MILLS-ROBERTS, Brig Derek (1908-1980)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0099 KCLMA Mills-Roberts
Held at	: Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.kingscollections.org/catalogues/lhcma ›
Full title	: MILLS-ROBERTS, Brig Derek (1908-1980)
Date(s)	: Created [1942-1981]
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 2 boxes or 0.02 cubic metres
Name of creator(s)	: Roberts | Derek Mills- | 1908-1980 | Brigadier

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born in 1908; educated at Liverpool College and Oxford University; worked for his father's firm of solicitors, 1935; joined Supplementary Reserve of Officers, Irish Guards, 1936; joined 1 Bn, Irish Guards, 1939-1942, and served in Norway; transferred to special services No 4 Commando, 1942; took part in Dieppe Raid, Aug 1942; Lt Col, 1943; Commanding Officer, No 6 Commando, North Africa, 1943; Brig, 1944; commanded 1 Special Service Bde (later 1 Commando Bde), North West Europe, 1944-1945; accepted the surrender of FM Erhard Milch at Neustadt, May 1945; retired from Army, 1945; commanded 125 Infantry Bde, Territorial Army, 1947-1951; died in 1980

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers relating to his service with the Commandos, 1942-1945, dated [1942-1981]comprising:
papers on service with No.4 Commando, May-Dec 1942, principally on the Dieppe Raid, Aug 1942, including report by Mills-Roberts on training exercise on the Isle of Arran, 25-26 Jun 1942; reports on Orange Beach landing; report on destruction of 6 inch gun battery at Varangeville; detailed report 'Lessons Learned on Combined Operations'; and letters of congratulation on award of MC;
papers on service with No.6 Commando, Apr-May 1943, North Africa, including letters from General Dwight D Eisenhower and Maj-Gen Robert Laycock and letters of congratulation on award of DSO;
papers on service with 1st Special Service (Commando) Bde, Jun 1944 - May 1945 including: account of part taken by No 1 Special Service Brigade in Operation OVERLORD, 6 Jun - 26 Aug 1944; narrative by Mills Roberts on action from 16-21 Aug 1944; report of No 1 Special Service Bde operations around Dozule and L'Epine, 19-21 Aug 1944; report of operations by 1st Commando Bde east of the River Maas, 19 Jan - 1 Feb 1945; 'Five Rivers' - account of 1st Commando Bde in Germany, 1945, on the avdance from the Meuse to the Baltic, crossing the Meuse, Rhine, Weser, Aller and Elbe; 'United We Stand' diary of L Cpl Cliff Morris, No 3 Troop, 6 Commando, detailed personal account of action from 6 Jun 1944 - 7 May 1945; papers relating to the arrest of FM Erhard Milch in 1945, dated 1946, 1969; maps of Ouistreham, St Aubin, Caen, Dozule;
papers on commando training, 1942-1950 including account of 6 Commando training by Mills-Roberts, 1943-1944;
manuscript of Clash by Night (William Kimber, London, 1956) and notes to Simon Christopher Joseph Fraser Lovat, 17th Lord Lovat, concerning Lovat's book March Past (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1978), dated 1977-1981;
photographs, 1942, 1944-1945, 1947, including German propaganda photographs of Dieppe Raid, 1942, and photographs relating to Commando service in World War Two, 1944-1945, dated 1944-1945, 1947, including Normandy, Jun 1944, and Germany, 1945.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Arranged in the following sections: No 4 Commando; No 6 Commando; 1 Commando Bde; Milch; Commando training documents and other papers; Clash by night, and notes on book by Lovat; general correspondence and other papers; photographs; postcards.

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.

Finding aids:

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

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Presented to the Centre by the family in 1981.

Allied Materials

Related material:

The papers of Col Thomas Graham Lindsay include a typescript account of operations carried out by1 Commando Bde and 7 Armoured Div, Holland, 1945, written by [Mills-Roberts in 1945] .

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:

Date(s) of descriptions:
Apr 1997