Papers on the inter-war years, 1919-1939

References on this page: LIDDELL HART: 15/3/151-182

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/151-166 Papers dated 1921-1952 on national security and defence, including industry, transport, chemical weapons, camouflage and food storage, 1914-1939

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/151

1921

'The case for chemical warfare' by Sir William Jackson Pope, professor of chemistry in the University of Cambridge and President of the Society of Chemical Industry, reprinted from The Chemical Age, 7 May 1921. 1 booklet

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/152

1921-1952

Papers relating to chemical warfare, comprising newspaper cuttings and notes on effects and properties of poisonous gases used during World War One notably chlorine, phosgene and mustard gas, protection against gas attack, poisoning of water supplies in warfare, international policies on production and storage of chemical weapons in the 1920s and 1930s, public attitudes towards use of poison gas in warfare, use of tear gas to deal with civil disorder in peace time notably in the USA, and danger to civilian populations from possible aerial gas attacks in a future war; notes on the history of chemical warfare, dated 27 Nov 1936; correspondence, dated May-Jun 1936, with author and journalist Sir Leo (George) Chiozza Money on the role of mustard gas in the conquest of Ethiopia by the Italian army, 1935-1936. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/153

1924

Chemical warfare, being chapter IV of the Report of the Temporary Mixed Commission for the Reduction of Armaments, presented to the Fifth Assembly at Geneva, September, 1924; together with an introductory note by the Rt Hon Herbert Albert Laurens Fisher, MP, pamphlet No 171 (League of Nations Union, London, Jan 1925). 1 booklet

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/154

[1924]-1940

Papers relating to methods of camouflage and concealment used in World War One and developed in the 1930s, comprising newspaper cuttings and journal articles on camouflage of troops and equipment, aircraft bases and ships, by smoke screens, killshadow netting, colour resemblance, disruptive colouring and dazzle paint; draft articles with manuscript diagrams, sent to LIDDELL HART by Lt Col Dudley D Haskard in Mar 1938, on use of killshadow netting (piece enclosed) for troops in the field, methods of camouflaging large industrial and military installations, and RAF defence by camouflage; printed specifications, price list and illustrations of scale model camouflage landscapes for indoor army training, made at the Defence Research Studio, Netheravon, Wiltshire. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/155

1927-1939

Newspaper cuttings and journal articles on attitudes to war and its prevention, particularly causes of modern wars; effects of scientific and technological developments on nature of war; psychology of war; disarmament policy; role of League of Nations and benefits of collective security; pacifist ideology; Christian morality and war; extent of private manufacture, control and profit in the arms trade and arguments for state control; aggression in international relations; implications of rearmament. With booklet 'Why War? "Open Letters" between Einstein & Freud' (The New Commonwealth, a society for promotion of international law and order, London, Jan 1934). 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/156

1927-1940

Correspondence, mainly details of weapons inventions and suggestions for national defence schemes sent to LIDDELL HART, including a predictor or tracking instrument for anti-aircraft artillery; balloon bombs; anti-tank device; water conducted electrocution for defence of bridgeheads; internal protection for tank operators; glider bombs towed by fighter airplanes; national system of armed observation pylons. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/157

1927-1945

Newspaper cuttings and journal articles on predictions, mainly in the 1930s, about the future nature of war, particularly with regard to offensive and defensive weapons, aircraft and rocket bombs, battleships, the relation between sea and air power, tactical strategies and the concept of 'total war', including 'Propaganda and war, the new technique of mendacity as a psychological weapon' by Maj Gen John Frederick Charles Fuller in Army Ordnance, Nov-Dec 1937; 'The war of the future, "totalitarian war"' by Col J Cuny in London Mercury, Apr 1938; 'The army of the future, the former chief of the German Reichswehr talks of war and peace' by Gen Hans von Seeckt in Letters & the Arts [1925-1935]. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/158

1929

International Conciliation No 248 (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Division of Intercourse and Education, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA Mar 1929) entitled 'Chemical warfare-its possibilities and probabilities' by Elvira K Fradkin. 1 booklet

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/159

1929-1935

Journal articles relating to chemical warfare, including 'Aerial gas attack', 'The tactical employment of mustard gas', 'Gas requires a new defence corps', 'Humane uses of the chemical weapon', by Maj Paul Murphy, former Director of Experiments at the Chemical Defence Experimental Station, Porton in The Army, Navy & Air Force Gazette, Feb 1934-Mar 1935, and 'The truth about poison gas' and 'Defence of civil populations against gas' in The Listener Jun-Aug 1934; 'Chemical warfare as a branch of national defence, the role of the medical profession' by Leonard Lockhart in The National Review, Jan 1929; 'Some aspects of chemical warfare' by F E, The Communist, Jun 1929. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/160

1932-1938

Papers relating to completion of the national grid in 1933 and planned measures for its protection in war, including notes on operation of the grid system and electricity supply stations in the London area; article 'The grid and what it means' by Sir Duncan Watson, Helios, Oct 1932; newspaper articles including a map showing the complete scheme of transmission lines in England, Scotland and Wales in The Times supplement on electricity supply, 5 Dec 1933. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/161

1933-1938

Papers relating to official policy and plans in the 1930s for food storage and controls in the event of war, comprising Report of Committee on Nutrition (British Medical Association, London, 1933), analysing minimum weekly expenditure on foodstuffs required by families of varying size to maintain health and working capacity, with specimen diets; Report of the Food (Defence Plans) Department for 1937 by Board of Trade (HMSO, London, 1938); Storage of food in time of war, speeches in the House of Commons on 9 Feb 1938, by MPs Sir (James) Arthur Salter and Rt Hon Sir Thomas Walker Hobart Inskip (HMSO, London 1938); notes on food storage and emergency rations by LIDDELL HART, Jun 1938. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/162

1934

The menace of aerial gas bombardment by Lt Col Norman G Thwaites (The New Commonwealth, a society for the promotion of international law and order, London, Dec 1934). 1 booklet

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/163

1935-1939

Papers relating to industry and defence in event of war, including newspaper cuttings; 'Providing strategic war materials' by Col Walter Cole in The Reserve Officer, Jul 1939; text of article by unknown author, 26 Nov 1936, on new developments in the chemical industry including production of glycerine, building materials and plastics; brochure for official opening of Imperial Chemical Industries coal hydrogenation petrol plant at Billingham, Cleveland, 15 Oct 1935. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/164

1936-1937

Papers relating to policy of the Associated Road Operators on road transportation and defence in event of war, comprising transcripts of speeches at annual luncheon, London, 15 Jun 1936, by chairman Maj [John] B Elliott, on need for a system of strategic roads and (Alfred) Duff Cooper, Secretary of State for War, on need for more motorists and army recruits; article in The Road Way, 25 Jun 1936 containing full report on the luncheon. Also Daily Telegraph, 25 Jan 1937, supplement on roads covering recent transfer to state control of main traffic routes in Britain, road and pedestrian safety, road surfaces, traffic light control and plans for modernisation of main traffic routes and motorways. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/165

1936-1939

Newspaper cuttings and journal articles relating to government policy and plans for food storage and controls in the event of war, particularly storage; increase in home production of agricultural, dairy and meat foodstuffs; nutrition and rationing schemes; purchase of food reserves; imports and arrangements for distribution; fixing of prices and profits. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/166

1943-1957

Newspaper cuttings relating to weapons and methods of warfare developed during World War Two by the Allies and Germans, particularly Cannel Defence Light tank searchlights; flame throwers and barriers developed by the Petroleum Warfare Department; Mulberry Harbours; Operation PLUTO, oil pipelines under the Channel to supply Allied armies in North West Europe; 'Habbakuk' scheme using artificial icebergs as aircraft carriers; German plans to mount three mile square sun reflectors to direct incendiary rays at enemy cities; RDX (Research Department Formula X) explosive used by Allies from 1943. Also copy of report on development of rocket weapons, issued by US Information Service, London, 2 Apr 1946, and typescript notes on proposals and trials by Body Protection Committee of the Medical Research Council. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/167-182 Papers dated 1910-1967 on British imperial security and defence including the Mediterranean, India, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Egypt, Singapore, Ireland, 1900-1939

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/167

1910-1936

Journal articles relating to British defence in India, including 'The North-West Frontier of India problem' author not named, The Army Quarterly, 1930; 'The Khyber Ropeway Company' by Lt Col Richard Parry Crawley in Royal Army Service Corps Quarterly [1931]; 'Quartermaster-general's department and the administrative services in India from the mutiny to the present time' by Maj Gen Sir George Fletcher MacMunn, Royal United Services Institution Journal, [Feb] 1925. With maps including Afghanistan, North West Frontier Province and Punjab Province (Map Record and Issue Office, Calcutta, India, 1917, 1925), sheet 38 Kabul, scale 1:1,000,000, and the North West Frontier Province (Helio S I O, Calcutta, India, Jun 1903, 1910) scale 1:1,013,760. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/168

1923-1939

Newspaper cuttings relating to issues discussed at imperial conferences, with particular reference to Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, India and Singapore, particularly in 1923, development of mail, cable and wireless communications between units of the Empire; in 1926, civil and military air communications and services within the Empire, and naval, land and air defence provisions; in 1937, policy for preservation of peace in accordance with ideals of the League of Nations, regional agreements, non-aggression pacts, collaboration between Empire nations and arrangements for local defences and collective security. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/169

1924-1938

Papers relating to British defence policy in Canada, including newspaper cuttings on British concern over inadequate defences in the Dominion notably Japanese invasion of Manchuria, German foreign policy and Italy's conquest of Ethiopia, and Canadian defence policy rearmament programme from 1935; journal articles on the military policy and defence forces of Canada, 1905-1924; map of Canada indicating main natural resources (Department of the Interior, fourth edition, 1930); text of 'The influence of mechanisation and motorisation on the organisation and training of the non permanent active militia' by 2nd Lt William Wallace Goforth, prize essay in Canadian Defence Quarterly essay competition, 1932. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/170

1925-1939

Papers relating to British imperial defence policy under direction of Committee of Imperial Defence, comprising newspaper and journal cuttings on response to rise of Nazi Party in Germany, British rearmament, 1936-1939, improvement of co-ordination between army, naval and air forces, proposals in Parliament, 1936, to combine posts of First Lord of the Admiralty, Secretary of State for War and Secretary of State for Air to create a Minister of Defence, and plans for a common defence policy between governments of the British Commonwealth of Nations; statistics of defence estimates and costs, 1913-1939; transcript of memorandum by Robert Hudson, Dec 1938, on Britain's relations with Germany and composition of the Cabinet; letter from Eric Stubbs, 30 Nov 1936, on organisation of imperial defence services. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/171

1926-1939

Newspaper cuttings and journal articles relating to British imperial defence in South Africa, particularly arrangements for conscription in event of war; defences against sea or land attacks; importance of coastal defences notably at Cape Town and Simons Town; expansion of land forces; issues raised by South African Defence Minister Hon Oswald Pirow, during his tour of Europe, 1938, notably Jewish refugees in Europe and South African and British attitudes to German colonial claims in Africa. With notes by R Adm Henry George Thursfield, The Times naval correspondent, on a conversation with Pirow on 29 Jun 1936 including Pirow's policy of imperial defence and plans for expansion of South African land and air forces. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/172

1927-1939

Papers relating to British imperial defence policy in Australia, including newspaper cuttings and journal articles on expansion of naval and air defences and Australian Militia in 1930s, Australian manufacture of air frames and engines for British and Australian military aircraft, building of a naval dock at Sydney, fortification of coastal defences, and increase in defence expenditure in 1938; text of Australian Military Forces gold medal essay 1932 and lecture to United Service Institute of Tasmania, Jun 1933, by Capt John Field, 40 Bn, on factors vital to Australian defence; 'Statement of the government's policy regarding the defence of Australia', by Senator the Rt Hon Sir George (Foster) Pearce, Minister for Defence, delivered at Sydney, 29 Sep 1933. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/2/173

1927-1938,1965

Newspaper cuttings and journal articles relating to British imperial defence in India, particularly expenditure by the Government of India on the army and air force; British Army operations in North West Frontier Province, notably incursions by Afridi tribesmen into British India, 1931, and conflict between Tori Khel Wazirs, Mahsuds and Mohmands in Waziristan, 1935-1937; indianization of the Army, 1922-1933, including opening of the Royal Indian Military College, Dehra Dun in 1922, appointment of the Indian Sandhurst (Skeen) Committee in 1925 and plans in 1931 to establish a military training college in India; Indian self-government movement including new constitution under the Government of India Act, 1935, provincial autonomy and rise of the Congress Party. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/174

1929-1938

Newspaper cuttings reporting proceedings in Parliament, mainly discussion of Bills and debates, relating to British imperial defence policy in the 1930s, particularly response to German foreign policy; measures for national and collective security; co-ordination of and co-operation between defence services; rearmament programmes as part of a defensive peace policy; army, air force and naval expansion; build up of reserves of raw materials; provisions for food supply in war time. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/175

1929-1939

Newspaper cuttings relating to expenditure on British imperial defence, particularly navy, air force and army estimates, 1929-1939; response to political situation in Germany from 1933 to 1939; finance of the rearmament programme, from 1937, by public revenue and a major increase in government borrowing powers provided under the Defence Loans Act [1937]; expansion of Regular and Territorial Army units; increases in navy estimates and acceleration of ship construction programmes in 1937. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/176

1929-1939

Newspaper cuttings relating to British imperial defence in the Mediterranean, particularly British interest in expanding air force and naval defences in the Suez Canal zone in Egypt, Malta and Cyprus, during and following Italian military operations in south-eastern Mediterranean, Libya and Ethiopia, 1935-1936; provisions of the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of Alliance, Aug 1936, including continuation of British military guard of the Suez Canal, measures for creation of a native Egyptian Army and gradual reduction of British garrison, and arrangements for collaboration in case of war; British concerns over security of naval base at Gibraltar and free commercial passage through the Gibraltar Straits following placement of German howitzer gun batteries on the heights above the Bay of Algeciras, Spain, and at Benzou, Spanish Morocco, commanding Gibraltar Bay, 1937. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/177

[1930]-1938

Papers relating to British imperial defence policy in the Mediterranean, including the International Student Service 'Report of the second London conference 1937-1938: The shifting balance of power in the Mediterranean', 12-13 Feb 1938 (Bedford College, London), covering historical developments and effects of Italian policy from British and French perspectives; Foreign Policy Reports Vol 13 No 6, 1 Jun 1937, journal of the Foreign Policy Association Incorporated, New York, entitled 'Strategy and diplomacy in the Mediterranean' by David H Popper; extracts, dated 5 Apr 1936, from a memorandum by 'Graves', on British aims regarding military bases in Egypt, during negotiation of the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of Alliance, signed Aug 1936. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/178

1932-1939

Newspaper cuttings relating to British imperial defence policy and provisions for fuel supply and road transportation in event of war, particularly organisation and control of goods transported by road, fuel rationing for commercial traffic and switch of distribution from eastern to western England ports; development, 1932-1933, of process to produce petrol from coal by hydrogenation; experiments in 1937 with colloidal fuel for use in ships; investigation in 1938, by a sub-committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence, into possibility of manufacturing oil from coal; building of a large tanker fleet to ensure imported oil supplies for navy and industry; research into fuelling naval ships with coal instead of oil. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/179

[1933-1934]

Notes and extracts from government reports on British imperial defence policy and requirements, including extracts from Chiefs of Staff, Imperial Defence Policy Annual Review 1933, with particular reference to the political situation in Germany and the Sino-Japanese war, 12 Oct 1933; conclusions of the Ministerial Committee on Defence Requirements Report, 31 Jul 1934; proposals for a regular expeditionary force in event of war with Germany, from Defence Requirements Sub-Committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence, 28 Feb 1934; extracts from memorandum by Gen Sir Archibald Armar Montgomery-Massingberd, Chief of Imperial General Staff, on effects of defence policy on army estimates, 7 Feb 1934. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/180

1933-1938

Newspaper cuttings relating to British imperial defence in Singapore, particularly strategic importance as Britain's main point of defence and trade in the Far East and Pacific; Japanese naval manoeuvres in the Pacific islands, the Mariannes, Carolinas and Marshalls, and Japanese ability to separte Hong-Kong, Malay and North Borneo from Australia, New Zealand and Canada; official opening of new naval base in Singapore including a graving dock and floating dock, and testing of the new defences by large-scale training exercise with naval, land and air forces, Feb 1938. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/181

1935-1967

Newspaper cuttings and journal articles relating to Anglo-Irish relations, 1914-1938, particularly Anglo-Irish War, 1919-1921; new constitution of Eire, 1937; agreements in 1938 between Britain and Eire relating to financial claims, trade and commerce notably use of ports in Eire by British naval forces in event of war. Including article on mutiny of British Army unit, 1 Bn, the Connaught Rangers, in Solon and Jullundur, India, Jul 1920, by Capt R A Hinchy, in An Cosantóir, Sep 1958, article on history of the Irish defence forces by Capt Thomas McDonald, in An Cosantóir, Nov 1967, and reviews of The Black and Tans by Richard Bennett (Edward Hulton, London, 1959) and Michael Collins by Rex Taylor (Hutchinson and Co, London, 1958). 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/182

1936-1939

Newspaper cuttings and journal articles relating to British imperial defence policy and supply of industrial raw materials, particularly Britain's use of resources from its overseas empire; support for controls on supply of essential raw materials to rearming Axis powers, notably Germany; establishment of Ministry of Supply, Aug 1939, to control raw material supplies, organise labour supply and run national factories; production of aircraft and arms. With 'A Ministry of Supply' speech by Sir (James) Arthur Salter, MP, in House of Commons, 17 Nov 1938 (HMSO, London, 1938), and statistics, based on League of Nations Statistical Yearbook, for 1937-1938, showing world wide production of vital war minerals, metals, and fibres and deficiencies in home supplies in British and French Empires, Germany, Italy, Japan, the USA and USSR. 1 file