Books: About Foot Guards Regiments, and by Guardsmen

These lists are intended to be of help to those who wish to do their own research. Additional information about content, eg battalion / theatre has been added in brackets. Some links to sales sites are provided, but should anyone wish to buy a book they should check other outlets for best price. Be aware that some editions are reprints, and some are original publications and will be priced accordingly.

Please let me know of any omissions to the book list - often titles aren't very helpful to finding Guards related books. It'd also be helpful if content - eg bns / theatres - could be included along with title author and ISBN.

 

GENERAL

• All the Queen's Men, The Household Cavalry and The Brigade of Guards; Russell Braddon [History incl WW1 & WW2]
• The Guards and Caterham: The Soldiers' Story
• The Guards; John de St. Jorre/Anthony Edgeworth; Aurum Press, 1981; Edgeworth Editions in 2002; ISBN: 0906053250 / 0-906053-25-0
• The Guards Division 1914 - 1918 [Roll of Honour]
• The Guards Divisions 1914 - 1945; Mike Chappell; Osprey; ISBN 1 85532 546 2
• History of the Guards Division in the Great War 1915 - 1918; C. Headlam

• The British Foot Guards, A Bibliography; LC Silverthorne & WD Gaskin - The British foot guards : a bibliography / by L.C. Silverthorne and W.D. Gaskin.
• British Guards Armoured Division 1941 - 1945; John Sandars, Osprey, ISBN 0 85045 313 5
• Fighting with the Guards; Keith Briant
• The Guards Armoured Division, A Short History; Major-General G.L. Verney, D.S.O., M.V.O. [North West Europe]
• The Guards Armoured Division 1941 - 1945; Captain the Earl of Rosse M.B.E. & Colonel E.R. Hill, D.S.O.
• Bridging the Club Route: Guards Armoured Division's Engineers During Operation Market Garden; John Sliz http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bridging-Club-Route-Divisions-Engineers/dp/1927679141/
• Oliver Leese; Rowland Ryder; ISBN 0241120241; Hamish Hamilton; 1987
• A Guards' General: The Memoirs of Major General Sir Allan Adair; Sir Allan Adair; ISBN 0241119472; Hamish Hamilton, 1986
• 6th Guards Tank Brigade; Patrick Forbes; Sampson Low, Marston & Co Ltd; nd [4th Bn Grenadier Guards,; 4th Bn Coldstream Guards; 3rd Bn Scots Guards]
• Guards VC, Blitzkrieg 1940; Dilip Sarkar [3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards, 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards, 2nd Battalion Hampshire Regiment, 2nd Battalion North Staffordshire Regiment; B.E.F.]
• Over to Tunis; Howard Marshall
• Dangerous Liaison; Derek Cooper; ISBN 0 85955 229 2 [2nd Household Cavalry Regiment, Guards Armoured Division, North West Europe]
• Send More Shrouds; Jan Gore; [Guards Chapel V1 bombing]

 

GRENADIER GUARDS
WW2

• https://www.grengds.com/uploads/files/filepath_507.pdf

• The Grenadier Guards in the War of 1939 - 1945, Volume 1 The Campaigns in North-West Europe; Patrick Forbes [1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th Battalions Grenadier Guards, B.E.F., Home, North West Europe]
• Online - The Grenadier Guards in the war of 1939-1945, by Nigel Nicolson and Patrick Forbes. v.1.
• The Grenadier Guards in the War of 1939 - 1945, Volume 2 The Mediterranean Campaigns; Captain Nigel Nicolson, M.B.E. [3rd, 5th, 6th Battalions Grenadier Guards, Tunisia North Africa, Italy. NB Appendices/Roll of Honour are in this Volume]
  
• Online The Grenadier Guards in the war of 1939-1945, by Nigel Nicolson and Patrick Forbes. v.2.
• 
  
• Seven Years a Grenadier 1939-1946 From Dunkirk to Nijmegen; Jack Pritchard; Forces & Corporate Publishing Ltd; 1999; ISBN 0952959747
• Wars and Shadows, Memoirs of General Sir David Fraser; ISBN 0 713 99617 7 [2nd Armoured Battalion Grenadier Guards, North West Europe]
• An Active Service, The Story of a Soldier's Life in the Grenadier Guards, SAS and SBS 1935-1958; Richard Dorney [Grenadier Guards, BEF, N. Africa; SAS; post war Palestine; Malaysia]
• Tales of a Grenadier, A War Memorial; Dennis A. Park ISBN 1 873708 06 3 [3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards, Italy]
• 6th Guards Tank Brigade; Patrick Forbes; Sampson Low, Marston & Co Ltd; nd [4th Bn Grenadier Guards,; 4th Bn Coldstream Guards; 3rd Bn Scots Guards]
• Guardsman and Commando: The War Memoirs of RSM Cyril Feebery DCM; [3GG/BEF, Commando/Layforce, SAS/SBS; North Africa, Sardinia, Italy (Escapee), France, Belgium, Norway ] http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guardsman-Commando-Memoirs-Cyril-Feebery/dp/184415811X
• Setting Europe Ablaze, Douglas Dodds-Parker; Springwood Books; ISBN 10: 0862541166 ISBN 13: 9780862541163 - SOE; Sudan, Ethiopia, Central Europe
  
• Steady, Old Man!: Don't you know there's a war on? ; Derek Bond - 3GG
  
• Settling the Bill; William Stratford Dugdale - North Africa, Italy
• https://www.grengds.com/uploads/files/722_VlIbhGqN.pdf

 

COLDSTREAM GUARDS

• Coldstream Guards: Soldiers and their Stories; Andrew Thornton

WW2

• The Coldstream Guards 1920 - 1946; Michael Howard & John Sparrow [1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, Holding Battalions & Coats Mission Coldstream Guards]
• Online - The Coldstream Guards, 1920-1946, by Michael Howard and John Sparrow.
• The Coldstream Guards, 1920-1946, by Michael Howard and John Sparrow.
  
• The Coldstream Guards, 1920-1946, by Michael Howard and John Sparrow.
  
• Second to None, The Coldstream Guards 1650-200, edited by Julian Paget - Second to none : the Coldstream Guards, 1650-2000 / edited by Julian Paget.
• The Record of the Coldstream Guards 1650 - 1950
• A short History of the Regiment's Victoria Cross Holders; L/Sgt L. Pearce
• Fight Another Day; Lt. Col. J.M. Langley, MBE, MC; ISBN 0002112418 [2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards BEF; POW; Escaper & Evader; MI9]
• MI9, Escape & Evasion 1939 - 1945; M.R.D. Foot & J.M. Langley; ISBN 0 370 30086 6 [Escape & Evasion]
• Armoured Guardsmen, A War Diary June 1944 - April 1945; Robert Boscawen; ISBN 0 85052 748 1 [1st Battalion Coldstream Guards, North West Europe]
• No Dishonourable Name, The 2nd and 3rd Battalions Coldstream Guards 1939 - 1945; D.C. Quilter [2nd, 3rd Battalions Coldstream Guards]
• The King's Private Army: Protecting the British Royal Family during the Second World War; Andrew Stewart; ISBN 9781910777282 [Coats Mission, Coldstream Guards]
• Captain Professor: A Life in War and Peace; Michael Howard; ISBN 9780826491251 [3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards, Italy]
• Tunisia: The 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards 1942-1943; Adam Robson; ISBN-10: 0993285104 [2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards, North Africa]
• A Pilgrimage of Remembrance; Michael Curtis [S Company Scots Guards attached 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards, Italy]
• For You the War is Over; The Hon. Philip Kindersley [Coldstream Guards, N. Africa; POW, escaped Italy recaptured]
• Something about a Soldier; Christopher Bulteel, M.C.; ISBN 1 84037 246 X [3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards, North Africa, Italy]
• Accidents of Fortune; Andrew Devonshire, M.C. (Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire) [3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards, Italy]
• In a Guardsman's Boots: A Boy Soldier's Adventures from the Streets of 1920s Dublin to Buckingham Palace, WWII and the Egyptian Revolution ; Paddy Rockford & Caroline Rochford
• 6th Guards Tank Brigade; Patrick Forbes; Sampson Low, Marston & Co Ltd; [4th Bn Grenadier Guards,; 4th Bn Coldstream Guards; 3rd Bn Scots Guards]
• A Distant Drum; Captain Jocelyn Pereira [5th Battalion Coldstream Guards, North West Europe]
• Grandad’s War: Guardsman Stephen Simpson’s story; Amanda Reynolds; [5th Battalion Coldstream Guards, North West Europe] http://amandareynolds.co.uk/books/

 

SCOTS GUARDS

• Seymour Vandeleur, the story of a British officer. Being a memoir of Brevet-Lieutenant-Colonel Vandeleur, D.S.O., Scots guards and Irish guards, with a general description of his campaigns (1906); Maxse

WW2

• The Scots Guards 1919 - 1955; David Erskine [1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, Training, Holding Battalions Scots Guards]
• Famous Regiments, The Scots Guards; Anthony Goodinge; ISBN 85052 012 6
• A Pilgrimage of Remembrance; Michael Curtis [S Company Scots Guards attached 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards, Italy]
• Esprit de Corps, A Scots Guards Officer on active service 1943 - 1945; W.A. Elliott, ISBN 085955 220 9 [2nd Battalion Scots Guards, Italy]
• I Lived to Tell the Tale; Captain James. C. Fleming, M.C. [2nd Battalion Scots Guards, Pre war Palestine, 1st Battalion Scots Guards, Norway; O.C.T.U.; 8th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, North West Europe]
• Reflections 1939-1945: A Scots Guards Officer in Training and War; Charles Farrell,; The Pentland Press; 2000; ISBN 185821761X; [3rd Battalion Scots Guards]
• 6th Guards Tank Brigade; Patrick Forbes; Sampson Low, Marston & Co Ltd; nd [4th Bn Grenadier Guards,; 4th Bn Coldstream Guards; 3rd Bn Scots Guards]

 

IRISH GUARDS

• Irish Guards: The First Hundred Years, 1900-2000; ISBN-10: 1862270694
• Short History of the Irish Guards 1900-1927; Lieutenant T.H.H. Grayson
• Up the Micks! An Illustrated History of the Irish Guards; James Wilson; Pen & Sword; ISBN: 9781473835634 Published: 29th February 2016 http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Up-the-Micks-Hardback/p/11677
• Seymour Vandeleur, the story of a British officer. Being a memoir of Brevet-Lieutenant-Colonel Vandeleur, D.S.O., Scots guards and Irish guards, with a general description of his campaigns (1906); Maxse

WW1

• The Irish Guards in the Great War, Volume 1, The First Battalion; Rudyard Kipling
• The Irish Guards in the Great War, Volume 2, The Second Battalion; Rudyard Kipling
• links
• The Irish Guards in the Great War, Vol. 1 - Rudyard Kipling, Book, etext
• The Irish Guards in the Great War, Vol. 2 - Rudyard Kipling, Book, etext

WW2

• History of the Irish Guards in the Second World War; Major D.J.L. FitzGerald, M.C.; [1st, 2nd, 3rd Battalions Irish Guards]
• The Micks, The Story of the Irish Guards; Peter Verney, ISBN 0 330 23632 6
• He Who Dared and Died: The Life and Death of a SAS Original, Sergeant Chris O'Dowd, MM; Gearoid O'Dowd [1st Battalion Irish Guards, Norway; Commandos; SAS]
• Major D.M. (John) Kennedy, A Tribute; Robert Jocelyn Earl of Roden [1st Battalion Irish Guards, Norway, North Africa, Italy; 3rd Battalion Irish Guards, North West Europe; KIA 1945]
• The Honour and the Shame, Bravery has no rules; John Kenneally, V.C., ISBN 978 07553 1612 0 [1st Battalion Irish Guards, North Africa, Italy, Palestine]
• Sojourn in Silesia, 1940 - 1945; Arthur Charles Evans, C.B.E.; [2nd Battalion Irish Guards, Boulogne; POW]
• Battleground Europe: Boulogne 20 Guards Brigade's Fighting Defence - May 1940 ; Jon Cooksey [1940, 2nd Battalion Irish Guards, 2nd Battalion Welsh Guards]
• The Armoured Micks 1941 - 1945; RHQ Irish Guards [2nd Armoured Battalion Irish Guards]
• Hugh Dormer's Diaries; Captain Hugh Dormer, D.S.O. [S.O.E. France, Evader; 2nd Battalion Irish Guards, North West Europe, KIA 1944]
• The Times of My Life; Sir John Gorman; ISBN 0 8 85052 906 9 [2nd Armoured Battalion Irish Guards, North West Europe]
• The Ever Open Eye; Brian D. Wilson; ISBN 1 85821 532 3 [3rd Battalion Irish Guards, North West Europe]
• From Ulster to Normandy, 1944-1994; compiled by John Quinn, Farset; [2nd Armoured Battalion & 3rd Battalion Irish Guards as well as 1&2 Royal Ulster Rifles, 9 Para Regiment, 591 Para Sqn RE; Normandy]

 

WELSH GUARDS
WW1

• History of the Welsh Guards; C.H.Dudley Ward; ISBN 9781843421870
• online link History of the Welsh Guards

WW2

• Welsh Guards at War; Major L.F. Ellis; ISBN 0 948130 52 0 [1st, 2nd, 3rd Battalions Welsh Guards]
• Dunkirk to the Rhineland: Diaries and Sketches of Sergeant Charles Murrell, Welsh Guards; C.N. Murrell
• Bearskins, Bayonets & Body Armour, Welsh Guards 1915 - 2015; Trevor Royle
  
• Salute Me When You See Me: An affectionate portrait by his son of a father he never knew; Michael Fass [1st Battalion Welsh Guards, NWE] Casualty
• Life in the Welsh Guards 1939 - 1946; Sydney Pritchard ISBN-13 978 0 86243 985 9 [2nd Battalion Welsh Guards, Boulogne 1940; POW]
• A Not Very Military Experience; Hanbury, Peter, ASIN: B004H6ZBTS; Millstream (2000) [2nd Battalion (OC 12 Platoon, 4 Company) Welsh Guards, Boulogne 1940; POW]
• Battleground Europe: Boulogne 20 Guards Brigade's Fighting Defence - May 1940 ; Jon Cooksey[1940, 2nd Battalion Irish Guards, 2nd Battalion Welsh Guards]
• At the Fifth Attempt, An Escape Story; John Elwyn; ISBN 0 85052 3613 [9 Platoon 3 Company 2nd Battalion Welsh Guards, Boulogne 1940; POW]
• Ensign in Italy, A Platoon Commander's Story; Philip Brutton; ISBN 0 8 5052 324 9 [3rd Battalion Welsh Guards, Italy]
• A Captain's Mandate; Philip Brutton; Leo Cooper; 1996; ISBN 0-85052-497-0 [follows his exploits with the WG in Italy in post war Palestine.]
• An Undistinguished Life; Andrew Gibson-Watt [3rd Battalion Welsh Guards, Italy; post-war Palestine]
• Joy Street, A Wartime Romance in Letters; Mirren Barford & Lieutenant John Lewes, Ed. Michael T. Wise [Welsh Guards & S.A.S., KIA 1941]

 

Thank you gentlemen, duly edited in.

 

Sorry Koen, I meant to post a response instead of just rep'ing but forgot. Thanks for the additions.

Can you confirm which GG battalion he served in as part of BEF? It helps to put a note along with the title etc, in case people are looking for particular info.

 

Many thanks.

 

3 GG
1st Gds Bde
1st Inf Div.
see page 9
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-HJT4Z66Z1oC&pg=PR8&lpg=PR8&dq=guardsmen+and+Commando+by+David+Feebery&source=bl&ots=6WjixzvdC1&sig=WC9GhBIDTB5FrX_xpcOxUFTwi0U&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Z6xNU4rhJcrdPZ-DgbAG&ved=0CEgQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=guardsmen%20and%20Commando%20by%20David%20Feebery&f=false