Diaries, diary notes and memoranda, 1951-1960

References on this page: LIDDELL HART: 11/1961-1970

LIDDELL HART: 11/1961-1970 Diaries, diary notes and memoranda, 1951-1960

LIDDELL HART: 11/1961/1

1961

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

LIDDELL HART: 11/1961/2

1961 Feb

Note by LIDDELL HART entitled 'Some 'Blessings in Disguise'-the ironies of history', on various incidents during World War One and World War Two, which turned out to the unexpected advantage of the Allies, such as the German success in breaking through the British front in March, 1918, and the slownwess of the Allied forces in expanding out of the Normandy bridgehead after D-Day, June, 1944

LIDDELL HART: 11/1961/3

1961 Mar 21

Note by LIDDELL HART predicting British Army manpower in the following five years

LIDDELL HART: 11/1961/4

1961 Mar 22

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with AF Louis (Francis Albert Victor Nicholas) Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, concerning US over-readiness to label moderates as communists, the difficulty of obtaining objective information from any Intelligence service, and criticism of nuclear deterrents

LIDDELL HART: 11/1961/5

1961 Apr

Note by LIDDELL HART on suggested subjects for discussion at a SHAPE conference of military educators, including the need for a common philosophy of war and strategy in NATO, the difficulties of reconciling military discipline with freedom of thought, assessing the morale of NATO troops, the importance of combat stress, and the value of scientists' contributions to the exploration of military problems

LIDDELL HART: 11/1961/6

1961 Jun 17

Note by LIDDELL HART on inconsistencies of historical judgement, and in particular, the view that FM Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, had been an outstanding commander

LIDDELL HART: 11/1961/7

1961 Jun 21

Notes by LIDDELL HART on the BBC's Centenary Programme on FM Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig

LIDDELL HART: 11/1961/8

1961 Jul 5

Extract from a letter to Correlli (Douglas) Barnett comparing British and continental attitudes to military thought

LIDDELL HART: 11/1961/9

1961 Jul 14

Note by LIDDELL HART entitled 'The Berlin situation in a nutshell' on the demand of Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev, that the Allied powers leave occupied Berlin

LIDDELL HART: 11/1961/10

1961 Aug 1

A further note by LIDDELL HART on the Berlin crisis

LIDDELL HART: 11/1961/11

1961 Aug 10

Note by LIDDELL HART entitled 'The need for a fundamental re-examination of British Defence Policy in regard to overseas bases' [in view of Indian independence]

LIDDELL HART: 11/1961/12

1961 Aug 10

Note by LIDDELL HART on how history comes to be distorted by the ready acceptance of inaccurate statements, such as relating to the German tank strength at Salerno, Italy, Sep 1943

LIDDELL HART: 11/1961/13

1961 Aug 18

Note by LIDDELL HART on the visit to Medmenham, Buckinghamshire, LIDDELL HART's home, of Gen Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan, Chief of the General Staff, Pakistan Army, principally on Pakistan army reorganisation

LIDDELL HART: 11/1961/14

1961 Oct 20

LIDDELL HART on what he saw as the failure of the British to take notice of his ideas

LIDDELL HART: 11/1961/15

1961 Oct

Information from Sir Solly Zuckerman, Sands Cox Professor of Anatomy, University of Birmingham, on a recent NATO exercise and the effects of nuclear weapons on soldiers

LIDDELL HART: 11/1961/16

1961 Nov 18

Note by LIDDELL HART on the Baltic 'Gateway' problem, the defence of NATO's Baltic flank

LIDDELL HART: 11/1961/17

1961 Nov 27

Note by LIDDELL HART about the debate on the army reserve bill, concerning the strength of NATO conventional armies. With tables of statistics

LIDDELL HART: 11/1962/1

1962

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

LIDDELL HART: 11/1962/2

1962 Jan 5

Note by LIDDELL HART on ground force strength statistics under SHAPE, Autumn 1961

LIDDELL HART: 11/1962/3

1962 Jun 8

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Lt Col Alun Arthur Gwynne-Jones (Defence Correspondence of The Times). On various personalities including Gen Sir (Archibald) James (Halkett) Cassels, Commander-in-Chief British Army of the Rhine and Commander NATO Northern Army Group, complaints of inadequate British force contributions in Europe and comparing generalship with the 1920s

LIDDELL HART: 11/1962/4

1962 Jun

Note by LIDDELL HART on his impressions of FM Sir Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, in the 1920s, and deficiencies in Montgomery's tactics

LIDDELL HART: 11/1962/5

1962 Sep 4

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Lt Col Alun Arthur Gwynne-Jones, defence correspondent of The Times. The sensitivity of the War Office to press criticism

LIDDELL HART: 11/1962/6

1962 Sep 29-1962 Oct 3

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Lt Col Alun Arthur Gwynne-Jones of The Times. NATO strategic priorities, in particular the southern flank, and US calls for an increase in the size of the British Army of the Rhine

LIDDELL HART: 11/1962/7-8

1962 Oct 3-4

Notes by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Gen Lauris Norstad, Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, 1956-1962, at All Souls, Oxford, on NATO strategy and exercises, in particular, British Army of the Rhine force levels, the southern flank, the Baltic flank, and the use of battlefield nuclear weapons

LIDDELL HART: 11/1962/9

1962 Oct 23

Initial questions and reflections by LIDDELL HART after listening to President John Fitzgerald Kennedy's broadcast announcing American steps to blockade Cuba

LIDDELL HART: 11/1962/10

1962 Nov 3

Note by LIDDELL HART entitled 'Why did Kruschev 'stick his neck out' in Cuba' on the Cuban Missile Crisis

LIDDELL HART: 11/1962/11

1962 Nov 10

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Willaim Neil Connor, the columnist 'Cassandra' of The Daily Mirror, about FM William Edmund Ironside, 1st Baron Ironside of Archangel and Ironside, and homosexuality in the 1930s, especially in the RAF and the sport of motor-racing

LIDDELL HART: 11/1962/12

1962 Nov

Notes by LIDDELL HART on 'The Ironside diaries 1937-1940' (Constable, London, 1962), edited by Col Roderick Macleod and Denis Kelly

LIDDELL HART: 11/1962/13

1962 Dec 26

List compiled by LIDDELL HART of his ideal choice of dinner party guests drawn from across history

LIDDELL HART: 11/1962/14

1962

Note by LIDDELL HART on the comparative nuclear strengths of USA and USSR

LIDDELL HART: 11/1962/15

[1962]

Reflection by LIDDELL HART on the strategic policy of the UK, reasserting his position that countries like the UK with limited resources should not engage in war with the objective of absolute, unconditional victory

LIDDELL HART: 11/1963/1

1963

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

LIDDELL HART: 11/1963/2

1963 Jan 28-29

Note by LIDDELL HART on the request by Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, the Rt Hon George Alfred Brown, for LIDDELL HART's views on the Government's defence policy

LIDDELL HART: 11/1963/3

1963 Apr

Note by LIDDELL HART on the tactical use of armoured personnel carriers, with comment by Lt Col Alun Gwynne-Jones, defence correspondent of The Times

LIDDELL HART: 11/1963/4

1963 Apr

Notes by LIDDELL HART on Douglas Haig. The educated soldier by John Terraine (Hutchinson, London, 1963)

LIDDELL HART: 11/1963/5

1963 May 3

Extract from a letter to Alistair Horne, journalist and historian, on FM Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig and machine guns

LIDDELL HART: 11/1963/6

1963 May

Note by LIDDELL HART on John Terraine's letter in the Royal United Services Institute Journal (May 1963) on British artillery in World War One

LIDDELL HART: 11/1963/7

1963 May

Note by LIDDELL HART on Military strategy, Soviet doctrine of concepts edited by Marshal Vassily Danilovich Sokolovsky (Pall Mall Press, London and Dunmow [printed in USA], 1963)

LIDDELL HART: 11/1963/8

1963 Jul 1

Note by LIDDELL HART on some notable examples of night manoeuvres in earlier wars

LIDDELL HART: 11/1963/9

1963 Aug

Notes by LIDDELL HART on the anti-tank guided missile

LIDDELL HART: 11/1963/10

1963 Dec

Note by LIDDELL HART on his recent itinerary, including a visit to Scandinavia and the completion of his memoirs

LIDDELL HART: 11/1964/1

1964

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

LIDDELL HART: 11/1964/2

1964 May-Jun

Note by LIDDELL HART on his visit to France for the first international festival of military films, held at Versailles

LIDDELL HART: 11/1964/3

1964 Jul 10

Note by LIDDELL HART on a memorable aphorism by Friedrich Otinger

LIDDELL HART: 11/1964/4

1964 Dec

Note by LIDDELL HART on some of his activities and other episodes in 1964

LIDDELL HART: 11/1965/1

1965

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

LIDDELL HART: 11/1965/2

1965 Feb 16

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with the Rt Hon George Alfred Brown, Secretary of State for Economic Affairs at the new Ministry of Economic Affairs, Storey's Gate, on the need for a rationing of British defence commitments, especially in the Middle East, and competing claims between the services for new equipment

LIDDELL HART: 11/1965/3

1965 Jun 15

Note by LIDDELL HART on inadequacies of the Encyclopaedia Britannica

LIDDELL HART: 11/1965/4

1965 [Jul]

Note by LIDDELL HART on the personality of Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl Halifax

LIDDELL HART: 11/1965/5

1965 Oct 20

Notes by LIDDELL HART on Jay Luvaas's paper entitled 'French Military Policy and Practice: Armour 10 May-4 Jun, 1940'

LIDDELL HART: 11/1966/1

1966

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

LIDDELL HART: 11/1966/2

1966

Some personal notes by LIDDELL HART on his life in 1966

LIDDELL HART: 11/1967/1

1967

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

LIDDELL HART: 11/1967/2

1967 Jan 17

Comment by LIDDELL HART on the film entitled 'Battle of the Bulge'

LIDDELL HART: 11/1967/3-6

1967 Jul 16-23

Notes by LIDDELL HART on his visit to Germany and the composition and organisation of NATO's Northern Army Group

LIDDELL HART: 11/1967/7

1967

The Israeli Campaign Jun 1967 (Six Day War) some extracts from broadcasts, books and LIDDELL HART's notes on the conflict

LIDDELL HART: 11/1967/8

1967

Some personal notes by LIDDELL HART on his life in 1967

LIDDELL HART: 11/1968/1

1968

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

LIDDELL HART: 11/1968/2

1968 May 10

Examples of errors in recent histroy writing identified by LIDDELL HART

LIDDELL HART: 11/1968/3

1968 Jul 10

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Col David Rooke, Chairman of Assault Committee 1943/44, on World War Two campaigns and personalities, especially FM Sir Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein

LIDDELL HART: 11/1968/4

1968 Oct 23

Note by LIDDELL HART on reading of Dr Fritz Fischer's Germany's Aims in the First World War ( Chatto and Windus, London, 1967 )

LIDDELL HART: 11/1968/5-6

1968

Some personal notes by LIDDELL HART on his life in 1968

LIDDELL HART: 11/1968/7

[1968]

Note by LIDDELL HART on discussion with Gen Graf Kielmansegg about the itinerary of both men

LIDDELL HART: 11/1969/1

1969

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

LIDDELL HART: 11/1969/2

1969

Some personal notes by LIDDELL HART on his life in 1969

LIDDELL HART: 11/1970/1

1970

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

LIDDELL HART: 11/ND/1-550 Undated diaries, diary notes and memoranda, [1925-1970]

LIDDELL HART: 11/ND/1-60

ND

Notes by LIDDELL HART on military history from classical times to 1914, especially on strategy, communications, cavalry, and weapons including the evolution of firearms

LIDDELL HART: 11/ND/61-119

ND

Notes by LIDDELL HART on World War One, including the Schlieffen Plan, the effect of air attack on armies, the naval war, abortive peace efforts, and personalities including FM Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig

LIDDELL HART: 11/ND/120-171

ND

Notes by LIDDELL HART on the inter-war period, consisting principally of quotations from FM Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, and FM George Francis Milne, 1st Baron Milne of Salonika and of Rubislaw, Co Aberdeen

LIDDELL HART: 11/ND/172-212

ND

LIDDELL HART's views on the strategy of World War One, on soldiers, and on the importance of 'truth', with possible replies to critics of these views

LIDDELL HART: 11/ND/213-275

ND

Notes by LIDDELL HART on World War Two, mainly jottings about the different theatres of war, and statistics relating to supply of the Soviet Union by her allies

LIDDELL HART: 11/ND/276-308

ND

Notes by LIDDELL HART on the post-World War Two world, mainly concerning army organisation and strategy, and including papers by LIDDELL HART entitled 'The influence of analogies on the evolution of armoured warfare', 'The development of armoured infantry-'Tank Marines'', 'How military ideas have shaped the history of the world', 'The 'anti-tank' mind-even in the German army', and 'How history repeats itself-with variations'

LIDDELL HART: 11/ND/309-358

ND

Mainly commonplaces on war in general, and the importance of understanding history, with extracts from Marshal Saxe's My reveries on the art of war, and George Francis Robert Henderson's The Science of War: a collection of essays and lectures, 1892-1903 ( Longmans and Co, London, 1905)

LIDDELL HART: 11/ND/359-411

ND

Miscellaneous material including a notebook on various aspects of war including artillery and air attack, and containing extracts from published works such as Eric William Sheppard's A Short History of the British Army (3rd edition, Constable and Co, London, 1940) and Mick Bennett's The Story of the Rifle (Cobbett Publishing Co, London, 1944), and also quotations and commonplaces on subjects such as war, education, truth and patriotism

LIDDELL HART: 11/ND/412-550

ND

Lists of memoranda, and those to whom memoranda and articles were sent. With correspondence relating to memoranda. List by LIDDELL HART of subjects for possible future articles on topics such as war, politics and fashion, with notes on post-war questions concerning air forces, atomic warfare, the role of conscription and the possiblity of a religious revival.