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Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives

King's College LondonLiddell Hart Centre for Military Archives

Survey of the Papers of Senior UK Defence Personnel, 1900-1975

NameLEESE, Sir Oliver William Hargreaves, 3rd Baronet (1894-1978), Lieutenant General

Service biographyWorld War I 1914-1918; Joined Coldstream Guards 1915; Adjutant , 3 Bn Coldstream Guards 1920-1922; Adjutant, Officer Training Corps Eton 1922-1925; Staff College, Camberley 1927-1928; Bde Maj, 1 Guards Bde, Aldershot1929-1932; Deputy Assistant Adjutant & Quartermaster General, London District 1932-1933; General Staff OfficerGrade 2, War Office 1935-1936; Commander, 1 Bn Coldstream Guards 1936-1938; Instructor (General StaffOfficer Grade 1), Staff College, Quetta, India 1938-1940; World War II 1939-1945; Brig commanding 20 GuardsBde 1940; Deputy Chief of General Staff, British Expeditionary Force (BEF) 1940; Commander, 29 IndependentBde Group 1940; Commander, West Sussex Div 1941; Commander, 15 (Scottish) Div 1941; Commander, Guards,Armoured Div 1941-1942; Commander, 30 Corps 1942-1943; El Alamein 1942; Mareth 1943; Tunis 1943;Commander, 8 Army 1944; Commander-in-Chief, Allied Land Forces South East Asia 1944-1945; General OfficerCommanding-in-Chief, Eastern Command 1945-1946; retired 1946

PapersLIDDELL HART CENTRE FOR MILITARY ARCHIVES: The papers of Gen Sir Charles John Cecil Grant includeletters from Leese 1944; the papers of Gen Sir William Henry Bartholomew include material relating to theBartholomew Committee 1940 (created to consider the lessons of recent operations in France and Belgium, andtheir application to the threat of German invasion in the UK) for which Leese was a witness; the papers of Capt SirBasil Henry Liddell Hart include correspondence with Leese 1944 (ref: 1/436) IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM,LONDON: Papers 1914-1978 (ref: Strong Room), including; letters home to his family from the Western Front1914-1916; bound typescript history of the operations of 1 Guards Bde, Aug-Sep 1916 (42 pages); letters home to

his wife 1940-1945 (approx 670 items); correspondence with FM Sir Bernard Law Montgomery, 1943-1950;including detailed comment on the progress of operations in Italy 1943-1944; also comment by Leese onoperations in Burma 1944-1945 (approx 50 items); maps of Operation HUSKY, for the invasion of Sicily, Jul-Aug1943; Leese's engagement diary, Jan-Oct 1944, as Commander, 8 Army, Italy; maps relating to the campaign inItaly, May-Jun 1944; Leese's engagement diary 1944-1945, as Commander-in-Chief Allied Land Forces, SouthEast Asia; accounts of the operations of 30 Corps, 8 Army and Allied Land Forces, South East Asia 1942-1945;maps relating to the campaign in Burma 1944-1945; personal circular letters by Leese for friends and family 1942-1949, with comments on his commands and official visits; copy official letters sent by Leese as Commander-in-Chief Allied Land Forces South East Asia 1945. Recipients include: Gen Sir Ronald Forbes Adam, FM Sir HaroldRupert Leofric George Alexander, Lt Gen Sir Bernard Cyril Freyberg, Lt Gen Sir (Alexander Frank) PhilipChristison, Lt Gen Sir Allan Francis Harding, Lt Gen Sir Richard Loudon McCreery, Adm Lord Louis (Francis AlbertVictor Nicholas) Mountbatten, Lt Gen Sir Montagu George North Stopford , Gen Sir (Henry) Colville (Barclay)Wemyss, FM Sir Henry Maitland Wilson; six copy letters from Leese to FM Sir Alan Francis Brooke Chief of theImperial General Staff 1944-1945, commenting on the situation and operations in Burma, and detailing plannedlandings in Malaya; three copy letters from Leese to Lt Gen Sir Archibald (Edward) Nye, Vice Chief of ImperialGeneral Staff, Mar-Jun 1945 reporting on present and planned future operations in South East Asia;

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correspondence, chiefly 1944-1945, with Maj Gen Sir John Noble Kennedy, Assistant Chief of the ImperialGeneral Staff (Operations and Intelligence), War Office, principally relating to 5 Army operations in Italy, Jan-Sep,1944, but also including comment on Operation MARKET GARDEN, the Netherlands, Sep, 1944, and onoperations in Burma, Feb-Mar, 1945 (31 items); brief typescript draft memoirs (ND) covering Leese's career 1942-1945 (34 pages); Leese's 'Brief History of the Operations in Burma: 1 November 1944 - 3 May 1945', published by

Tac Headquarters, Allied Land Forces, South East Asia 1945 (27 pages); semi-official letters received by Leesefrom other British Army commanders 1941-1953. Writers include FM Sir Francis Alan Brooke, FM Harold RupertLeofric George Alexander, FM Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, Lt Gen Sir Bertram Norman Sergison-Brooke, LtGen Sir Frederick Arthur Montague Browning, Lt Gen Sir (Alexander Frank) Philip Christison, Lt Gen Sir AlanGordon Cunningham, Gen Sir Miles Christopher Dempsey, Lt Gen Sir T Ralph Eastwood, Lt Gen Sir Bernard CyrilFreyberg, Gen Sir George James Giffard, Lt Gen Sir (Alfred) John Harding, Maj Gen Sir Percy Cleghorn StanleyHobart, Lt Gen Sir Brian Gwynne Horrocks, Lt Gen Sir Sidney Chevalier Kirkman, Lt Gen H C Lloyd, Adm LordLouis (Francis Albert Victor Nicholas) Mountbatten, Lt Gen Sir Archibald (Edward) Nye, Lt Gen Sir Richard NugentO'Connor, Lt Gen Sir Frank Ernest Wallace Simpson, Gen Sir William Joseph Slim, Lt Gen Sir Arthur (Francis)Smith, Maj Gen Sir Montagu George North Stopford, Lt Gen Sir Francis Ivan Simms Tuker, FM Sir ArchibaldPercival Wavell, FM Sir Henry Maitland Wilson; personal letters received by Leese, arranged chronologically

#from 1940 to 1953, concerned principally with congratulations and thanks; telegrams to and from Leese 1940-

1945, chiefly personal; the papers of ACM Sir Alfred Guy Roland Garrod include three copy letters from AF Louis(Francis Albert Victor Nicholas) Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, praising Garrod's work at South EastAsia Command and criticising Leese, Feb-Jul 1945; the papers of Maj Gen Joseph Charles Haydon (ref: 93/28/4;Con Shelf) include a letter from Leese, Aug 1944, including comment on the War Office; the Haydon papersinclude two letters from Leese from Burma, Feb-Apr 1945, giving details of the organisation of air supplies inBurma, and his views on relations between the the British and American forces in South East Asia; the papers ofFM Sir Bernard Law Montgomery include a single letter from Leese, detailing current operations in Italy, Jun 1944(ref: BLM 97/22); also correspondence with Leese as Commander-in-Chief Allied Land Forces, South East Asia1944-1945 (25 items, ref: BLM 119); SOUTHAMPTON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY: Papers of AF Louis (Francis AlbertVictor Nicholas) Mountbatten include correspondence with Leese relating to South East Asia Command 1944-1945 (ref: MB1/C159); Mountbatten papers include correspondence relating to the relief of Leese as Commander-in-Chief, Allied Land Forces, South East Asia 1945 (ref: MB1/C216); Mountbatten papers include typescriptdespatch by Leese, 'Operations in Burma from 12 November 1944 to 15 August 1945', with authorialemendations, published in the London Gazette, Apr 1951 (ref: MB1/C322)

Publications'Early days of the Guards Armoured Division'publishedin Guards Magazine, autumn, 1977; Rowland Ryder,Oliver Leese (Hamish Hamilton, London, 1987)

Index termsSUBJECTSPLACESNAMES FM Alan Francis Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke of Brookborough 1941-1953 ; FM Harold RupertLeofric George Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis 1941-1953; Lt Gen Sir Edric Bastyan 1945; Gen Sir(Alexander Frank) Philip Christison 1941-1953; Gen Sir Alan Gordon Cunningham 1941-1953; Gen Bernard CyrilFreyerg, 1st Baron Freyberg 1941-1953; FM Allan Francis (John) Harding, 1st Baron Harding of Petherton#from1941 #to1953; Gen Sir Sidney Chevalier Kirkman 1941-1953; Gen Sir Richard Loudon McCreery 1945; FM

Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein and Hindhead 1943-1950; AF Louis (Francis,Albert Victor Nicholas) Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma 1941-1953; Lt Gen Sir Archibald (Edward)Nye 1941-1953; Gen Sir Richard Nugent O'Connor 1941-1953; Gen Sir Frank Ernest Wallace Simpson #from1941#to 1953; FM William Joseph Slim, 1st Viscount Slim 1941-1953; Gen Sir Montagu Stopford #from 1941#to1953; FM Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl of Wavell 1941-1953; Gen Sir Colville Wemyss 1941-1953; FMHenry Maitland Wilson, 1st Baron Wilson 1941-1953

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