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Literary: correspondence, mainly readers' comments, on volume 1 ("The Gathering Storm") of WSC's war memoirs ("The Second World War")., Apr 1948 - May 1955

 File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 4/48A-B

Scope and Contents

Correspondents include: Reverend Andrew Blair on Pierre Laval [former head of government, Vichy France]; Belgian General Boels; Robert Boothby; George Bosworth on WSC's role in the 1930s and arms exports to Germany; Timothy Breen (2); Camille Chautemps defending his actions; William Clarke [member of Room 40, naval intelligence]; Kenneth de Courcy on British policy in the years before the war (2); Emery Reves [earlier Imre Revesz]; "Sidney", Lord Herbert [later 16th Lord Pembroke and 13th Lord Montgomery]; Anthony Moir [WSC's solicitor]; Commander Roger Lewis; Victor Lowinger; John Passmore on aircraft production; Joseph Paul-Boncour [former Prime Minister of France] on pre-war Soviet-French relations; Christopher Paus; Sigfrid Steinberg; Arthur Watson, [Managing Editor] of the Daily Telegraph; Adrien Thierry (former French Ambassador to Romania). Also includes suggested responses to enquiries and notes from WSC's literary advisors and assistants William Deakin, Denis Kelly, Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Pownall, and [George] Gordon Allen; and notes and copies of correspondence from secretaries Jo Sturdee ("N S") [later Lady Onslow], Chips Gemmell, Elizabeth Gilliatt, Doreen Pugh, and Lettice Marston [later Lettice Shillingford].Subjects covered by the file include: readers' comments on errors and WSC's coverage of matters such as Polish affairs, Jewish persecution, King Leopold of Belgium, the naval war including HMS Effingham, the Graf Spee, and the magnetic mine, Anglo-American debt and United States gold reserves, the war in Norway, the pre-war political situation in Germany and the rise of Adolf Hitler, the fall of France, Soviet affairs, pre-war arms production, the role of Field Marshal Jan Smuts [former Prime Minister of South Africa] and South Africa's contribution, and the Baltic states; an offer to translate the memoirs into French; WSC signing copies.Also includes: various cuttings, including a cartoon on WSC's attitude to Poland; copy of a resolution passed by the French ex-servicemen's association on Franco-German relations; an account by Boels of the Belgian campaign; photograph of a recovered magnetic mine.

Dates

  • Creation: Apr 1948 - May 1955

Conditions Governing Access

Open

Extent

2 file(s) (2 files (353 loose folios))

Language of Materials

English