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Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London

CHURCHER, Maj Gen John Bryan (1905-1997)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0099 KCLMA Churcher

Held at: Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London

Title: CHURCHER, Maj Gen John Bryan (1905-1997)

Date(s): 1984

Level of description: Collection (fonds)

Extent: 1 file

Name of creator(s): Churcher | John Bryan | 1905-1997 | Major General

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born in 1905; educated at Wellington College and Royal Military College, Sandhurst; 2nd Lt, Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 1925; Lt, 1927; Assistant Instructor, Small Arms School, Netheravon, 1931-1934; served in India, 1935-1938; Capt, King's Shropshire Light Infantry, 1936; attended Staff College, Camberley, 1939; served in North West Europe, 1939-1940, and 1944-1946; various staff appointments, 1940-1942, including General Staff Officer Grade 2, Canadian Corps; Maj, 1942; commanded 1 Bn, Hereford Regt, 1942-1944, 159 Infantry Bde, 1944-1946, and 43 Div, 1946; commanded Northumbrian District, 1946; commanded 2 Div, Far East, 1946, 3 Div, Palestine, 1946-1947, and 5 Div, Germany, 1947-1948; attended Imperial Defence College, 1948; Brig, General Staff, Western Command, 1949-1951; ADC to King George VI, 1949-1952, and Queen Elizabeth II, 1952; Chief of Staff, Southern Command, 1951-1954; Maj Gen, 1952; General Officer Commanding 3 Infantry Div, Egypt, 1954-1957; Director of Military Training, War Office, 1957-1959; retired, 1959.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Copy of 'A soldier's story', a memoir of his life and career, 1905-1984, notably his service in India, 1935-1938, North West Europe, 1939-1940 and 1944-1945, including the arrest of the Grand Adm Karl Doenitz (Operation BLACKOUT) in May 1945, Palestine, 1947, Germany, 1948, and Egypt, 1954-1957, including the Suez Crisis, 1956, written in 1984. Photographs relating to the arrest of Doenitz, Germany, 1945.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

1 file

Conditions governing access:

Open, subject to signature of reader's undertaking form.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, attention of the Director of Archive Services.

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

Summary guide available on-line at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/top.htm, and in hard copy in the Centre's reading room.

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Copies made by the Centre from originals lent by Churcher in 1991.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Shropshire Regiment Museum holds a copy of the memoir.

Related material:

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Decorations: CB, DSO

Date(s) of descriptions: Nov 1996


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Armed forces | State security
Canals | Transport infrastructure
Memoirs | Documents | Information sources
Operation Blackout (1945) | Military operations | Military engineering
Photographs | Visual materials
War | International conflicts
Warfare | Military engineering
World War Two (1939-1945) | World wars (events) | Wars (events)
International relations
Military organizations
Primary documents
Waterways

Personal names
Churcher | John Bryan | 1905-1997 | Major General
Donitz | Karl | 1891-1980 | German Admiral

Corporate names
British Army

Places
Germany | Western Europe | Europe
India | South Asia
Palestine | Middle East
Suez | Urban | Egypt | North Africa