Diaries, diary notes and memoranda, 1925-1930

References on this page: LIDDELL HART: 11/1925-1930

LIDDELL HART: 11/1925-1930 Diaries, diary notes and memoranda, 1925-1930

LIDDELL HART: 11/1925/1

1925

Note by LIDDELL HART on criticisms of Paris or the future of war (Kegan Paul and Co, London, 1925)

LIDDELL HART: 11/1925/2

1925

Note by LIDDELL HART on compliments received at the Cambrai Dinner attended by LIDDELL HART at the invitation of Col George Mackintosh Lindsay, Inspector, Royal Tank Corps, War Office

LIDDELL HART: 11/1925/3

1925 Apr-1926 Mar

Pocket-sized appointments diary kept by LIDDELL HART

LIDDELL HART: 11/1926/1

1926

Diary kept by LIDDELL HART with typescript copy

LIDDELL HART: 11/1926/2

1926

Pocket-sized appointments diary kept by LIDDELL HART. With typescript note of Nov 19 on talks with Maj Gen Sir John Edward Capper, Col Commandant, Royal Tank Corps, and Col Sir Hugh Jamieson Elles at the Cambrai Dinner held by the Royal Tank Corps, principally concerning army pay

LIDDELL HART: 11/1926/3

1926 Feb 23

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Col A Fagalde, French Military Attaché, commenting on deficiencies in reconnaissance methods and on various personalities including Field Marshal Ferdinand Foch

LIDDELL HART: 11/1926/4

1926 [Jun 14]

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Gen Sir John Stuart Mackenzie Shea, ADC general to the King, on various personalities including Professor Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett, fellow of King's College Cambridge

LIDDELL HART: 11/1926/5

1926 Sep 10

Letter from Maj Alfred Higgins Burne. With annotations by LIDDELL HART on the events of 21-25 Mar 1918

LIDDELL HART: 11/1926/6

1926 Oct 19

Comments by LIDDELL HART on a memorandum which Lt Gen Sir David (Graham Muschet) Campbell submitted to the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Gen George Francis Milne, on his appointment as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Aldershot, concerning the value of cavalry and infantry

LIDDELL HART: 11/1926/7

1926

Summary of some of the key points raised by LIDDELL HART's articles in The Daily Telegraph 1926-1928, especially concerning army expenditure and armoured forces

LIDDELL HART: 11/1927/1

1927

Diary kept by LIDDELL HART, Feb-Aug. With typescript copy

LIDDELL HART: 11/1927/2

1927

Pocket-sized appointments diary kept by LIDDELL HART, with the entries for Jan, and Jun to Dec amplified in typescript form (in 1962)

LIDDELL HART: 11/1927/3-4

1927 Mar 4

Notes and diagrams by LIDDELL HART on the governing principles of strategy and tactics

LIDDELL HART: 11/1927/5-16

1927 Sep

Notes by LIDDELL HART on the Experimental Mechanised Force and on command exercises in Aldershot [12-13 Sep 1927] and related correspondence, including the address by the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Gen George Francis Milne to senior officers of the Force at the Church of England Institute, Tidworth, Hampshire, 8 Sep 1927

LIDDELL HART: 11/1927/17

1927 Oct 7

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Brig Gen James Edward Edmonds, Officer in Charge of Military Branch, Historical Section, Committee of Imperial Defence, on World War One, and in particular the 2nd and 3rd battles of Ypres ( 22 Apr-24 May 1915, 31 Jul-10 Nov 1917)

LIDDELL HART: 11/1927/18-36

1927, 1929

Notes by LIDDELL HART on Italian armed forces organisation, capability, equipment and statistics arising from LIDDELL HART's visit to Italy, Oct-Dec 1927, including notes on LIDDELL HART's talk with Benito Mussolini, 2 Dec

LIDDELL HART: 11/1927/37

1927

Notes by LIDDELL HART on Basic principles of air warfare (Gale and Polden, Aldershot, 1927) by Sqn Ldr C G Burge, Personal Assistant to the Chief of the Air Staff, MRAF Sir Hugh Montague Trenchard. Also see diary note by LIDDELL HART 9 Feb 1927, 11/1927/1

LIDDELL HART: 11/1928/1

1928

Pocket-sized appointments diary kept by LIDDELL HART. With typescript copy

LIDDELL HART: 11/1928/2

1928 Jan 2

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Col Charles Noel Frank Broad, Directorate of Staff Duties, on mechanisation, infantry organisation and training

LIDDELL HART: 11/1928/3

1928 Jan 28

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Lt Col Giffard le Quesne Martel concerning mechanisation, in particular, the distribution of ordnance depots, delays in deciding the future of the Royal Engineers, and the proposal that Director of Mechanisation, Maj Gen Sydney Capel Peck, join the Vickers company

LIDDELL HART: 11/1928/4-11

1928 Jan-Apr

LIDDELL HART's plan for a steel shield for mechanised fighting vehicles, and related correspondence with patent agents

LIDDELL HART: 11/1928/12

1928 Feb 24

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Brig Gen Sir James Edward Edmonds, Officer in Charge of the Military Branch, Historical Section, Committee of Imperial Defence, on diaries of FM Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, and the events of Mar 1918

LIDDELL HART: 11/1928/13

1928 Mar 9

Lunch at 11 Downing Street, with the Rt Hon Winston Churchill, Gen Sir Bindon Blood, Maj Gen Sir Reginald Walter Ralph Barnes and Rt Hon Sir Laming Worthington-Evans, Chancellor of the Exchequer, on mechanisation and India

LIDDELL HART: 11/1928/14

1928 Mar 15

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion at All Soul's College, Oxford, with barrister and solicitor Sir Thomas Crowe Spenser-Wilkinson and Maj Gen Sir Ernest Dunlop Swinton, Chichele Professor of Military History, Oxford University, concerning World War One, including Passchendaele (3rd Battle of Ypres, 31 July-10 Nov 1917) and FM Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig

LIDDELL HART: 11/1928/15

1928 Mar 20

Note by LIDDELL HART of the opinions of Col Henry Karslake on a failed American attack of 29 Sep 1918.

LIDDELL HART: 11/1928/16

1928 Apr 23

Note by LIDDELL HART on the basic principles of successful warfare

LIDDELL HART: 11/1928/17

1928 Jul 2

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Brig Gen Sir James Edward Edmonds, Officer in Charge of the Military Branch, Historical Section, Committee of Imperial Defence, on South Africa, World War One and post war events

LIDDELL HART: 11/1928/18

1928 Nov 1

Talks with Rt Hon Leopold Stennett Amery, Secretary of State for the Colonies, on LIDDELL HART's strategy of the 'Indirect Approach', political control in World War One, and the Armistice in 1918

LIDDELL HART: 11/1928/19

1928 Nov 28

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Col Frederick Alfred Pile, Assistant Director of Mechanisation, War Office, on the disbandment of the Experimental Armoured Force, and the plan for the replacement of mechanised infantry battalions

LIDDELL HART: 11/1928/20

1928 Dec 29

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Col Frederick Alfred Pile, Assistant Director of Mechanisation, War Office, on mechanisation, in particular, orders for new Carden-Loyd light tanks, on the re-definition of Carden-Loyd tanks as machine gun carriers, the distribution of tanks in the 2, 4 and 5 Battalions of the Royal Tank Corps, and on mechanised vehicles in India

LIDDELL HART: 11/1929/1

1929

Pocket-sized appointments diary kept by LIDDELL HART. With typescript copy

LIDDELL HART: 11/1929/2

1929 Jan 23

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Col Frederick Alfred Pile, Assistant Director of Mechanisation, War Office, on the effectiveness of various grades of armour and the 1929-1930 Army estimates

LIDDELL HART: 11/1929/3

1929 Jan 24

Comments by LIDDELL HART on lunch with Sir Samuel John Gurney Hoare, 2nd Bt, Secretary of State for Air, Lady Maud and Christopher Llewellyn Bullock, Hoare's Principal Private Secretary, on the dangers of inadequate spending by the UK on air power, on how the delivery by air of troop carriers to Singapore illustrates the value of strategic mobility, and on the possible danger to soldiers from guerrilla warfare

LIDDELL HART: 11/1929/4

1929 Jan 28

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Brig George Mackintosh Lindsay, Inspector of the Royal Tank Corps on the new 16 ton tank ( the A6)

LIDDELL HART: 11/1929/5

1929 [Feb 28]

Notes by LIDDELL HART entitled, 'Influence of inventions on war and history', arising from an article by Brig John Frederick Charles Fuller, on 'The importance of military inventions' with Fuller's article in a cutting from the Air Force Gazette

LIDDELL HART: 11/1929/6

1929 Apr 18

Memorandum by LIDDELL HART entitled, 'The economic efficiency of the army', sent on request to former Prime Minister, the Rt Hon David Lloyd George

LIDDELL HART: 11/1929/7

1929 May 6

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Brig Gen Sir James Edward Edmonds, Officer in Charge of Military Branch, Historical Section, Committee of Imperial Defence, on the perceived failure during World War One, of FM Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, to appreciate the complexity of siege warfare

LIDDELL HART: 11/1929/8

1929 Jun 24

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Brig Gen Sir James Edward Edmonds, Officer in Charge of Military Branch, Historical Section, Committee of Imperial Defence, on the disillusionment of FM Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, with Gen Sir Herbert Alexander Lawrence, former Chief of Staff, HQ, British Armies in France, 1918

LIDDELL HART: 11/1929/9

1929 Jul 15

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Christopher Birdwood Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Cardington, Secretary of State for Air, on defence problems and especially the need for the redistribution of money between services and the need to convince the public of the requirement for a more efficient army

LIDDELL HART: 11/1929/10

1929 Jul 30-1929 Sep 26

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Herbrand Edward Dundonald Brassey Sackville, 9th Earl de la Warr, Under-Secretary of War, and diary note by LIDDELL HART on later meeting. Notably concerning the territorials

LIDDELL HART: 11/1929/11

1929 Aug 6

'The reorganisation of the infantry battalion to obtain a one third reduction in strength', memorandum by LIDDELL HART prepared for the Under-Secretary of State for War, Herbrand Edward Dundonald Brassey Sackville, 9th Earl de la Warr (Copy to the Secretary of State for Air, Christopher Birdwood Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Cardington)

LIDDELL HART: 11/1929/12

1929 Aug 17

Memorandum entitled 'The expeditionary force and reorganisation of the home army' by LIDDELL HART prepared for the Under-Secretary of State for War, Herbrand Edward Dundonald Brassey Sackville, 9th Earl de la Warr. (Copy to the Secretary of State for Air, Christopher Birdwood Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Cardington)

LIDDELL HART: 11/1929/13

1929 Aug 17

Memorandum by LIDDELL HART entitled 'The Indian military problem', prepared for the Under-Secretary of State for War, Herbrand Edward Dundonald Brassey Sackville, 9th Earl de la Warr. (Copy to the Secretary of State for Air, Christopher Birdwood Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Cardington)

LIDDELL HART: 11/1929/14

1929 Aug 11

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Gen Sir Ivor Maxse, Commander, 18 Div, 1914-1917, 18 Army Corps, 1917-1918 and 9 Army Corps on the Rhine, on the role of the Rt Hon David Lloyd George and FM Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig in 1918 and of FM William Riddell Birdwood in India

LIDDELL HART: 11/1929/15

1929 Sep 23

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Brig Gen Sir James Edward Edmonds, Officer in Charge of Military Branch, Historical Section, Committee of Imperial Defence, on World War One personalities including Gen Sir Herbert Alexander Lawrence, Chief of Staff, British Armies in France, 1918

LIDDELL HART: 11/1929/16

1929 Oct 1

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Brig John Frederick Charles Fuller, military historian, concerning various World War One personalities including Brig Gen Sir James Edward Edmonds and Brig Gen E W Cox

LIDDELL HART: 11/1929/17

1929 Oct 31

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Brig Gen Sir James Edward Edmonds, Officer in Charge of Military Branch, Historical Section, Committee of Imperial Defence, on France in 1916 and Gen Sir Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton's A Staff Officer's scrapbook (Arnold, London, 1905-1907)

LIDDELL HART: 11/1929/18

1929 Oct 31

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Sir Samuel John Gurney Hoare, Secretary of State for Air, Nov 1924-Jun 1929, on Gen Sir Charles (Harington) Harington, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, India, FM Sir George Frances Milne, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, and FM Sir William Riddell Birdwood

LIDDELL HART: 11/1929/19

1929 Nov 5

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Sir Christopher Llewellyn Bullock, Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Air, on control of the air over the Empire

LIDDELL HART: 11/1929/20

1929 Nov 7

Note by LIDDELL HART on various personalities including FM Sir George Frances Milne, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, and on equipment such as the new 16 ton tank ( the A6 ), and a new machine gun

LIDDELL HART: 11/1929/21

1929 Nov 30

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Christopher Birdwood Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Cardington, Secretary of State for Air, on defence cut-backs, and the current political situation

LIDDELL HART: 11/1929/22

1929 Dec 17

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Brig Gen James Edward Edmonds, Officer in Charge of the Military Branch, Historical Section, Committee of Imperial Defence, on the origins of World War One

LIDDELL HART: 11/1929/23

1929 Dec 30

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Col Bertie Drew Fisher, Commandant, Senior Officers' School, regarding the publication of the diaries of FM Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, army organisation and appointments

LIDDELL HART: 11/1929/24

1929

Assessment by LIDDELL HART of various officers, rated from 'first class' to 'definitely mediocre'

LIDDELL HART: 11/1930/1

1930

Pocket-sized appointments diary kept by LIDDELL HART. With typescript copy

LIDDELL HART: 11/1930/2

1930 Jan 14

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Brig Gen Cecil Faber Aspinall-Oglander, Chief General Staff Officer, Dardanelles army, World War One, on Gallipoli

LIDDELL HART: 11/1930/3

1930 May 16

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Brig Gen James Edward Edmonds, Officer in Charge of Military Branch, Historical Section, Committee of Imperial Defence, on the siege of Mafeking during the South African War and the role there of Lt Gen Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell of Gilwell

LIDDELL HART: 11/1930/4

1930 Jun 20

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Maj Gen William Edmund Ironside, Commander of the Meerut District, India, on various army personalities including FM Sir George Frances Milne, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, and Gen Sir Charles Harington, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, India

LIDDELL HART: 11/1930/5

1930 Jul 24

Extract from a letter sent by ACM Sir (William) Geoffrey (Hanson) Salmond, Air Officer Commanding RAF, India, to ACM Sir John Maitland Salmond, Principal Air ADC to the King, and Chief of the Air Staff, 1930-1933, on the question of control of air operations in the Empire

LIDDELL HART: 11/1930/6

1930 Jul 30

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Gen Sir David (Graham Muschet) Campbell, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Aldershot, concerning various army personalities including FM Sir Philip Walhouse Chetwode, Chief of the General Staff, India, 1928-1930, and Commander-in-Chief of the Army in India, 1930-1933, and Maj Gen William Edmund Ironside, Commander, Meerut District, India

LIDDELL HART: 11/1930/7

1930 Sep

Summary by LIDDELL HART of War Office proposals for the new organisation of the infantry battalion

LIDDELL HART: 11/1930/8

1930 Oct 15

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Col Frederick Alfred Pile, Assistant Director of Mechanisation, War Office, on army promotions and tank production

LIDDELL HART: 11/1930/9

1930 Oct 20

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Adm Sir Herbert Richmond, retired, Commander-in-Chief East-Indies Squadron, 1924-1925, and Commandant of the Imperial Defence College, 1927-1928, on World War One and post-war naval problems including the danger of over-reliance on larger warships

LIDDELL HART: 11/1930/10

1930 Oct 24

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Brig Gen James Edward Edmonds, Officer in Charge of Military Branch, Historical Section, Committee of Imperial Defence, on France in 1916 and adverse comment on Victor Wallace Germains, author of The Mechanisation of War (Sifton, Praed and Co., London, 1927)

LIDDELL HART: 11/1930/11

1930 Nov 10

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Sir William George Eden Wiseman, Chief Adviser on American Affairs to the British Delegation in Paris, 1918-1919, on the USA and World War One

LIDDELL HART: 11/1930/12

1930 Nov 20

Reflection by LIDDELL HART on his professional future

LIDDELL HART: 11/1930/13

1930 [Nov 21]

Reflection by LIDDELL HART on the War Office reaction to his critical article in the Daily Telegraph, Nov 19 1930 which suggested that the War Office feared modernisation because of consequent pressure, with increased efficiency, to reduce troop numbers

LIDDELL HART: 11/1930/14

1930 Nov 25

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Brig Henry Karslake on India and army promotions

LIDDELL HART: 11/1930/15

1930 Dec 8

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Brig Gen James Edward Edmonds, Officer in Charge of Military Branch, Historical Section, Committee of Imperial Defence, on FM Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig and the Battle of the Somme (1 Jul-18 Nov 1916)

LIDDELL HART: 11/1930/16

1930 Dec 27

Paper by LIDDELL HART offering some proposals on army historical research

LIDDELL HART: 11/1930/17

1930

Note by LIDDELL HART comparing The Daily Telegraph and The Times

LIDDELL HART: 11/1930/18

[1930]

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Lt Gen Sir Hugh Sandham Jeudwine, Dir Gen of the Territorial Army, 1923-1927, concerning World War One and especially the Battle of Cambrai (20 Nov-3 Dec 1917)

LIDDELL HART: 11/1930/19-21

1930-1931

LIDDELL HART's criticisms of 'Infantry Training' written by Lt Col Bernard Law Montgomery

LIDDELL HART: 11/1930/22

1930-1933

Various notes by LIDDELL HART on mechanised warfare

LIDDELL HART: 11/1930/23

[1930]

List of possible titles for LIDDELL HART's The Real War, 1914-1918 ( Faber and Faber, London, 1930, 2nd edition published as A History of the World War,1914-1918, Faber and Faber, London, 1934)

LIDDELL HART: 11/1930/24-31

1930

Various statistical notes by LIDDELL HART on the strength and distribution of the British Army in the inter-war period

LIDDELL HART: 11/1930/32-40

1930

Various statistical notes by LIDDELL HART on air matters in the inter-war period, including the relative air strengths of various nations, possible air raid civil defence requirements, and the composition and distibution of the RAF

LIDDELL HART: 11/1930/41

1930

LIDDELL HART's replies to a questionnaire from Donald Clark, Associate Professor of English at Columbia University, USA on his career, and recreations