Description

Sm. 4to., with coloured formation signs of twenty-six Second Army units on front wrapper; original printed wrappers, wire-stitched as issued, covers very lightly age-soiled, staples very lightly rusting else a remarkably crisp, bright, clean copy. This humble Order of Service is surely the single document which, for every individual soldier in Dempsey's Second Army, symbolised the end of the gruelling twelve months which lasted from from the beaches of Normandy to the heath at Luneberg and brought the end of war in Europe. The front wrapper carries a striking coloured montage of badges of the major formations involved, comprising Second Army, 1 Corps, 8 Corps, 12 Corps, 30 Corps, Airborne Corps, Guards Armoured Division, 7 Armoured Division, 11 Armoured Division, 3 Infantry Division, 5 Infantry Division, 15 (Scottish) Infantry Division, 43 (Wessex) Infantry Division, 49 (West Riding) Infantry Division, 50 (Northumbrian) Infantry Division, 51 (Highland) Infantry Division, 52 (Lowland) Infantry Division, 53 (Welsh) Infantry Division, 59 (Staffordshire) Infantry Division, 6 Guards Tank Brigade, 4 Armoured Brigade, 8 Armoured Brigade, 27 Armoured Brigade, 33 Armoured Brigade, 34 Armoured Brigade, 115 Independent Infantry Brigade. SCARCE IN THIS CONDITION. Cole reproduces the wrapper in his standard reference 'Heraldry in War' (plate facing p.120).