Description
Object description
A collection of papers relating to his service in the Royal Engineers, specialising in Bomb Disposal, being posted to No 6 Bomb Disposal (BD) Company in June 1940, commanding No 6 BD Company RE (August 1940 – January 1941), and No 11 BD Coy RE (January – August 1941) in the UK, 17 BD Coy RE (August 1941 – November 1944) in North Arica, Sicily and Italy, and 21 BD Company RE in Wanstead, back in the UK, from January 1945. Including: reports and diagrams relating to bomb disposal, bombs and fuzes; a note book (SO Book 135, c.110pp), starting 30 August 1940, containing notes and draft letters, reports etc including arguments for the need to have additional BD sections distributed around so there was less travelling required, training NCOs, with notes on officers and men in different sections, visits, courses, conferences, punishments, meetings, addresses and other notes; Field Message Book (AB 153) containing ms notes, including detailed notes for a Bomb Disposal course commencing 21 July 1942, with details of different fuzes, fuze extractors, types of detonation and damage, and other notes of training and incidents (September 1942 – February 1943), training Home Guard units, time in Wrotham, Kent, as well as sketches and drawings of landscapes; correspondence and reports relating to 17 Bomb Disposal Company; a ts War Diary for 17 BD Coy, RE, 1943 (3pp), with very brief descriptions of the movements of the Company and its component sections, in the UK, Algieria (from May), Tunisia (from July), and Italy (from September), and with details of Mitchell's admission to hospital (August), and a ts War Diary (4pp, 1 January – 31 July 1944), with details of movements in Italy, number of UXBs dealt with per month, casualties, honours and decorations, and air raids; a ts report 'Bomb Disposal by British Bomb Disposal Units in Sicily and Italy' (7pp, 1944), with headings on Operational Function and Establishment of a BD Coy HQ, Company HQ Establishments, Function of a BD Section, Establishment of a BD Section, an outline of activities in Sicily and Italy, intelligence and lessons from operations, and details of numbers of bombs dealt with, new fuzes, bombs, and containers encountered, numbers and types of mined charges, as well as proforma for reporting UXBs; two copies of 17 Bomb Disposal Company, Royal Engineers, magazine issue No 1 (20pp each, December 1944), and issue No 2 of the magazine (18pp, n.d., [March/April 1945?]), with stories, anecdotes, poems, songs and articles by members of the Company, including histories and summaries of activities of various Platoons in the Company, namely 127, 5, 40, 43, 8, 157, 158, 159, 174, and 90 Platoons; a detailed report by Mitchell (5pp, May 1945) about the role of 17 BD Coy in the CMF, sent to BD Platoon officers in the CMF with details of actions in Sicily and mainland Italy; a small booklet 'Standard Tail Fuses (American), Technical Information, Secret', (23pp), with details of 22 types of American tail fuses, the arming type, arming time, functioning time, and the types of bombs they are used in; seven ms letters from families of men under his command or with him who had been killed in action, asking him for more information about their loved ones, and thanking him for his sympathy (1943-1945); correspondence with fellow officers and men under his command (23 letters); correspondence and other items relating to his award of the George Medal for hazardous work [he defused a new type of German bomb in August 1940], being Mentioned in Despatches, and his award of the OBE in December 1944; a booklet, 'United States, Rockets and Fuzes', by US Navy Bomb Disposal Section, with photos, diagrams, technical information (203pp, June 1944); and a booklet 'Hand, Rifle and Mortar Grenades', by USNBDS, with photos, diagrams, schematics, and technical information about German, Japanese, Italian, and US grenades (133pp).
Content description
A collection of papers relating to his service in the Royal Engineers, specialising in Bomb Disposal, being posted to No 6 Bomb Disposal (BD) Company in June 1940, commanding No 6 BD Company RE (August 1940 – January 1941), and No 11 BD Coy RE (January – August 1941) in the UK, 17 BD Coy RE (August 1941 – November 1944) in North Arica, Sicily and Italy, and 21 BD Company RE in Wanstead, back in the UK, from January 1945. Including: reports and diagrams relating to bomb disposal, bombs and fuzes; a note book (SO Book 135, c.110pp), starting 30 August 1940, containing notes and draft letters, reports etc including arguments for the need to have additional BD sections distributed around so there was less travelling required, training NCOs, with notes on officers and men in different sections, visits, courses, conferences, punishments, meetings, addresses and other notes; Field Message Book (AB 153) containing ms notes, including detailed notes for a Bomb Disposal course commencing 21 July 1942, with details of different fuzes, fuze extractors, types of detonation and damage, and other notes of training and incidents (September 1942 – February 1943), training Home Guard units, time in Wrotham, Kent, as well as sketches and drawings of landscapes; correspondence and reports relating to 17 Bomb Disposal Company; a ts War Diary for 17 BD Coy, RE, 1943 (3pp), with very brief descriptions of the movements of the Company and its component sections, in the UK, Algieria (from May), Tunisia (from July), and Italy (from September), and with details of Mitchell's admission to hospital (August), and a ts War Diary (4pp, 1 January – 31 July 1944), with details of movements in Italy, number of UXBs dealt with per month, casualties, honours and decorations, and air raids; a ts report 'Bomb Disposal by British Bomb Disposal Units in Sicily and Italy' (7pp, 1944), with headings on Operational Function and Establishment of a BD Coy HQ, Company HQ Establishments, Function of a BD Section, Establishment of a BD Section, an outline of activities in Sicily and Italy, intelligence and lessons from operations, and details of numbers of bombs dealt with, new fuzes, bombs, and containers encountered, numbers and types of mined charges, as well as proforma for reporting UXBs; two copies of 17 Bomb Disposal Company, Royal Engineers, magazine issue No 1 (20pp each, December 1944), and issue No 2 of the magazine (18pp, n.d., [March/April 1945?]), with stories, anecdotes, poems, songs and articles by members of the Company, including histories and summaries of activities of various Platoons in the Company, namely 127, 5, 40, 43, 8, 157, 158, 159, 174, and 90 Platoons; a detailed report by Mitchell (5pp, May 1945) about the role of 17 BD Coy in the CMF, sent to BD Platoon officers in the CMF with details of actions in Sicily and mainland Italy; a small booklet 'Standard Tail Fuses (American), Technical Information, Secret', (23pp), with details of 22 types of American tail fuses, the arming type, arming time, functioning time, and the types of bombs they are used in; seven ms letters from families of men under his command or with him who had been killed in action, asking him for more information about their loved ones, and thanking him for his sympathy (1943-1945); correspondence with fellow officers and men under his command (23 letters); correspondence and other items relating to his award of the George Medal for hazardous work [he defused a new type of German bomb in August 1940], being Mentioned in Despatches, and his award of the OBE in December 1944; a booklet, 'United States, Rockets and Fuzes', by US Navy Bomb Disposal Section, with photos, diagrams, technical information (203pp, June 1944); and a booklet 'Hand, Rifle and Mortar Grenades', by USNBDS, with photos, diagrams, schematics, and technical information about German, Japanese, Italian, and US grenades (133pp).
History note
Cataloguer SJO