£100
WARTIME DIARIES: a group of 5 diaries compiled by one A H Morris circa 1933-49: a detailed record of the progress of the war: in 1942 Morris joins the eastern fleet onboard the newly commissioned 'Gambia': leaving Rosyth March 2nd 1942 to join rest of fleet at Mombasa: they proceed to Colombo where they receive orders to go onto Diego Suarez, 'part of operations designed to occupy the whole of Madagascar'. September 18th Morris records bombardment of Tamatave, a port city on the east coast of Madagascar...' 'we plastered the town pretty well, one salvo blew the top half of the lighthouse off'. The Vichy Governor had initially refused to surrender but after this bombardment 'the white flag was run up ashore, the ceasefire sounded and the commandos were landed on the beaches' Morris is disturbed by heavy losses of the convoys: 'the shipping position is serious, we're losing ships must faster than we can replace them. We've lost at least 9 million tons..' he blames the French who 'have turned over to the Nazis every bit of secret information, secret codes and methods that we had imparted to them'. Small format clothbound albums of period, generally in good condition. (5)
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