Collection: Private Papers of Lieutenant Colonel M V Liakhovsky

An interesting collection of private papers, photographs and ephemera relating to Major (later Lieutenant-Colonel) Michael Victor Liakhovsky, who served as a commander of 39 Column during the 1944 second Chindit expedition with 6th Battalion Nigeria Regiment, part of 3rd (West Africa) Brigade, 81st (West Africa) Division, including: ms notebook (pale grey-green cardboard covers, 94pp, mostly blue ink, some pencil) marked 'Major M V Liakhovsky / 6 N R [6th Battalion, Nigeria Regiment] / 3rd (W.A.) Inf. Bde [3rd West African Infantry Brigade], contents describes organisation of Chindit columns, liaison with Royal Air Force, medical and tactical notes ('Wingate's maxim: "1 round, 1 Jap"'), notes on weaponry and equipment, dispersal drill, battle drill, notes on Japanese tactics, rendezvous, bivouac drill (including diagrams), 'drills for going in', routine in bivouac, halts, explosives (including detonators, primers and fuses), concealment, deception and ruses, diagrammatic sketch maps showing the Irrawaddy and Shweli rivers, and railways lines, 'Jap methods / Experience on last show', a report on the PIAT anti-tank weapon, map reading, river crossings and equipment, movement across country, Japanese clothing and disposition of forces, back of notebook contains notes on Burmese language written from the back page, which consequently appear upside down; ms notebook (51pp, blue cloth covers, red leather spine, some pages torn out) containing (mostly pencil) mix of notes from both Burma and Berlin, one page titled 'General's conference 23 December 1943' with list of main faults, probably relating to a recent training exercise, notes of a 'CO Conference' dated 17 December 1944, undated training notes remark on difference between African and European troops 'Africans better than Europeans in the long run but tend to over relax when tired / ANCOs [African NCOs] must be given as much responsibility as possible / The old fault of men on the move gazing at the ground. Must look into jungle and up trees. That is where Jap lurks. AOR [African other ranks] has got 1st rate bush sight and sense - make him use it! / Discourage undue shouting, it is not only bad discipline but bloody stupid tactically / ..bunching anyway is a well-known form of suicide', notes on Liakhovsky's work in Berlin, 'Main duties' include 'Liaison with Russians / Secure any Jap information', notes appointment as GSO2 21 April 1945, notes on hospital in Potsdamer Platz and barrack facilities in Eberswald, notes on organisation of 'Operation Terminal' (Potsdam Conference), notes on a meeting regarding the Army Education Corps, 5 September 1945 ('considered essential for morale purposes...this is an experiment in community education', notes on pay and allowances, notes on a football match featuring Sheffield United; a (1p, ts) 15-day Chindit training schedule compiled by Colonel Menzies Anderson, Special Force Training Wing; a (1p, ts) letter dated 19 January 1944 from Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander South-East Asia, thanking Liakhovsky for his efforts organising Mountbatten's recent visit to his column, complete with envelope addressed to Long Range Penetration Group headquarters at Gwalior; an itinerary (6pp, ts) of a November 1944 visit by Lord Munster, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for India, listing Liakhovsky as station commander at Kedgaon Camp, described as an overflow camp for West African troops, and including a copy of a photograph of Liakhovsky disguised as a Burmese villager; a printed rayon map of Northern Burma, with a map of Central Burma on the reverse. The collection also includes official reports, ephemera and photographs relating to Liakhovsky's service as GSO2 (Intelligence) at headquarters, British Forces Berlin, including: a printed form (1p, ms/ts), apparently completed in connection with an application to join the Control Service giving details of Liakhovsky's personal details and military service and noting his repatriation from Burma under the Python scheme; report (18 June 1945, ts, 4pp) regarding destruction of housing, communications, utilities, food supplies in Berlin; report (18 June 1945, ts, 2pp) on housing conditions in Berlin; report (undated, 5pp) on conditions in Berlin, including interesting remarks reporting a French journalist's journey across Berlin, and of the Russians appointing communists as burgomasters in the areas they control; a letter (ts, 1p) dated 28 November 1945 by Liakhovsky reporting his attempt the previous day to investigate the Reich Chancellery for evidence of Hitler's remains and his frustration by the non-appearance of his Russian opposite number, and including three photographs relating to the same incident, showing Liakhovsky with his French and American counterparts (and German police dog named Ellie) waiting in the street on the Wilhelmstrasse outside the Chancellery; a photograph of Hitler's study; a photocopy (11pp, ts) of 'Hitler Did Not Die In Berlin Chancellery' by Louis C S Mansfield; Liakhovsky's bilingual English-Russian pass to Operation Terminal, the Potsdam conference; a pass (1p, ts) authorising him to carry civilians in War Department vehicles; 27 photographs of Berlin taken by Liakhovsky, also a copy of a striking photograph showing Liakhovsky standing close to the Soviet commander Marshal Georgy Zhukov at the Allied Victory Parade in Berlin, for whom he had acted as interpreter; photograph of Allied officers at the parade; photographs showing the raising of the British flag in Berlin; a photograph showing King George VI inspecting the Bromley Home Guard in 1941 of which Liakhovsky's father-in-law John William Holland was commanding officer; ephemeral items including two pieces of 'jewellery' made as barter goods out of German medals apparently acquired by Liakhovsky from the wife (widow?) of a SS officer; a 1923 Westphalian 50 million Mark gold Notgeld coin depicting Baron vom Stein and a rearing horse; a Mother's Cross medal in Bronze, complete with certificate (ts, 1p) made out to an Elisabeth Schumacher living in Bünne, north of Osnabrück, but apparently completed by Liakhovsky with the date 20 May 1945, the date he found this certificate in the Reich Chancellery; a 'Goldenen Hochzeit' certificate (1p, ts), with printed signature of Adolf Hitler, congratulating a couple on their golden wedding anniversary; a piece of letterheaded paper (1p, ts) of the Adjutantur des Führers; a photographic copy of a message (1p, ts, in German) dated 8 March 1942 from Hermann Goering to an officer of the X Fliegerkorps in the Mediterranean, congratulating him on the establishment of a new communications system; a humorously officious letter, (1p, ts, 31 December 1946) from Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Rhodes and addressed to Captain George Gabelia, Liakhovsky's American opposite number, apprising Gabelia that various customary slurs against his character would no longer be permitted to stand; one (ms, no covers, c.173pp) of the notebooks containing Liakhovsky's Burma notes also includes a number of miscellaneous entries, possibly by his wife Sylvia, including notably a table showing attendances at luncheons, cocktail receptions and dinner parties held at the British embassy in Mogadishu, where Liakhovsky served as an MI6 officer, and giving some impression of the apparently repetitive social round of diplomatic staff overseas; printed ephemera including 'Pamphlet for the guidance of BAOR Families' (39pp, ts), 'Berlin' (38pp, ts) an illustrated guide for British personnel.

Cataloguer: IK