[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'.

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'. See also the autobiography of Sir Christopher Thornton-Kernsley, 'Through Winds and Tides' (1972), in which he describes how he went 'as Lieutenant-Colonel, to Eastern Command to fill the new appointment of AQMG (Ops), the 'Ops' meaning that my concern was to be exclusively with operations in connection with the planning and mounting of OVERLORD.' The present item is from the papers of Brigadier Harry Hamilton Dempsey CBE (1895-1973), who has written on the cover: 'Assault & Invasion of Normandy.' Duplicated typescript. Drophead title on p.i: 'OPERATION “OVERLORD” - 1944 | Report by AQMG (Ops) EASTERN COMMAND'. iii + 70pp., small 4to. At rear is an 61 x 44 cm fold-out map, overprinted with lettering in blue and red, and titled in the contents: 'Quarter-inch to one mile map showing the three Marshalling Areas'. Stapled into light-brown covers. In good condition, lightly aged and worn, with rusting staples. On front cover: 'SECRET | [bulldog badge] | OPERATION OVERLORD | EASTERN COMMAND | 1944'. Pp.i-ii carry the table of contents of the work, which is divided into three parts (containing a total of 25 sections), preceded by a foreword, and with seven appendices. The foreword on p.iii begins: 'This pamphlet has been prepared with the object of setting out in concise form the story of the part played by Eastern Command in the preparations for and launching of the operation for the invasion of France, which went by the name of OVERLORD. These preparations were planned and carried out over a long period, and although various notes and references to them, together with copies of orders and instructions, have been included in the War Diary, it is difficult to extract a connected story from this. It is the intention, therefore, that the pamphlet should serve as an annexure [sic] to the War Diary and provide the framework of the story, the details of which can be filled in if and when required by reference to the complete orders and instructions included in the Diary itself.' The second half of the foreword places the invasion in a historical context. NO OTHER COPIES TRACED.