 1943, written to Captain Young by Lance Corporal F Darts, 5949117, 12 Section, 6 Troop, No 3 Commando.
History note
Cataloguer SJO