The General Perspective

Not sure if these have been mentioned

Fitzroy Mclean Eastern Approaches. (Lance corporal to Major General in four years, via the SAS)

Francis Tuker:
Advance to Battle - his experiences as a divisional commander
Pattern of War - His thoughts on warfare
While Memory Serves - The Indian Army

 

Prelude to Overlord is about his work as COSSAC and is very illuminating on the planning for Op Overlord.

I have not read "Peace and War: a soldiers Life".

 

I'll report back when I get a chance to get into it.

Now you mention it, it strikes me that it is uncommon for a Lieutenant General not to be awarded a knighthood (Percival wasn't, owing to Singapore). I have only a dim recollection of having glanced at it in the past, but he did transfer between the Indian and British Armies and also moved to the India office during the Second World War. Perhaps he somehow 'fell between two chairs'. The other subsequent honours would seem to rule out disgrace.

 

Just found this 2021 lecture on Bill Slim @ the Gurkha Museum. It is in three parts and fast forward to: 14:59 Introduction 16:40 John Mackinlay 33:27 Bob Couldrey 51:05 Ray Pett. It lasts till 1h 11m.
Link:

 

This came through after an inordinate wait. It suffers slightly from that old mistake of splitting the perspective and doing neither full justice, the personal here being greatly more valuable than a retreading of the general chronology of the war. That said, despite its brevity, it's not without appeal; the cameos and anecdotes are well told and occassionally revealing, and it's a light and pleasant read.

 

Found a 2016 publication that I was not aware of--I wasn't even aware of the name of the general.



Collings, Wilfred d'Auvergne
Major-General
* 1893
† 1984

Promotions
1946-05-15 Acting Major-General
Service
1940-XX-XX – 1941-XX-XX Assistant Director of Supplies & Transport Western Desert Force, North Africa
1941-XX-XX Deputy Director of Supplies & Transport W Force, Greece
1941-XX-XX – 1942-XX-XX Deputy Director of Supplies & Transport 8th Army, North Africa
1942-XX-XX Director of Supplies & Transport 9th Army
1942-09-15 – 1943-XX-XX Director of Supplies & Transport Persia-Iraq Command
1944-XX-XX – 1945-XX-XX Director of Supplies & Transport 21st Army Group, North-West Europe
1945-XX-XX – 1946-XX-XX Director of Supplies & Transport British Army of the Rhine
1946-05-15 – Inspector of the Royal Army Service Corps, War Office 48 : Retired
1949-XX-XX – 1953-XX-XX Director of Supply & Transport Division United Nations Relief & Works Agency Near East

Source:
Biography of Major-General Wilfred d'Auvergne Collings (1893 – 1984), Great Britain

 

This arrived after quite a while in the international airmail aether. I knew it was a SPCK publication, but my first impression is one of relief that theological musings don't really seem to intrude and that there are a lot of quotations from primary/contemporary sources.

I probably should add that although it looks like the standard dimensions for a hardback (about the same size and depth as the many Pen & Sword publications), the font seems a little larger than usual and of the 319 pages, seventy are taken up by the notes, index and bibliography, so it might perhaps be considered on the light side.

The main focus is the surrender in Singapore and the subject's subsequent captivity (and death), but I confess I personally am more interested in his time with 1st Guards in 1940, so we'll have to see what it delivers.

Unfortunately, despite his work as a professor at my own hallowed alma mater and his position as the official historian of the Royal Army Chaplains' Department, the author misuses the phrase 'beg the question' on page 13. I hope there will be no more of this!

 

I've been looking for a decent first edition of this for a number of years now, and although this one has a price-clipped dustjacket, it also has an interesting provenance: it's inscribed by the author to 'Nipper' Read: AKA Nipper of the Yard:

Nipper Read - Wikipedia



Edit: it had somehow eluded me that Alanbrooke died while drinking a mid-morning cup of tea in bed.

 

New acquisition:



Pug Ismay, of course, reached the rank of full general and Ronald Wingate worked alongside him while at London Controlling Section. The two became close friends and the book is said to be admiring, though not quite adulatory.

Curiously, the book has no introduction.

It's hard to come by--especially in a nice jacket like this.

 

Downloadable file from Australian Archives, post-war content, newspaper articles:

Barcode: 239219
Number of pages: 189
Title: Personal correspondence - overseas. Field Marshal The Viscount MONTGOMERY of Alamein, KG. GCB. DSO.

 

papiermache,

Just curious - assuming you know - how did 'personal correspondence' - enter the Australian Archives? Presumably a donation from the receiver(s) who possibly held an official Australian role. I can think of one, General Norrie 30 Corps who became South Australia's Governor 1944-1952.

 

David,

Norrie has a photo at Australian Archives:





Search "personal" at AA = too many hits to list; "correspondence"= too many hits to list, but "personal correspondence" gets hits for downloads : Macarthur, Mountbatten, Slim. It was pure chance: I was searching for "Deir" ( from the thread ) (no hits ) and just tried Montgomery, and was surprised. AA is a joy to use - except they list files not downloadable I would like to view. Trove is always a great free resource.

 

I've not encountered downloading a pdf from Australian Archives which needs a password to open it - not suppled - but there is a way around it, except you can't turn the images. Amongst the "personal correspondence" files there is one for Sir Percy Sillitoe. There are three pdfs in all for the man - just search for Sillitoe. To download readable copies click on the file title and then on the red pdf motif. Some secret exemption small print in the files.