Diaries, diary notes and memoranda, 1951-1960

References on this page: LIDDELL HART: 11/1951-1960

LIDDELL HART: 11/1951-1960 Diaries, diary notes and memoranda, 1951-1960

LIDDELL HART: 11/1951/1

1951

Appointments diary kept by LIDDELL HART. With typescript copy

LIDDELL HART: 11/1951/2

1951 Feb

Notes by LIDDELL HART on the use of artificial moonlight in defensive and offensive scenarios, and with the advantages and disadvantages of the various methods of generation

LIDDELL HART: 11/1951/3

1951 Mar 1

Notes by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Chester (Reginald William Winchester Wilmot) Wilmot, on writing history

LIDDELL HART: 11/1951/4

1951 Mar 19

Note by LIDDELL HART on the use of artificial moonlight in the Korean War

LIDDELL HART: 11/1951/5

1951 Jun 20-1951 Nov 22

Diary notes kept by LIDDELL HART on the possibility of a peerage for LIDDELL HART

LIDDELL HART: 11/1951/6

1951 Aug 2

Brief jotting by LIDDELL HART on the Royal Navy

LIDDELL HART: 11/1951/7

1951 Aug 4

Brief summary by LIDDELL HART on the evolution of LIDDELL HART's military thought and teaching

LIDDELL HART: 11/1951/8-10

1951 Sep 24-25

Notes by LIDDELL HART on the work and remit of the Templer Committee on army manpower

LIDDELL HART: 11/1951/11

1951 Sep-1952 Feb

Reflections by LIDDELL HART on the importance of his thought and teaching, and summarising his key conceptualisations

LIDDELL HART: 11/1951/12

1951 Oct 3

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Woodrow Lyle Wyatt, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, and Financial Secretary at the War Office, on the Templer Committee examining army manpower

LIDDELL HART: 11/1951/13

1951 Nov 23

Notes by LIDDELL HART on the speech at the Royal Tank Regiment Cambrai dinner by FM Sir Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Mongomery of Alamein, reflecting on the Russian threat, the problems of the recruiting, equipping and financing of Western armies, the feasibility of a 'European Army', and the likelihood of war in 1952

LIDDELL HART: 11/1951/14-15

1951 Nov

Reflections by LIDDELL HART on what he believed was a lack of recognition of his achievements

LIDDELL HART: 11/1951/16

1951 Dec 30

Notes by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Lt Col J E Hugo, concerning Hugo's visit to the Russian front with Lt Gen Sir Gifford le Quesne Martel in May 1943

LIDDELL HART: 11/1951/17

1951

Notes by LIDDELL HART on the divisional slice, the number of divisions formed from a given number of soldiers, with an unfavourable comparison between the figures for the British Army and US Army alongside the German Army during World War Two, and a comparison of such statistics for post-war armies

LIDDELL HART: 11/1951/18

[1951]

Statistical notes by LIDDELL HART on the growth of War Office bureaucracy from 1938 to 1948, and its small reduction by 1951

LIDDELL HART: 11/1951/19-22

[1951]

Reflections by LIDDELL HART on his work and influence

LIDDELL HART: 11/1952/1

1952

Appointments diary kept by LIDDELL HART. With a typescript copy

LIDDELL HART: 11/1952/2

1952 Feb 14

Reflection by LIDDELL HART on LIDDELL HART's loss of interest in the study of military thought after World War Two

LIDDELL HART: 11/1952/3-4

1952 Mar 24-30

Sketch diagrams by LIDDELL HART summarising some of the basic principles of warfare such as security, mobility and surprise

LIDDELL HART: 11/1952/5

1952 Mar

Notes by LIDDELL HART on Western defence against a possible Soviet invasion of Western Europe, fading hopes for the swift development of guided missiles, the possibility of the development of cheap, 'expendable' fighter aircraft, lack of sufficient radar improvements since World War Two, the development by the Soviet Union of a strategic bomber force, and the effectiveness of new nerve gas weapons being developed in the UK

LIDDELL HART: 11/1952/6

1952 Apr

Notes by LIDDELL HART on delays in US and British rearmament, the first factory to manufacture nerve gas to open in Cornwall in June, new hopes for the rapid development of guided weapons, and the dubious nature of the proposed 'expendable' fighter aircraft

LIDDELL HART: 11/1952/7

1952 May 5

Note by LIDDELL HART on LIDDELL HART's preoccupation with warning of the dangers of the pursuit of outright victory in war, and the need to plan for long-term peace

LIDDELL HART: 11/1952/8

1952 Jun 9

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Dr Konrad Adenauer, German Chancellor. Especially concerning the imprisonment of German generals

LIDDELL HART: 11/1952/9

1952 Jul 1-3

Notes by LIDDELL HART on various discussions with John Newman, Gaston Coblentz, London correspondent of the New York Herald Tribune, and others, on the current European military situation, in particular the question of imprisoned German generals, and surplus production of Centurion tanks

LIDDELL HART: 11/1952/10

1952 Jul 23

Diagrams on battlefield positioning drawn by Brig (Ronald Frederick King) David Belchem, Chief of Staff to FM Bernard Law Montgomery, with comments by LIDDELL HART

LIDDELL HART: 11/1952/11-12

1952 Jul

Note by LIDDELL HART on impressions from his Continental tour on how the Soviet threat was being overstated, an assessment of the need for German rearmament, and the state of French morale

LIDDELL HART: 11/1952/13

1952 [Jul]

Note by LIDDELL HART entitled 'A call for new tactics' (in NATO armies), outlining weaknesses in NATO armies

LIDDELL HART: 11/1952/14

1952 Aug 19

Note by LIDDELL HART on the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons in a NATO-Soviet conflict

LIDDELL HART: 11/1952/15

1952

Jottings by LIDDELL HART on the strength of NATO forces, 1952

LIDDELL HART: 11/1952/16-17

1952-1956

Notes by LIDDELL HART on the scale of British Army HQ. Entirely statistics

LIDDELL HART: 11/1952/18

1952

Note by LIDDELL HART on the countries of origin of Staff College students

LIDDELL HART: 11/1953/1

1953

Appointments diary kept by LIDDELL HART (Missing Aug 97)

LIDDELL HART: 11/1953/2

1953 Jul 25

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Gen Lehr (Inspector of Armour and Cavalry) in Paris, on French armoured forces from 1932 to 1953

LIDDELL HART: 11/1953/3

1953 Aug 15

Impressions by LIDDELL HART of his Continental tour, 1953, including the possibilities of a European Army, the false confidence engendered by the recent increase in the size of NATO airforces, and the 'uneasy' European defence situation

LIDDELL HART: 11/1953/4

1953

Brief note by LIDDELL HART on French infra-red equipment

LIDDELL HART: 11/1953/5

[1953]

Brief note by LIDDELL HART on French divisional organisation

LIDDELL HART: 11/1953/6

1953-1954

Note by LIDDELL HART on divisional strength in the central European theatre, and on the Conqueror tank

LIDDELL HART: 11/1954/1

1954

Appointments diary kept by LIDDELL HART

LIDDELL HART: 11/1954/2

1954 Jan

Memorandum from LIDDELL HART to Maj Gen Eric Dorman-O'Gowan (Dorman-Smith) on disappointments in LIDDELL HART's career from 1932 onwards

LIDDELL HART: 11/1954/3

1954 Jun 1

Note by LIDDELL HART on deep strategic penetration (by armoured forces thrusting ahead of the main mass) in World War Two, principally in relation to German moves early in the war

LIDDELL HART: 11/1954/4

1954 Jun 15

Notes by LIDDELL HART on Gen Alfred Maximilian Gruenther's speech at an English-speaking Union Dinner, on the possible use of atomic bombs in any future conflict with the Soviet Union, and the need to be able to repel aggression without the possibility of mutual destruction

LIDDELL HART: 11/1954/5

1954 Jun 30

Some reflections by LIDDELL HART on the basis of current strategy, principally on the subject of mutual destruction

LIDDELL HART: 11/1954/6

1954

Brief note by LIDDELL HART on the destructive effects of the H-bomb at various distances

LIDDELL HART: 11/1954/7

1954

Information from Dr Thomas Kingston Derry, of the Political Intelligence Dept of the Foreign Office, 1941-1945, and Capt Graeme Chamley Wynne on official historians of World War Two

LIDDELL HART: 11/1954/8

1954

Notes by LIDDELL HART on the Maginot Line, and on offensive and defensive strategies during World War Two. with a cutting from the Evening Standard, Jun 14 1954, of an article by Quintin McGarel Hogg, 2nd Viscount Hailsham, entitled 'Could we crash out like the French', on the possibility of moral corruption leading to British military failure in future wars

LIDDELL HART: 11/1955/1

1955

Appointments diary kept by LIDDELL HART

LIDDELL HART: 11/1955/2

1955 Apr

Note by LIDDELL HART on the question of a defence based on tactical nuclear weapons

LIDDELL HART: 11/1955/3

1955 Jun 18

Memorandum by LIDDELL HART entitled 'The 'Great Deterrent' and 'Graduated Action'' on nuclear deterrents

LIDDELL HART: 11/1955/4

1955 Jun

Note by LIDDELL HART on the current strength of the French Army

LIDDELL HART: 11/1955/5

1955 Aug

Reflections by LIDDELL HART on the current defence arrangements of the Western powers, including the significance of nuclear deterrents

LIDDELL HART: 11/1955/6

1955 Sep-Oct

Notes by LIDDELL HART on his visit to Fontainebleau and SHAPE. Talks with ACM Sir Basil Edward Embry, Commander, Allied Air Forces (Fontainebleau), and others, mainly assessments of various officers, Soviet air strength, the use of strategic nuclear weapons, and the danger that any NATO victory would be purchased by the destruction of Western cities in a nuclear exchange

LIDDELL HART: 11/1955/7

1955 Oct

Concluding observations of his Continental tour, by LIDDELL HART, with slow adjustment of commanders and politicians to the new realities of the atomic age, and various pressures on NATO of public opinion favouring a reduction in military expenditure

LIDDELL HART: 11/1955/8

1955 Oct 12

Note by LIDDELL HART on the 'Standard division' proposed by FM Sir Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, in his lecture at the Royal United Service Institue on 'Organisation for war in modern times'

LIDDELL HART: 11/1955/9

1955 Oct 31

A reflection by LIDDELL HART at the age of sixty, complaining that successive British governments had failed to make use of LIDDELL HART's plans for army reorganisation, and LIDDELL HART's current disillusionment with making suggestions which are thereafter ignored

LIDDELL HART: 11/1955/10-11

1955 Nov 20

Notes by LIDDELL HART on the growth of the War Office staff. A comparison of statistics for 1938-1939 with 1951-1952 and 1955-1956. [Also 1960 figures]

LIDDELL HART: 11/1955/12

1955 Nov 26

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Col John Sleeman, General Staff, 1 Corps. New divisional organisation, the requirements for a planned armoured personnel carrier

LIDDELL HART: 11/1955/13

1955 Nov

Statistics by LIDDELL HART on the army strength of Russia's allies

LIDDELL HART: 11/1955/14

1955 Dec 27

Note by LIDDELL HART in answer to a question from Capt William C Wiseley, United States Marine Corps, as to who were the five outstanding soldiers of Germany, the USA and the UK in World War Two

LIDDELL HART: 11/1955/15

1955

Note by LIDDELL HART on the evolution of LIDDELL HART's ideas on the development of the armoured division before World War Two

LIDDELL HART: 11/1955/16

1955

Notes by LIDDELL HART on the current organisation of the French mechanised infantry division (from Gen Andre Beaufre)

LIDDELL HART: 11/1955/17

1955-1956

Table of statistics of British army estimates

LIDDELL HART: 11/1955/18

1955-1957

Comparison of the populations of NATO countries and the Soviet Block with a view to calculating future armed forces manpower strengths. Note by LIDDELL HART

LIDDELL HART: 11/1956/1

1956

Appointments diary kept by LIDDELL HART

LIDDELL HART: 11/1956/2

1956 Jan 25

Note by LIDDELL HART on the problem of perceived NATO weakness on the ground, and a possible solution

LIDDELL HART: 11/1956/3

1956 May 26

Note by LIDDELL HART on the Auxiliary Air Force Military Operations and Inteligence HQ

LIDDELL HART: 11/1956/4-7

1956 Aug 24-1956 Dec

Reflection by LIDDELL HART on the reasons for the failure of the Suez operation, including an operational report

LIDDELL HART: 11/1956/8

1956 Nov 25

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Lt Col Anthony King-Harman, on the Suez Crisis, including the inaccuracy of British bombing raids, the ceasefire, and on unhappiness in the services over expenditure on nuclear weapons

LIDDELL HART: 11/1956/9-33

1956-1958

Plans for the New Model Division by LIDDELL HART. Consisting mainly of sketches and tree-diagrams. With the paper based on these notes, entitled, "Brigade Groups' or 'New Model Division': Comparative Points', reprinted from The Tank, Sep 1957

LIDDELL HART: 11/1956/34-44

1956

Notes by LIDDELL HART on divisional organisation, consisting almost entirely of tree-diagrams and tables of man-power statistics

LIDDELL HART: 11/1956/45-55

1956

Notes by LIDDELL HART on British Army commitments and distribution throughout the world, comprising tables of man-power statistics for each territory in which troops were stationed

LIDDELL HART: 11/1956-59

1956

Notes by LIDDELL HART on man-power requirements for the army on an all-regular basis-if organised into the 'New Model' divisions

LIDDELL HART: 11/1956/60

[1956]

Note by LIDDELL HART on NATO defence spending

LIDDELL HART: 11/1957/1

1957

Appointments diary kept by LIDDELL HART

LIDDELL HART: 11/1957/2

1957 Jan 5

Paper by LIDDELL HART entitled 'An initial reflection: the new 'Eisenhower doctrine' on the nuclear strategy of the US and Soviet Union

LIDDELL HART: 11/1957/3

1957 Jan 15-1957 Feb 14

Diary note by LIDDELL HART on the withdrawal of an invitation to LIDDELL HART to lecture at the NATO Defense College, Paris, with related correspondence

LIDDELL HART: 11/1957/4

1957 Jan 16

Note by LIDDELL HART on strategic realities in the nuclear age

LIDDELL HART: 11/1957/5

1957 Jan 25

Notes by LIDDELL HART on the talk to the military commentators' circle by Gen Sir Richard Nelson Gale, Commander-in-Chief, Northern Army Group, Allied Land Forces Europe and British Army of the Rhine, concerning man-power reductions, supply scale reduction, Allied airpower against a Soviet advance, and the short duration of any nuclear war

LIDDELL HART: 11/1957/6

1957 Feb 15

Diary note by LIDDELL HART on reading Sir Arthur Wynne Morgan Bryant's 'The Turn of the Tide' (Collins, London, 1957). With additional critical comments

LIDDELL HART: 11/1957/7

1957 Feb 25

Note by LIDDELL HART on the basic problem in defence planning, being the suggested use of nuclear weapons defensively instead of as a deterrent only

LIDDELL HART: 11/1957/8

1957 Feb 26

Note by LIDDELL HART on the reported reductions in manpower of the British Army of the Rhine, and of enthusiasm among junior officers for LIDDELL HART's scheme for a New Model Division being countered by top-level scepticism

LIDDELL HART: 11/1957/9-11

1957 Apr

Critical comments by LIDDELL HART on the white papers on defence, April 1957, Defence: Outline of Future Policy and Defence Statistics, 1957/58, with copies of the two white papers

LIDDELL HART: 11/1957/12

1957 Jun

Note by LIDDELL HART entitled 'An all-regular army versus a conscript-based army', recommending a shift to an all-regular force

LIDDELL HART: 11/1957/13

1957 Jul 29

Initial comments by LIDDELL HART on the War Office white paper entilted 'The future organisation of the army'

LIDDELL HART: 11/1957/14

1957 Jul

Note by LIDDELL HART on possible material for a new history book by him

LIDDELL HART: 11/1957/15

1957 Aug 31

Notes on air defence against ballistic missiles, and the role of scientists in defence planning

LIDDELL HART: 11/1957/16

1957 Sep 7

Note by LIDDELL HART-'History is hell', on the slow output of recent work by LIDDELL HART

LIDDELL HART: 11/1957/17

1957 Sep 24

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Gen Adolf Heusinger concerning various defence problems, including the possibility of a conventional Soviet attack, of the Baltic being the area of current concern in naval matters, and doubts expressed over the value of tactical nuclear weapons

LIDDELL HART: 11/1957/18

1957 Sep 24

Note by LIDDELL HART on the development of strategy in the nuclear age, including the impossibility of winning outright victory in a nuclear war, and the need for statesmanship to predominate over military planning in the nuclear age

LIDDELL HART: 11/1957/19

1957 Nov 22

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Capt Graeme Chamley Wynne about the Schlieffen plan (German plan to attack France at the outbreak of World War One), Big Gen Sir James Edward Edmonds and the Official History of the World War One, Passchendaele volume, covering the 3rd Battle of Ypres, Jul 31-Nov 10 1917

LIDDELL HART: 11/1958/1

1958

Appointments diary kept by LIDDELL HART

LIDDELL HART: 11/1958/2-3

1958 Jan 15

Note by LIDDELL HART on FM Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, concerning the internationalisation of the Suez Canal and the Middle East in general, with related correspondence

LIDDELL HART: 11/1958/4

1958 Mar 27

Questions by LIDDELL HART for the Rt Hon Richard Austen Butler, Lord Privy Seal, Leader of the House of Commons and Home Secretary, on nuclear weapons, in particular, whether tactical weapons could be used without precipitating an all-out nuclear exchange, on the state of readiness of nuclear forces heightening the risk of an accidental outbreak of war, and safeguards on board aircraft to prevent unwarranted release of nuclear weapons by crews contrary to orders

LIDDELL HART: 11/1958/5

1958 Apr 28-1958 May 16

Note by LIDDELL HART on the revolt in Algeria

LIDDELL HART: 11/1958/6

1958 Jul 16-28

Note by LIDDELL HART on the essence of the Middle East problem, concerning the risk of a war there of the US and the UK against the Soviet Union

LIDDELL HART: 11/1958/7

1958

Notes by LIDDELL HART on the proposed European neutral zone as a buffer to reduce the chances of nuclear war

LIDDELL HART: 11/1959/1

1959

Appointments diary kept by LIDDELL HART

LIDDELL HART: 11/1959/2

1959 Mar 14

Report by LIDDELL HART on the contents of Gen Albert Coady Wedemeyer's book 'Wedemeyer Reports' (Henry Holt and Co, New York, 1959)

LIDDELL HART: 11/1959/3

1959 May 25

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Gen Adolf Heusinger, at the Defence Ministry in Bonn on Anglo-German relations, the potential of non-lethal nerve gas, and the danger of lack of information about Soviet forces leading to wrongly-defined policy

LIDDELL HART: 11/1959/4

1959 Jun 19

Note by LIDDELL HART on a visit to the Royal Military College Sandhurst to examine specimens of tanks that had not gone into production

LIDDELL HART: 11/1959/5

1959 Oct 4

Note by LIDDELL HART for an Institute for Strategic Studies Conference (Committee II Report), including the unliklihood that the possession of nuclear weapons would deter all conventional war, and hence the need for conventional, rapid deployment mobile divisions to complement NATO nuclear forces

LIDDELL HART: 11/1959/6

1959 Nov

List of countries from which LIDDELL HART had received invitations to lecture

LIDDELL HART: 11/1959/7

1959 Dec

Note by LIDDELL HART on errors and dubious points in the Institute for Strategic Studies pamphlet 'The Soviet Union and the Nato Powers: The Ministry Balance'. With a copy of the pamphlet

LIDDELL HART: 11/1959/8

1959

Note by LIDDELL HART on the area in square miles of the British Empire surrendered by 1959

LIDDELL HART: 11/1959/9

[1959]

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Belgian Minister of Defence, Monsieur Arthur Gillson (and his Secretary, Col Charles De Wulf) about systems of recruiting in Belgium

LIDDELL HART: 11/1960/1

1960

Diary kept by LIDDELL HART. (Retained by Lady LIDDELL HART)

LIDDELL HART: 11/1960/2

1960 Jan

Note by LIDDELL HART on reduction of armour on prototype tanks, and an amphibious device to enable tanks to ford rivers

LIDDELL HART: 11/1960/3

1960 Jun 3

Note by LIDDELL HART on Adolf Hitler's attack on Poland in 1939 being a spontaneous decision prompted by the decision of the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Neville Chamberlain to offer Poland a guarantee of security in March 1939

LIDDELL HART: 11/1960/4

1960 Oct 26

Note by LIDDELL HART on the comment by Vice-Chief of Imperial General Staff, Lt Gen Sir William Gregory Huddleston Pike, that attack was stronger than defence in World War Two

LIDDELL HART: 11/1960/5

1960 Nov 24

Reflection by LIDDELL HART on the folly of spending money on the multiplication of weapons

LIDDELL HART: 11/1960/6-7

1960 Nov

Note by LIDDELL HART on distances in World War Two advances, incorporated into a letter to Lt Gen Sir Harold (English) Pyman

LIDDELL HART: 11/1960/8

1960

Jottings by LIDDELL HART on the Israeli army