A Note on Sources

A Game of Birds and Wolves is a work of historical narrative non-fiction. Neither the dialogue nor events described in this book have been fabricated or elaborated, but are taken from diaries, memoirs, first-hand interviews and secondary historical sources according to the best recollections of the various players and protagonists. Where I found minor discrepancies in dialogue between sources, I have used the version closest to the date of the event described.

Archival and Unpublished Sources

Associated Press Archive, AP

Bodleian Library, John Johnson Collection

British Film Institute National Archive, BFI

Derby House ‘Area Combined HQ’ blueprints

Duncan, June, unpublished diaries, courtesy of Liverpool Museum

General Register Office, Southport, GRO

Gretton Family Papers, private collection of Michael Gretton

Hall, (née Carlisle) Mary, unpublished memoir, courtesy of Second World War Experience Centre

Horsfall, Mary Charlotte, eulogy, courtesy of Jez Robinson

Imperial War Museum, IWM

Kensington and Chelsea Local Authority Archives, KCLA

Laidlaw, Jean, Last Will and Testament

Lamb, John, Last Tales of a Dog-Watch, unpublished memoir

Naval History.net, NHN

Osborne, Nancy, unpublished memoir

Osborne, Fred, Looking Astern After 50 Years, self-published memoir, Sydney, 1995

Parkin, Dynley, unpublished memoir

Roberts Family Papers, private collection of Susan Osman

Roberts, Gilbert, Life and Letters of Gilbert Howland Roberts, unpublished diaries

The National Archives, Kew, Surrey, TNA

U-boat Archive.net, UBA

Wales, Nancy, eulogy, courtesy of Bridger Anthony

Wartime Memories Project, WMP

Western Approaches Museum, Liverpool, WAM

WW2 People’s War Archive, BBC

Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library, YLS