Key Information
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1940-1970 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent
1 box or 0.01 cubic metres
Scope and content
Papers relating to operations in the Western Desert, 1940-1941, especially Battles of Sidi Saleh, Beda Fomm and Operation BATTLEAXE, the attempt to relieve Tobruk, including typescript report by Lt Gen Sir Richard Nugent O'Connor on operations of 7 Armoured Div, Mechili, Cyrenaica, Libya, Feb 1941; typescript text of lecture by Creagh entitled 'Operations of the 7th Armoured Division in the Western Desert from June 1940 to March 1941' [1942]; typescript reports by unit commanders and Staff Officers on operations during First Libyan campaign, 1940-1941, including Lt Gen Sir Noel Monson de la Poer Beresford-Pierse, General Officer Commanding Western Desert Force, Lt Gen Sir Richard Nugent O'Connor, General Officer Commanding 13 Corps, Brig John Alan Lyde Caunter, commanding 4 Armoured Bde, Col George Edward Younghusband, 2 Armoured Div, Brig William Henry Ewart Gott, commanding Support Group, and Brig Hugh Edward Russell, commanding 7 Armoured Bde; typescript report by Creagh entitled 'The 7th Armoured Division', with five printed maps of North Africa, Nov 1943. Correspondence, 1942-1970, notably including letters from Lt Gen Giffard Le Quesne Martel, Commander Royal Armoured Corps, 1942, and Lt Gen Sir Richard (Alan) Fyffe, Col Commandant, 3 Bn, The Royal Green Jackets, 1970.
System of arrangement
The collection is arranged in chronological order.
General Information
Name of creator
Biographical history
Born 1892; educated at Wellington and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst; commissioned into 7 Queen's Own Hussars, 1911; Lt, 1913; served in World War One, 1914-1918; Aide de Camp to Div Commander, Home Forces, 1914-1915; Staff Capt, France, 1917-1918; Capt, 1918; Bde Maj, France, 1918-1919; General Staff Officer 3, British Army of the Rhine, 1919; Adjutant, 7 Queen's Own Hussars, 1919-1922; Maj, 15/19 The King's Royal Hussars, 1924; Bde Maj, Southern Command, 1927-1929; General Staff Officer 2, War Office, 1929-1931; Brevet Lt Col, 1931; Lt Col, 1934; Commanding Officer, 15/19 The King's Royal Hussars, 1934-1938; Col, 1938; General Staff Officer 1, Senior Officers' School, Sheerness, Kent, 1938-1939; Inspector, Royal Armoured Corps, War Office, 1939; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; acting Maj Gen, 1939-1940; General Officer Commanding 7 Armoured Div, Western Desert, 1939-1941; temporary Maj Gen, 1940-1941; Maj Gen, 1941; created KBE, 1941; commanded 3 Armoured Group, 1941-1942; commanded Hampshire and Dorset District, 1942; retired 1944; UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration), 1944-1946; Deputy Chief of Mission to Greece; Chief of Emergency Supply Unit, European Regional Office; Chief of European Regional Office Voluntary Society Liaison Unit.died 1970.
Repository
Custodial history
Presented to the Centre by the family in 1980.
Conditions governing access
Open, subject to signature of Reader's undertaking form, and appropriate provision of two forms of identification, to include one photographic ID.
Conditions governing reproduction
Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied from open material for research purposes only.
Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, via the Archives.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Finding aids
This collection level description.
Existence and location of originals
Please note: We require 7 days notice to retrieve this collection as part, or all of it, is held off-campus. Read more ›
Related materials
Note
Decorations: KBE, MC
Alternative identifier(s)
People and Organisations
- Caunter, John Alan Lyde, 1889-1981, Brigadier (Subject)
- Fyffe, Sir Richard Alan, 1912-1972, Knight, Lieutenant General (Subject)
- Gott, William Henry Ewart, 1897-1942, Lieutenant General (Subject)
- Martel, Sir Giffard Le Quesne, 1889-1958, Knight, Lieutenant General (Subject)
- O'Connor, Sir Richard Nugent, 1889-1981, Knight, General (Subject)
- Pierse, Sir Noel Monson de la Poer, Beresford-, 1887-1953, Knight, Lieutenant General (Subject)
- Russell, Hugh Edward, fl 1940-1941, Brigadier (Subject)
- Younghusband, George Edward, fl 1940-1941, Colonel (Subject)
Genre access points
Rules and/or conventions used
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000.