Description
Object description
Pocket diary for the year 1919 kept whilst serving as a junior officer/NCO (?) with the Royal Garrison Artillery at Maidenhead, Winchester and Shoreham, of some interest for descriptions of his work with and training of horses; diary for the period May – October 1921 written during his service in India with the Royal Garrison Artillery at Nowgong (Madhya Pradesh), mainly recording sports and other 'off-duty' occupations alongside military camp routine and providing cameos of the life of a junior officer in India at that time; diary for September – December 1922 with brief entries relating to his RGA service on Malta; diary for January – April 1940 whilst serving in northern France during the 'Phoney War' as a Major (? commanding unidentified RA battery, 5th Division sector – later evacuated back to England through Dunkirk following the German invasion of France); his prisoner of war 'Wartime Log' recording in diary form his capture by German troops near Auberville during the Normandy landings on 6th June 1944 (D-Day), when he was serving with 3rd Parachute Brigade (6th Airborne Division), after the glider he was in ditched into the sea, his initial confinement in a POW transit camp at ? Verneuil-sur-Avre before being moved to Châlons-sur-Marne (Frontstalag 194) and Oflag XIIB (Hadamar), transferring to Oflag 79 at Braunschweig-Querum (Brunswick) in mid-August 1944, the diary ending in late April 1945 shortly before the end of the war and his liberation; with associated papers including: a letter (4pp ms) written to his wife on D-Day before his departure for Normandy, describing his preparations for and expectations of the "great adventure"; his two POW Identity / Record Cards ('Personalkarte'); photographs and newspaper cuttings.
Content description
Pocket diary for the year 1919 kept whilst serving as a junior officer/NCO (?) with the Royal Garrison Artillery at Maidenhead, Winchester and Shoreham, of some interest for descriptions of his work with and training of horses; diary for the period May – October 1921 written during his service in India with the Royal Garrison Artillery at Nowgong (Madhya Pradesh), mainly recording sports and other 'off-duty' occupations alongside military camp routine and providing cameos of the life of a junior officer in India at that time; diary for September – December 1922 with brief entries relating to his RGA service on Malta; diary for January – April 1940 whilst serving in northern France during the 'Phoney War' as a Major (? commanding unidentified RA battery, 5th Division sector – later evacuated back to England through Dunkirk following the German invasion of France); his prisoner of war 'Wartime Log' recording in diary form his capture by German troops near Auberville during the Normandy landings on 6th June 1944 (D-Day), when he was serving with 3rd Parachute Brigade (6th Airborne Division), after the glider he was in ditched into the sea, his initial confinement in a POW transit camp at ? Verneuil-sur-Avre before being moved to Châlons-sur-Marne (Frontstalag 194) and Oflag XIIB (Hadamar), transferring to Oflag 79 at Braunschweig-Querum (Brunswick) in mid-August 1944, the diary ending in late April 1945 shortly before the end of the war and his liberation; with associated papers including: a letter (4pp ms) written to his wife on D-Day before his departure for Normandy, describing his preparations for and expectations of the "great adventure"; his two POW Identity / Record Cards ('Personalkarte'); photographs and newspaper cuttings.
History note
Cataloguer SWW