Greenwood, Cecil Frederick MID (Lieutenant, b.1921)

Four handwritten Second World War diaries, compiled in variously sized card-covered notebooks by Lieutenant Cecil Frederick Greenwood (formerly NX16036 Private Cecil F Greenwood) covering the period 20 July 1940 to 29 October 1944. Entries, written in a direct and powerful stytle, detail Lt Greenwood's training in Australia, voyage to the Middle East and active service in North Africa (including accounts of trench warfare style operations in and around Tobruk and his unit's involvement in the El Alamein fighting) with 2/17 Battalion. Also, details of his involvement with an Infantry Training Battalion in Palestine, return to Australia in 1943, officer training and commission and subsequent service in New Guinea with the 22nd Employment Company and 22 Battalion. Note the entries in the two later diaries, covering his post-North African service are more intermittent and less detailed than those for the two earlier volumes. Also included in the collection is an illustrated typescript memoir of service with full transcription of the original diary entries and additional biographical details regarding Lt Greenwood's pre-war life.