WARTIME HISTORICAL DIARY FOR 1944.

WARTIME HISTORICAL DIARY FOR 1944.
STAMIR, CAPTAIN C.L. [Wartime Historical Diary for 1944.] England: dated January 1st to November 8th, 1944.
A wartime diary documenting the progress of the war around the world, from January 1st to November 8th 1944, 8vo, paginated 503-600, with 6 pp at end listing naval losses for the British, Japanese, German and US fleets. Written in a official lined notebook in black ink, in a fair hand, with numerous newspaper clippings loosely inserted. Original cloth backed boards, slightly rubbed.
Provenance: "C.L. Stamir. 1944" (inscribed on front paste-down with the added words "Captan" (sic)and "Royal Navy" added in a younger and later hand).

An interesting wartime historical record listing the principal world events throughout 1944, one of the most traumatic years of the war. The author appears to have been based in London, hence the use of the London press clippings, and may have been an information officer in the Navy Department in Whitehall, London. He was certainly not on active service abroad given his access to London Press clippings. The collation of information is very precise and accurate, and his listings of naval losses, and his observation on the types of Japanese ships sunk, "the light cruisers may be large escort destroyers, it being difficult to make sure from a great height," i.e., using aerial photography. This is information that only a military analyst in this field would know. This diary appears to have been one of a series of volumes documenting the course of the war, and may well have been drawn up as part of a weekly information news bulletin, to be circulated in Whitehall.