ARMOURED

[The Tank in the First World War.] Autograph Letter Signed from Captain R. B. Otter-Barry of the School of Musketry, Hayling Island, to marine artist W. L. Wyllie, writing during the First World War, and giving 'informatkon on tank fighting'.

Author: 
Captain Richard Briere Otter-Barry, School of Musketry, Hayling Island, Hampshire [William Lionel Wyllie (1851-1931), distinguished English marine artist; the British Army tank in the First World War]
Publication details: 
School of Musketry, Hayling Island, Hampshire. 24 March [no year, but around 1916].
£320.00

2pp., foolscap 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged. Addressed to 'Dear Mr. Wyllie'. Writing following a visit to the School by Wyllie (who from the context appears to have been doing war work to assist Otter-Barry), Otter-Barry begins by stating that he will be sending him a sketch, adding: 'I was sorry to see so little of you on the day you came over, but I was pretty well occupied & taxed with all these infernal staff people about.

'Secret' document, titled 'Brief Tactical Notes | 6th Armoured Division | To be carried by Officers on all training in the field.'

Author: 
C. F. Keightley, Major General Commanding, 6th Armoured Division [ General Sir Charles Frederic Keightley (1901-1974) ]
Publication details: 
Place not stated [ North Africa ]. 20 September 1943.
£280.00

[1] + 14pp., 16mo. Unbound stapled pamphlet. A frail survival (no copy found on either OCLC WorldCat or COPAC). Aged and worn, with rusting staples. Stencil of the Division's insignia on cover. Divided into seven sections: 'Tactical Notes', 'Appreciations', 'Orders', 'Approach and Contact', 'Attack', 'Defence' and 'Breaking Contact'. In his 'Foreword' Keightley urges the reader, somewhat confusingly, to 'make absolutely certain that there is nothing left to help him ['your men'] fight efficiently and gallantly which it is in your power to do'. From the papers of military historian Barrie Pitt.

[The Royal New Zealand Armoured Corps (RNZAC).] 'Restricted' information document, duplicated typescript with illustrations.

Author: 
[The Royal New Zealand Armoured Corps (RNZAC)]
Publication details: 
Communications Wing, School of Armour, Army Training Group, Waiouru [New Zealand]. 2 November 1975.
£100.00

6pp., 8vo. On three leaves stapled together, with punch holes for ring binder. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. With 'RESTRICTED' at head and foot of each page. Corps badge at head of first page and six illustrations in text. Divided into 24 sections, with headings: Formation; Early History; The First World War; The Second World War; Post War; Alliances; The Badge; Corps Colours; Dress Distinctions; Corps Day; Official Music; Patron Saint; Corps Motto. Written in a no-nonsense style. For example, the final two sections read: 'Patron Saint | 23.

1910 manuscript diary of the purser of, first, HMS Cornwall (with much golf played) and, second, SS Balmoral Castle, describing the Duke of Connaught's voyage to the Union of South Africa, to open its first Parliament on behalf of King George V.

Author: 
[Purser's diary, Royal Navy Armoured Cruiser HMS Cornwall and SS Balmoral Castle; Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn; opening of first Parliament of the Union of South Africa, 1910; golf]
Publication details: 
19 January to 28 December 1910.
£850.00

99pp., in 'Army & Navy Octavo Scribbling Diary (with a week on an opening) for 1910'. Good, on aged paper, in worn boards, with some preliminary leaves torn out, and a few childish scrawls by Irene and Pauline Knott (grandchildren of the author?) at beginning and end (not affecting text) . The author is intelligent and well-educated, pious and with a keen interest in sport, but there are few clues regarding his identity: his family is from Staines, and he trained at the Royal Naval College, Osborne. The itineraries of the two ships mentioned in this diary are as follows.

Manuscript diary of the purser of the Royal Navy Armoured Cruiser HMS Cornwall, describing Mediterranean and Baltic tours of duty (while Captain W. R. Hall was spying for Britain)

Author: 
[Purser's diary, Royal Navy Armoured Cruiser HMS Cornwall, under Captain (later Admiral Sir) William Reginald Blinker Hall (1870-1943), future Director of Naval Intelligence; golf]
Publication details: 
1 January to 17 December 1909
£380.00

Manuscript diary of the purser of the Royal Navy Armoured Cruiser HMS Cornwall, describing Mediterranean and Baltic tours of duty (while Captain W. R. Hall was spying for Britain), with descriptions of golf and other sports and recreations. 'Letts's No. 46 Indian and Colonial Rough Diary Giving Half a Page a Day. 1909'. 12mo, 161pp. Good, on aged paper, in worn boards. Diary proper consists of 210pp., with entries on three-quarters (159pp.) of them (few entries for periods of leave), preceded by two pages with lists of family birthdays and of books read.

Manuscript diary for the year 1944 by an English army officer ('H. E. Nash?') in the 23rd Armoured Brigade of the British Eighth Army in the Second World War.

Author: 
[Diary of an officer in the 23rd Armoured Brigade, British Eighth Army, 1946]
Publication details: 
Entries from 1 January to 27 December 1944.
£280.00

Text on 87 pp of a 8vo 1944 'Surrey Desk Diary' (Mitcham: Surrey Manufacturing Co.). Text clear and complete. Volume in good condition on aged paper. While the author's ownership signature at the front of the volume ('', ', '') is not decipherable, there are clues to his identity: his birthday is on 24 June, he states on 5 October that he is in the 23rd Armoured Brigade, and on 19 August he gives his Identity Card No. as 116941. He begins as a sergeant, and by 13 January is 'H.Q. Troop commander, which, out of action, no schemes, no censoring, doesn't amount to much'.

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