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

WYNNE, Capt Graeme Chamley (1889-1964)

IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0099 KCLMA Wynne

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

Title: WYNNE, Capt Graeme Chamley (1889-1964)

Date(s): 1908-1974

Level of description: Collection (fonds)

Extent: 0.5 box or 0.05 cubic metres

Name of creator(s): Wynne | Graeme Chamley | 1889-1954 | Captain

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born 1889; commissioned into the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, 1907; Lt, 1912; Platoon commander, 2 Bn, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, Dublin and Carrickfergus, Ireland, 1914; served in World War One, 1914-1918; service with 2 Bn, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, 13 Infantry Bde, 5 Div, 2 Corps, British Expeditionary Force (BEF), France and Belgium, Aug-Sep 1914; retreat from Mons, Belgium, Aug 1914; Battle of Le Cateau, France, 26 Aug 1914; captured by German forces, Le Cateau, France, 26 Aug 1914; POW, Germany, Sep 1914-Jan 1918; Capt, 1915; interned in the Netherlands, Jan-Nov 1918; employed by the Historical Section, Committee of Imperial Defence ( later Historical Section, Cabinet Office), 1918-1956; resigned from Army, 1927; retired 1956; died 1964. Publications: Compiled, with Brig Gen Sir James (Edward) Edmonds, Military operations, France and Belgium, 1915. Volume I ( Macmillan, London, 1927); If Germany attacks. The battle in depth in the west (Faber and Faber, London, 1940).

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers, 1908-1974, including Wynne's letters home to his father from Germany, 1908-1911, including detailed descriptions of illegal duelling by students in Hannover, Germany and calling card of General Otto von Emmich, Commander, 10 Army Corps, Hannover, Germany, 1909-1915. Bound typescript account by Wynne, 29 Jul-4 Sep 1914, on his experiences in the BEF's (British Expeditionary Force's) retreat from Mons, Belgium, the Battle of Le Cateau, France, and capture by German forces during the Battle of Le Cateau, France, 26 Aug 1914, written as a POW in Germany, Sep-Oct 1914. Correspondence, press cutting, menus and Christmas cards relating to time as POW, Germany and Netherlands, 1914-1918, including letters written to parents from Portobello Barracks, Dublin, immediately before embarkation for France, Aug 1914; cutting from The Morning Post, 3 Sept 1914, listing Wynne as killed; letter home from POW camp, Magdeburg, Germany, 30 Dec 1914, referring to incorrect report of his death; menus, playing cards and Christmas cards with watercolours by Wynne and signatures of fellow POW's. Correspondence and papers relating to Wynne's work for the Historical Section, Cabinet Office, and to his publications, 1928-1958, including two letters from Maj Gen Sir Ernest (Dunlop) Swinton relating to German defence systems, 30 Sep 1939, and to Wynne's book, If Germany attacks. The battle in depth in the west (Faber and Faber, London, 1940), 2 Feb 1940; manuscript diary and typescript report by Wynne on an official visit to North Africa, 12 Apr-23 May 1943; letters to Wynne from Lt Gen Sir Kenneth Arthur Noel Anderson, General Officer Commanding 1 Army, North Africa, rebutting allegations reported to Wynne by troops of 8 Army of Anderson's poor handling of 1 Army in operations in North Africa, May 1943; three letters from Capt Basil Henry Liddell Hart, dated Jan-Jul 1958, relating to Wynne's article on the Schlieffen plan and The Schlieffen plan. Critique of a myth by Professor Gerhard Ritter (Oswald Wolff, London, 1958). Correspondence, 1939-1974, relating to Wynne's publications, including his book If Germany attacks. The battle in depth in the west (Faber and Faber, London, 1940). Also photograph of Wynne's father, General Sir Arthur Singleton Wynne, c.1914.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

The collection is arranged chronologically.

Conditions governing access:

Open, subject to signature of Reader's undertaking form, and appropriate provision of two forms of identification.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be provided forresearch 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 Archives and Information Management.

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

Summary guide available on-line.

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Presented to the Centre by the family in 1964 and 1965, with a second accession in 2006.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

The papers of Capt Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart include a note by Liddell Hart on a discussion with Wynne on the Official History of the Great War, Feb 1936 (Ref: Liddell Hart 11/1936/42); typescript comments by Liddell Hart, Jun 1937, on an Army Quarterly article by Wynne on the events of Mar 1918 (Ref: Liddell Hart 10/1937/78); information from Wynne on the official historians of World War Two, 1954 (Ref: Liddell Hart 11/1954/7); note by Liddell Hart on discussion with Wynne about the Schlieffen Plan, Brig Gen Sir James (Edward) Edmonds and the Official History of the Great War, Nov 1957 (Ref: Liddell Hart 11/1957/19); a series of articles by Wynne, 'Pattern for limited (nuclear) war: the riddle of the Schlieffen Plan', from the Royal United Service Institution Journal, 1957-1958, with related correspondence (Ref: Liddell Hart 9/24/206).

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Decorations: OBE

Archivist's note: Revised (2007) entry by Katharine Higgon.