OPERATION

[Battle of Normandy, 1944.] 'Secret' British Army pamphlet titled 'OPERATION “OVERLORD” - 1944 | Report by AQMG (Ops) EASTERN COMMAND', describing 'the part played by Eastern Command in the preparations for and launching of the operation'.

Author: 
[Operation Overlord (Battle of Normandy), 1944] 'AQMG (Ops) EASTERN COMMAND' [i.e. Lieut.-Col. Colin Thornton-Kernsley (1903-1977)]
Publication details: 
[Operation Overlord, Eastern Command, 1944] On final page: 'D 53664-1 175 D/d E.C.2144 11/44 70'. '11/44' signifies the date of the pamphlet, November 1944, and '70' the number of copies printed.
£600.00

Sir Colin Thornton-Kernsley is identified as author from the first of the pamphlet's seven appendices ('Eastern Command | List of officers principally concerned with plans for the mounting of Overlord'), where he is described as: 'Chairman: AQMG(Ops) Lt. Col. C. N. Thornton Kernsley MP-RA'.

[General Sir Kenneth Anderson, commander of British First Army during Operation Torch.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Kenneth Anderson'), discussing Kenya, the 'severe crisis' in Britain, conscription. With ANS from recipient Brigadier H. H. Dempsey

Author: 
General Sir Kenneth Anderson [General Sir Kenneth Arthur Noel Anderson, KCB, MC] (1891-1959), commander of British First Army during Operation Torch [Brigadier Harry Hamilton Dempsey CBE (1895-1973)]
Publication details: 
Dun Eaglais, Kippen, Stirlingshire [Scotland]. 14 February 1947. Dempsey's note dated 10 August 1960.
£400.00

Dempsey's obituary in The Times, explains how 'In April, 1945, he was appointed Brigadier I/C Administration, East Africa Command', holding the position into the following year, and retiring in December 1947 on account of ill health. For a full account of Dempsey's military career, see his entry in Catholic Who's Who, vol.35 (1952). In an eight-line Autograph Note Signed at the end of Anderson's letter, Dempsey states that Anderson 'had been my personal & immediate superior as G.O.C. in C., East Africa Command, when I was his Brigadier I/C Administration.

[ Dwight D. Eisenhower, as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. ] Printed address to the 'Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!', spurring them on to 'full Victory' (in Operation Overlord). With facsimile signature/

Author: 
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), 34th President of the United States of America, and Supreme Allied Commander in Europe in the Second World War [ Operation Overlord, 1944 ]
Publication details: 
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force. 1944.
£800.00

1p., 12mo. A frail survival of a historic document, aged, worn and stained, with slight loss to one corner. On reverse, in blue pencil, with illegible signature: 'No Report for 30th'. The document is headed 'SUPREME HEADQUARTERS | ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCE', followed by the insignia. The address begins: 'Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! | You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.

[ General H. Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. ] Typed Letter Signed to British military historian Barrie Pitt, declining to contribute to a publication, and

Author: 
H. Norman Schwarzkopf Jr (1934-2012), United States Army general, commander of Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm [ Barrie Pitt ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 400 North Ashley, Suite 3050, Tampa, Florida 33602. 4 January 1994.
£180.00

1p., 4to. With a firm expansive signature which is certainly not duplicated, as it has indented the paper. On letterhead with design showing golden flagpole with flag in red with four white stars. Schwarzkopf declines to participate in what he describes as Pitt's 'momentous undertaking', explaining: 'To write such a piece and do so properly requires considerable time.

[ The Battle of Tunisia, 1942-1943. ] Autograph War Diary of Captain V. Duncan Jones, 6th Armoured Division, British Army, covering the entire period of the Tunisia Campaign. With two Autograph Letters Signed to military historian Barrie Pitt.

Author: 
Captain Vincent Duncan Jones, 6th Armoured Division, British Army [ Tunisia Campaign [ Battle of Tunisia; Run for Tunis ] 1942-1943, in the Second World War North Africa Campaign ] [ Barrie Pitt ]
Publication details: 
War Diary ('Army Form C.2118.') from 14 November 1942 to 31 May 1943. The two letters 22 April and 7 July 1976. The first letter on Jones's letterhead, and from 89 Defoe House, Barbican, EC2 [ London]. The second letter with no place stated.
£4,000.00

The present diary is of some significance, presenting a first-hand account by a British officer of the Anglo-American 'Run for Tunis' that followed Operation Torch - the invasion of French North Africa in November 1942. It marks Eisenhower's first campaign following his appointment as Commanding General, European Theater of Operations. Four years before the writing of the two letters present here Jones and Pitt had collaborated in the publication of Jones's book 'Operation Torch' (1972), which Pitt (1918-2006) edited for a series first published by the American firm Bannatine.

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