Turner Donovan Military Books - The world’s finest selection of rare and out-of-print books on British military history from 1800 to 1945
  Stock last updated on 22 August 2017
 
   


Second World War Including regimental and divisional histories, personal accounts, general histories and works of reference   164 Books
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The Log of a Naval Airman: Being the Diary & Letters of Sub-Lieutenant (A) David Musk Beattie, R.N.V.R., Observer in the Fleet Air Arm. Killed in air operations against Bismarck, 26th May, 1941. Edited by his father & Dedicated to the Officers & Men of the Fleet Air Arm. 1st Ed., 60pp., portrait frontis., 48 photos. No imprint or date. [1944].  #51915
[HLMainPic] David Beattie was planning to be a Solicitor but, instead, joined the RNVR as a Sub-Lieutenant in the Fleet Air Arm in 1939. After training he joined HMS 'Ark Royal' in June 1940 & participated in "operations at Oran & Dakar, in the raids on Cagliari & the Tirso Dam in Sardinia, in the aerial bombing of Leghorn which accompanied the aerial bombing of Genoa, in the search for the Scharnhorst & in much convoy work in the Mediterranean & the Atlantic." He was then posted to HMS 'Victorious' under Lt.-Cdr. Esmonde & was reported missing during the search for the 'Bismarck' off Iceland on 26th May 1941. Very rare privately printed memoir consisting of a short biography then mostly Beattie's letters & diaries between July 1939 & May 1941, including much interesting detail on the aforementioned operations, supplemented by num. unusual privately taken photos. on board 'Ark Royal' &c. on active service & concluding with the official reports of his being reported missing & extracts from letters of condolence. Orig. blue cloth, gilt to front (with Fleet Air Arm 'wings'), some dampstaining to bottom corner of front & rear boards, o/w VG with ink inscrip. to ffep "To our friends Rev. George & Mrs Bosworth, in token of our affectionate regards, from Ira and Musk Beatte." See illustration on our website.   £125
The Story of the 79th Armoured Division Oct. 1942-June 1945. 1st Ed., 314pp., 126 plates & one fldg., num. fldg. maps. VG in torn dw. Hamburg: BAOR. 1945.  #50596
[HLMainPic] Restricted. Hobart's "funnies" (DD tanks, Crabs, Crocodiles, Kangeroos, Arks, Buffaloes &c.), Normandy to Germany. VG in worn dw. See illustration on our website.   £50
51st (Highland) Division War Memorial St. Valery-en-Caux. Unveiled, 10th June, 1950; Dedicated, 11th June, 1950. 1st Ed., 32pp., oblong 4to, 8 photos. Aberdeen Journals. 1951.  #54817
[HLMainPic] Details of memorial unveuiling &c,., with nominal roll of Guard of Honour &c. Text loose in orig. blue cloth, titled in red to front. See illustration on our website.   £20
Geographical Handbook Series, For Official Use Only. Palestine & Transjordan. December 1943. B.R. 514. 1st Ed., xvi+621pp., frontis., 154 illus., 61 maps & diagrams (+ fldg. map in endpocket). Naval Intelligence Division. 1943.  #51542
[HLMainPic] Detailed & extensively illustrated work compiled by the Naval Intelligence Division. Orig. cloth, minor wear, VG with small ink stamps of Arwyn Grammar School & ownership inscrip. of the writer Alan Sillitoe. See illustration on our website.   £35
The Bombardment of Bath, April 25, 26, 27, 1942. 1st Ed., orig. pictorial card wraps., oblong 4to, 28pp., photos. throughout. Designed, printed & published for The Bath & Wilts. Chronicle & Herald by The mendip Press, Bath. 1942.  #54864
[HLMainPic] Fully illustrated record of the Luftwaffe's raids on Bath with descriptive text & photos. of damage &c. Orig. illus. wraps., VG. See illustration on our website.   £15

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German Aircraft Armament: A selection of United States Army Air Force intelligence material c.1944-45. Official correspondence, reports, photographs &c., approx. 60pp. original or carbon typsecript (many sheets marked SECRET or CONFIDENTIAL), spprox. 20 photos., diagrams &c. Contemp.  #45148
[HLMainPic] USAAF intelligence material collected/collated during the war & towards its end (when German scientists &c. were available for comment/interrogation). The collection was retained by Maj. J.J. Driscoll, a gunnery officer of the 8th Air Force, later at Military Analytical Division, US Embassy, London. Various reports include: Armament of the ME262 Jet-Propelled Aircraft (2pp. ts., 2 drawings, Feb. 1945); Guns & Firepower of German Aircraft (9pp., ts, lecture by W/Cdr. Skinner, RAF); SECRET reports on armament of Messerschmidt 210, Dornier 217 (each 1pp., flimsy); Report on the proceedings re the SK Automatic Cannon held in Erfert on 18 & 19/7/44 (translation of a captured German document, 11pp., foolscap, + list of those present. The meeting had been held "Pursuant to an order issued by the Fuhrer eliminating all unnecessary development activity, an examination was carried out of the weapons & mountings now under consideration... with a view to ascertaining whether their development was essential." Dated Berlin, 26/7/1944, discusses various projects & their progress to date.); further misc.notes, reports, correspondence &c. See illustration on our website.   £90
German Airforce & Aircraft Research: A selection of contemp. material c.1942-45 Official correspondence, translations of articles, reports &c., several hundred pp. in all, original or carbon typescript &c.  #45149
[HLMainPic] Including several German translations of articles which appeared in 'Flight' magazine in 1940 & 1941 (one of them prepared by Messerchmidt A.G., Augsburg, duplicated on their stationary); various technical studies &c. in German language, one or two translations of German documents (e.g. Physiological Problems Which Occur When Firing Aircraft Guns - i.e. the effect on air gunners); several photo. plates of German fighter formations; list of documents evacuated from Messerschmidt A.G. by US Military Analysis Division (carbon ts. on Messerchmidt letterhead); report on US interrogation of German physicist Albrecht Maass, &c., large file. See illustration on our website.   £75
Geographical Handbook Series, For Official Use Only. Yugoslavia. Vol. I, Physical Geography; Vol. II, History, Peoples & Administration; Vol. III, Economic Geography, Ports & Communications. October 1944/June 1945. B.R. 493, 493A & 493B (Restricted). 1st Eds., xiii+337pp., 88 illus., 99 maps & diagrams (+ fldg. map in endpocket); xi+403pp., 36 plates, 72 maps & diagrams & xiv+566pp., 148 plates, 87 maps & diagrams (+ fldg. map in endpocket). Naval Intelligence Division. 1944-45.  #46110
Detailed & extensively illustrated work compiled by the NID. Little rubbed/worn, VG ex-lib..   £45
Highway 16 Courier: Area Sports Committee Newsheet. Vol. 1, No.1, 12th October 1944 [and] Vol. I, No. 27, 11th November 1944. The first & a later issue of German propaganda sheets directed towards allied troops in Italy, each consisting of a single printed leaf, No. 1 being 30x20cm approx. & No. 27 42x32cm approx. Contemp.  #52204
[HLMainPic] Nazi propaganda publications printed in English & purporting to be official newsheets distributed free to troops. Cleverly, but not too convincingly, they headline with anti-German reports: "Nazis Shoot Aachen Deserters" & "Patton's Men Near Nazi Frontier," but within them are various smaller "news" reports intended to lower morale, e.g. "Italian prisoners of war at a Lincolnshire camp have gone on strike because they were put on the same sandwich ration as their British guards instead of having a hot midday meal" & "Many public houses at home are showing 'no beer' signs on two or three nights a week - but several of the teetotal organisations are out to see that the sign shall apply to the entire country. They plan to launch a great 'Make Britain Dry' campaign as soon as the war ends..." Both issues ex-IWM lib., laid down or archival tissue, VG thus & scarce survivals. See illustration on our website.   £45
On the Attack of a Gun-Defended Bomber By A Rocket-Bearing Fighter. 1st Ed., orig. printed wraps., [ii]+45pp., diagrams/graphs. Aberdeen, MD: Ordnance Dept. Ballistic Research Labs. 1946.  #45138
[HLMainPic] RESTRICTED contemp. intelligence report: "examines some aspects of the problem of attack of a gun-defended bomber by a rocket-bearing fighter in a stern attack... the bomber is assumed to be able to fire continuously during the fighter's attack, while the fighter releases a given load of rockets in one or two salvoes, or at a constant rate of fire. For various assumed levels of fire-power for bomber & fighter, the optimum release ranges for the fighter's rockets are determined..." (the reporters having concluded that the most important factor in the fighter hitting its mark was the fighter releasing its rockets at optimum range: "If the rockets are released too soon, the chance of hitting is small. If release is delayed too long, the chance that the fighter will be itself destroyed before it can destroy the bomber is large.") Typed & signed letter from Ord Dept Director at Aberdeen Proving Ground to Commandant, Air War College, Maxwell Field, Alabama, forwarding this report, stapled inside front wrap.. Staples somewhat rusted o/w VG. See illustration on our website.   £65

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