Catalogue description SECTION C LONG RANGE DESERT GROUP (LRDG)

Maps used by the LRDG, and compiled using information supplied by them, may be found at NCUACS35.3.92/D.70-NCUACS35.3.92/D.96. Photographs of the LRDG may be found at NCUACS35.3.92/E.45-NCUACS35.3.92/E.54.

Bagnold was recalled to the army in August 1939. He was originally posted to Kenya but his troopship collided in the Mediterranean en route and put in for repair in Egypt. General Wavell requested that Bagnold remain in the Middle East and he was posted to the signals unit of General Hobart's armoured division.

With the threat of Italy entering the war and launching an attack into Egypt through the Libyan Desert, Bagnold began pressing from November 1939 for the establishment of a unit prepared to undertake reconnaissance and small-scale raids in the desert behind enemy lines. Italy declared war in June 1940 and in July General Wavell gave Bagnold permission to establish the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) along the lines he had suggested. Initially all the LRDG were drawn from New Zealand forces, later Rhodesian and British patrols were formed. The LRDG was a great success and made a significant contribution to the Allied victory in North Africa. Bagnold was awarded the OBE (Military) in 1941.

Bagnold conceived the idea of writing the story of the LRDG at an early date and retained and collected material for this purpose. He began drafting chapters during the war. In 1945 he gave an account of the 'Early Days of the Long Range Desert Group' which appeared in The Geographical Journal 105. The contemporary history of the LRDG was, however, written by W. B. K. Shaw (Long Range Desert Group, Collins, London, 1945).