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 15 January 2019
 
   


Second World War Second World War, Including regimental and divisional histories, personal accounts, general histories and works of reference   140 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
Prisoners of War, British Army, 1939-1945: Alphabetical Nominal Registers of Over 107,000 British Army Prisoners of War of All Ranks Held in Germany & German Occupied Territories. Reprint, approx. 500pp., 4to. VG in dw. Hayward. 1999  #57963
[HLMainPic] Scarce facsimile of rare original 1945 HMSO listing. VG in dw. See illustration on our website.   £60
Secret. GHQ ME Survey Discussion, Cairo, 18-19 May 1943. Directors: MGRA, DMT, DD Survey. Rare original report, 26pp., foolscap, dup. typescript stapled into card wraps. with title to front. MT1, GHQ, MEF. Contemp.  #53505
[HLMainPic] Report of a conference on Survey held at Cairo including: The Organisation & Working of a Recce Wing, Western Desert Air Force Alamein to Tunis (Notes from a lecture by Maj. R.E. Ferens, GII [Air] Eighth Army); The Deployment of RA & RE Survey Units (Notes from a lecture given by Lt.-Col. J.T. Whetton, OC 4 Survey Regt. RA); Information from Air Photographs (Notes from a lecture by Capt. R.R. Dalton, OC, AAPIU [Western Desert Det.] - "It has been conclusively proved that air photos. can supply so much information not avilable from other sources that the establishment of the AAPIU Eight Army has been increased from 3 officer interpreters to 11 offrs & a number of draughtsmen & clerks. In the near future the establishment will be doubled. Air photos are required at all stages of a campaign - from planning to assault, & the subsequent exploitation. The best results have been obtained from decentralisation" &c.). Further sections detail the use & dissemination of information from air photos., preparation of defence overprint maps, map distribution in 8th Army. No indication of number of copies printed/distributed, but stated SECRET & evidently for the use of the small number of officers engaged in this work so doubtless a rare survival. See illustration on our website.   £225
7th Somerset Battn. Home Guard. Unbound proof copy, pages loosely contained in green dec. wraps., 67pp., several sketches, ep map. Eventually Printed for Private Circulation Only by Bennett Bros., Bristol. nd [1945].  #50437
[HLMainPic] Raising, organisation & training of the unit, which operated between Bristol & Wells, inc. Portishead, Clevedon, Keynsham, Farrington Gurney & Temple Cloud. Rolls of officers. This proof copy records that the author, Lt.-Col. Sir J.J. Tweedie, elected to remove his name from the title page, also his address, Wraxall House, Wraxall, Som., & contains several pencilled dircetions to the printer re aranagement of material. Interesting re-press example & very scarce in the final printed form. See illustration on our website.   £45
Evasion Map, SECRET, Kra Isthsmus, 19th March 1945. Fldg. paper map, 15x16-inches approx., 1:2000,0000 scale. Prepared by "E" Group, Colombo & Printed by Survey Dept., Main HQ, ALFSEA. 1945  #29665
[HLMainPic] Kota Baru northwards through Thailand to Victoria Point & beyond. Danger Areas, Potential Danger Areas (Probably Patrolled); Safe Areas & Presumed Safe Areas are all identified as well as roads, railways, swamps &c.). The key includes 'Specially Recommended Safe Areas' but there aren't any! VG. See illustration on our website.   £45
24th Guards Brigade Operations August 1944 to May 1945. 76pp., dup. typescript, foolscap., 10 lge. fldg. & cold. maps. Trieste. 1945  #57367
[HLMainPic] SECRET, Copy No. 16 of 200 copies printed at Trieste in July 1945. Excellent contemp. intelligence report on the crossing of the Arno & advance to the Gothic Line by this Brigade, the battles of the Argenta Gap, advance to the Po & the concluding operations of the Bde. in Italy. It consisted of 5th Grenadiers, 3rd Coldstream, 1st Scots Gds., support units (RA, RE &c.) & other units periodically under command such as 4/13 FF Rifs. (Wildes), Royal Natal Carbiniers, &c. Detailed narrative, tabulated casualties, staff lists & a distribution list at the end (just 95 copies accounted for in this list). Orig. printed card wraps. with cloth backstrip, stamped "SECRET" on Contents page together with "16" (i.e. the number of this issue), small, neat IWM withdrawn stamp inside rear cover. VG & of course rare. See illustration on our website.   £475
Arnhem Lift: Diary of a Glider Pilot. 3rd imp., 96pp., map. VG in sl. chipped dw. Pilot Press. 1945  #55663
[HLMainPic] Eyewitness account of 1st Aorborne Div. at Arnhem Nice copy in sl. chipped dw. See illustration on our website.   £15
British Army of the Rhine Battlefield Tour. Third Day: 8 Corps Operations South of Caumont 30-31 July 1944 (Operation Bluecoat). 1st Ed., [vii]+49pp., foolscap, 7 maps (6 bound-in, 1 in endpocket). Prepared under the Direction of G (Trg) HQ BAOR. 1947  #50638
[HLMainPic] RESTRICTED. Detailed account of the planning & execution of this phase of the Normandy Breakout, with various original Operation Orders &c. reproduced. Excellent coloured fldg. maps. Preface states that this tour is "especially concerned with the part played by 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division in those operations. It forms the necessary background to a detailed study of the battle carried out on the ground." Orig. blue cloth, gilt to front. VG & rare (just 150 copies printed of this edition), with ownership inscrip. of the writer Alan Sillitoe & several ts. foolscap sheets loosely inserted re contemp. training exercise, outlining a situation where, as GOC 15th Div., you have to decide how to alter your plan during the battle to benefit from air support. With list of officers in syndicates during this exercise. See illustration on our website.   £220
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
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

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