Naval Intelligence Handbooks


The British Naval Intelligence Division Geographical Handbook Series was produced between 1941 and 1946. At 31 titles, encompassing 58 volumes, this is the largest single body of geographical writing ever published. The books were written to provide information for the Allied war effort. They were written by academics in two teams, one based in Cambridge and the other at Oxford. As lives depended on the information presented in the Handbooks, speed of production and accuracy of content were paramount. After the war, many of these handbooks were re-published, in modified form, as textbooks.
The Geographical Section of the Naval Intelligence Division, Naval Staff, Admiralty, also produced a series of Handbooks from 1917 to 1922 covering the same Geographical topics as World War II series above. They are listed below;

Content

Although entitled Naval Intelligence Handbooks, the Handbooks were intended for use by all of the British Armed Forces, and covered whole countries, not just the coastal regions. Topics included relief, coasts, climate, peopling, history, administration, population geography, economic geography and transport geography. Additional information, such as vegetation zones and medical notes, was provided in appendices.

The published Handbooks, year of publication and location of team

  • Albania, B.R. 542
  • Algeria, B.R. 505
  • The Belgian Congo, B.R. 522
  • Belgium, B.R. 521
  • China Proper, B.R. 530-530B
  • Corsica, B.R. 508
  • Denmark, B.R. 509
  • Dodecanese, B.R. 500
  • France, B.R. 503-503C
  • French Equatorial Africa and Cameroons, B.R. 515
  • French West Africa, B.R. 512, 512A
  • Germany, B.R. 529-529C
  • Greece, B.R. 516, 516A, 516B
  • Iceland, B.R. 504
  • Indo-China, B.R. 510
  • Iraq and the Persian Gulf, B.R. 524
  • Italy, B.R. 517-517C
  • Jugoslavia, B.R. 493, 493A, 493B
  • Luxembourg, B.R. 528
  • Morocco, B.R. 506
  • Netherlands, B.R. 549
  • Netherlands East Indies, B.R. 518, 518A
  • Norway, B.R. 501, 501A
  • Pacific Islands, B.R. 519-519C ", 1944; volume 4, "Western Pacific
  • Palestine and Transjordan, B.R. 514
  • Persia, B.R. 525
  • Spain and Portugal, B.R. 502
  • Syria, B.R. 513
  • Tunisia, B.R. 523
  • Turkey, B.R. 507, 507A
  • Western Arabia and the Red Sea, B.R. 527
World War I series ;
  • I.D. 447 Abyssinia
  • I.D. 908 Morocco
  • I.D. 1020? River Danube
  • I.D. 1055 German East Africa
  • I.D. 1096 Serbia, Montenegro, Albania and adjacent parts of Greece
  • I.D. 1114 Macedonia and surrounding territories
  • I.D. 1128 Arabia ; volume 2 "Routes" w/ 4 folding maps )
  • I.D. 1129 Turkey in Europe
  • I.D. 1155 Bulgaria
  • I.D. 1161 Portuguese Nyasaland
  • I.D. 1162 Libya
  • I.D. 1168 Belgium and adjoining territories
  • I.D. 1174 French Guiana
  • I.D. 1177 Mesopotamia and its borderlands
  • I.D. 1189 Portuguese East Africa
  • I.D. 1199 A Manual on the Turanians and pan-Turanianism
  • I.D. 1204 Roumania
  • I.D. 1205 Mexico
  • I.D. 1207 Siberia and Arctic Russia
  • I.D. 1208 Finland
  • I.D. 1209 Netherlands India
  • I.D. 1211 Alsace-Lorraine
  • I.D. 1213 Belgian Congo
  • I.D. 1214 Norway and Sweden
  • I.D. 1215 Syria
  • I.D. 1216 Kenya Colony
  • I.D. 1217 Uganda Protectorate
  • I.D. 1218 Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
  • I.D. 1219 Turkey.
  • I.D. 1221 Greece
  • ''C.B. 847 A-B Asia Minor''

    Team members (selected)

  • Stanley H. Beaver
  • Robert Percy Beckinsale
  • A. E. P. Collins
  • John Winter Crowfoot
  • Henry Clifford Darby
  • Dr J. W. Davidson
  • Elwyn Davies
  • Dr Margaret Davies
  • A. Digby
  • Raymond Firth
  • Walter Fogg
  • Idris L. Foster
  • D. W. Fryer
  • E. W. Gilbert
  • C. F. W. R. Gullick
  • Dr J. V. Harrison
  • A. H. Hyamson
  • J. R. James
  • H. A. Jensen
  • A. F. Martin
  • Professor Kenneth Mason
  • Francis John Monkhouse
  • F. W. Morgan
  • Sir John Linton Myres
  • A. C. O'Dell
  • E. J. Passant
  • Brian B. Roberts
  • K. S. Sandford
  • Dr Hugh Scott
  • Eileen Steel
  • Robert Steel
  • John Corrie Stuttard
  • Thomas Gaskell Tutin
  • Norman White
  • Brigadier Harold St. John Loyd Winterbotham
  • Sir James Mann Wordie