Key Information
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1942-1946 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent
2 boxes or 0.02 cubic metres
Scope and content
Papers relating to 8 Army operations in Western Desert and Battle of El Alamein, 1941-1942, in particular Operations LIGHTFOOT, SUPERCHARGE and GRAPESHOT, including maps, memoranda and plans; 21 Army Group, Operation OVERLORD, 1944 including notes of operations, Jun 1944-May 1945; report on Operation BLACKCOCK, attack by 12 Corps at Roermond, Jan 1945; surrender by German forces, May 1945 including plans for administration of enemy territory and troops. Excerpts from German wireless messages, 1941-1943. Printed material, including messages from Montgomery, General Officer Commanding 8 Army, Nov 1942-Jan 1944 and as Commander-in- Chief, 21 Army Group, Jun 1944-Aug 1945; personal messages from Supreme Commander, SHAEF, 1944; handbooks and pamphlets, Dec 1942-Dec 1944; limited circulation newspapers, 1943 and 1945, including 'Eighth Army News'; operational reports, 1945, including 79 Armoured Division, 21 Army Group and Allied Expeditionary Force.
System of arrangement
Arranged chronologically in sections reflecting military service with 8 Army and 21 Army Group; German wireless messages and printed material are grouped separately.
General Information
Name of creator
Biographical history
Born in 1900; educated at Ampleforth School and Royal Military College, Sandhurst; joined West Yorkshire Regt, 1919; seconded to King's African Rifles, 1926-1931; Officer Commanding Troops, Nyasaland, 1930-1931; Adjutant, 1 Battalion West Yorkshire Regt, 1932-1934; Staff College, Camberley, 1935-1936; Military Assistant to the Secretary of State for War, 1939-1940; Director of Military Intelligence, Middle East, 1942; Chief of Staff, 8 Army, 1942-1944; Chief of Staff, 21 Army Group, 1944-1945; retired pay, 1947; died in 1979.
Publications: Operation Victory (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1947); African Assignment (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1953); Generals at War (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1953); From Brass Hat to Bowler Hat: Sir Francis de Guingand (Hamilton, London, 1979);
Repository
Custodial history
Presented to the centre by De Guingand in 1972.
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 and detailed catalogue.
Related materials
Note
Compiled June 1996
Alternative identifier(s)
Subjects
- Armed forces
- International conflicts
- International relations
- Maps
- Military engineering
- Military operations
- Military organizations
- Operation Blackcock (1945)
- Operation Grapeshot (1941-1942)
- Operation Lightfoot (1941-1942)
- Operation Overlord (1944)
- Operation Supercharge (1941-1942)
- Organizations
- State security
- Visual materials
- War
- Warfare
- World wars (events)
- World War Two (1939-1945)
- Wars (events)
Place access points
People and Organisations
Genre access points
Rules and/or conventions used
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000.