Ffeil = File L 1/16. - Letters

Original file of letters, numbered 1-136, from 151385 Lieut, later Captain, Geoffrey Woolley, RA, 118 Battery, 75th Anti-Tank Reg. (June 1944-May 1945), later 151385 Captain Geoffrey Woolley, RA, Q Branch, HQ 8 Corps, BLA (May-Oct. 1945; gap 27 Aug.-26 Oct. inclusive), mainly from France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. Includes descriptions of the welcome in liberated areas of France and 'A-' [Antwerp?] (July-Sept. 1944); mention of Maurice Turnbull's death (22 Aug.); in the Netherlands, including billets in Dutch farmhouses and houses (Sept. 1944-Jan. 1945), and "an excellent house ... The owner, who is now in prison, was chief local collaborator with the Germans" (2 Feb.); implied invasion of Germany, "no nice baths or friendly people at the moment" (25 Feb.), "all the civilians I have seen are certainly better nourished than people we've seen in several other countries" (27 Feb.); meeting the Friends' Ambulance Unit (6 March); Rhine crossing (7 April); "Yesterday my battery found close on 600 British prisoners in a small village, & gathered them in ... the Arnheim boys full of life, but some of the 1940 prisoners almost skeletons. All said the Red Cross parcels kept them alive" (19 April); Hitler's death, "Yes, Donitz is a surprise successor - probably chosen to raise morale in Hamburg, Keil, Lubech etc" (2 May); VE Day (8 May); transfer to staff job as PA to the Administrative & Quartering Brigadier in the Schleswig-Holstein District (17 May); and "Well, another war over, - in fact, no wars at all at the moment" (16 Aug.). Also several field service post cards; copies of printed messages from Dwight Eisenhower, SHAEF, and Montgomery, commander-in-chief of 21 Army Group, and a five-franc "occupation franc" note, sent home 23 June 1944.