BRIGADIER V F S HAWKINS DSO MC

A small collection of important papers relating to his service in New Zealand, Burma, and South East Europe, August 1941 - August 1945, including: a ts history (35pp) entitled "Story of the Staff College New Zealand", recording being ordered in August 1941 back to New Zealand to establish a Staff College to train New Zealand staff officers, starting the first course in November 1941, and how his efforts were bedevilled by the apathetic and complacent attitude of Army Headquarters and the Chief of the General Staff, Major General Puttick; a ts diary account (88pp) recording his command of the 5th Brigade (part of the 2nd Division under Major General J M L Grover) in Assam, India, March 1944 - May 1944, when he was wounded, recording the move from Ahmednagar to Dimapur in response to the Japanese thrust into Manipur state and his brigade's operations to relieve Kohima; and the ts draft minutes (42pp) of the Infantry Conference held at Klagenfurt, Austria in August 1945 chaired by Lieutenant General Sir John Harding to discuss the functions, status, organisation, and dress of the Infantry, including the establishment and equipment of the infantry battalion, which were submitted by the Chief of Staff, Allied Forces HQ Mediterranean, to Field Marshal Earl Alexander, the Supreme Allied Commander Mediterranean, who has made a large number of most interesting annotations on the document in red ink.

Unrestricted