WORLD WAR II: WARTIME DIARY FOR 1944., STAMIR, CAPTAIN C.L.

A wartime diary documenting the progress of the war around the world... England: dated January 1st to November 8th, 1944.

STAMIR, CAPTAIN C.L.
A wartime diary documenting the progress of the war around the world... England: dated January 1st to November 8th, 1944.
8vo, 98 leaves, numbered 503-600, mostly written on rectos only, 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 small neat hand, with numerous newspaper clippings loosely inserted. Original cloth backed boards, slightly rubbed.
Provenance: "C.L. Stamir. 1944" (inscribed on front paste-down, "Captan" [sic]and "Royal Navy" added in a younger and later hand).

An interesting record of the principal world events throughout 1944, one of the most traumatic years of World War II. The author appears to have been based in London, and connected to Navy Dept Intelligence, hence the use of the London press clippings. Captain Stamir might have been an information officer in the Navy Department in Whitehall, London. 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," show that the information came from aerial photography, 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, year by year, and may well have been prepared a weekly information news bulletin, the printed bulletin being circulated around Whitehall.