Ordnance Insignia of the British Army

Bibliography
Books about the history or life within the RAOC
(Books highlighted in RED are Known Out of Print)
Information on other books detailing the history of the RAOC welcomed.  

Officail History's of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps

A Summery History of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps
Published on the granting of the title 'Royal' and amalgamation of
the Army Ordnance Department and Army Ordnance Corps
By the RAOC Aid Society (HQ RAOC Hilsea, 1919)

A History of the Army Ordnance Services
Volume 1 - Ancient History (until 1856)
Volume 2 - Modern History (until 1902)
Volume 3 - The Great War
By Major General A Forbes (The Medici Society, 1920)

The First Five Hundred Years
Published by the RAOC School August 1962 for Instructional Purposes.
An Outline History of the Predecessors of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps from the Beginning to 1914

A History of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps 1920 - 1945
By Brigadier A H Fernyhough (RAOC Trust 1965)

A Short History of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (First Edition)
By Brigadier A H Fernyhough (RAOC Trust 1965)
Updated as
A Short History of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (Second Edition)
By Brigadier A H Fernyhough (RAOC Trust 1977)
A 125 page concise history of the RAOC first published in 1965
Reprint contains all the same content of the 1965 'first edition' with added new materiel up to 1977

A History of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps 1945 - 1982
By Major General L T H Phelps (RAOC Trust 1992)

History of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps 1918-1993
By Brigadier Frank Steer (Pen & Sword 2005)

Other RAOC Published Books

21 Army Group Ordnance - The History of the Campaign
By Major J Lee-Richardson, R.A.O.C. (Published & Printed by 21 Army Group Ordnance, Germany 1946)
Story of 21 Army Group Ordnance, D-Day and beyond. Planning, units and tasks involved.

Chelwell 1939-1945
Edited by W.C. Rowe (Published & Printed by COD Chilwell 1946)
A2 Illustrated history of WWII Activities at Chilwell with contemporary adverts.

The Corps Badge Précis No. DEP 4/17
By the RAOC School c1950 (later School of Ordnance)
32 page booklet on the history of Ordnance Insignia

Ordnance Flags. Their origin and use past and present
By Brigadier G.A.Viner OBE (Retd) c1955
A 28 page illustrated booklet

The Royal Army Ordnance Corps
The War Office (Ord 1) c1960 (A bi-annual publication)
 Approximately175 illustrated page book aimed at potential soldiers and junior leaders.

RAOC - Supplying the Army
The Prospectus of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps
Ministry of Defence (Bi-Annual in the 1980's & early 90's)
Approximately 100 illustrated page A4 book aimed at potential officers, soldiers and junior leaders.

The Personal Memoirs of  10584589 Pte E.V.B. (Ted) Mordecai 
Advance Parachute Recce Party, 1st Airborne Div OFP
Operation Market Garden, Arnhem Bridge. September 1944 (Never Published)

50 Years of COD Bicester and Bicester Garrison 1942-1992
Produced by HQ Bicester Garrison and printed by Launton Press

Central Ammunition Depot Kineton - The First Fifty Years 1942-1992
Published by HQ CAD Kineton and printed by Regional Printing Centre COD Bicester

The Chilwell Story
Published by the RAOC Gazette, 1982 (Reprinted 2007)
VC Factory and Ordnance Depot

Schoolboy to Soldier 1935-1945
By Clement Hoyle (Serendipity 2006)
From Pre-War  RAOC Boy Soldier to REME Armourer during WWII

Forgotten Conscripts
By Eric L
owe (Trafford Publishing 2007)
The RAOC in Palestine 1945-1948

Other Publications

Two Years in the Army (1904-1906)
 By Herbert E.E. Hayes (Privately Published c1920)
Memoirs of a Private Soldier in the A.O.C.

Tail of an Army
By J.K. Stanford (Phoenix House 1966)
Autobiographical of an RAOC Officers from 1939 to 1945

Mans inhumanity to man
My own experiences of the 1939-45 war
By James W. Tayler (Privately Published 1981)

Six Wasted Years
By Len Williamson (Merlin Books 1988)
From being captured at Dunkirk to life as a POW

Bicester Military Railway
By E.R. Lawton & Major M.W. Sacket (Oxford Press Co. 1992)

Our Predecessors, An Historical Perspective
By the Publications Committee of The Royal Logistic Corps 1995 (Re-published 2005)
An illustrated booklet on the history of Forming Corps

The Secret Underground City
Published by Pen & Sword Books, 1998
History of the underground CAD Corsham & its sub-depots.

Arnham, The Fight to Sustain
By Brigadier Frank Steer (Leo Cooper 2000)
The Untold story of the Airborne Logisticians in Operation “Market Garden”

The Mother of all Battles
By Terry Walker (DreamStar Books 2003)
Personal history from early life as an Army Brat (RAOC Father)
to service life in the early 90s from Northern Ireland (321 EOD Coy) to the Gulf War.

The History of the Church of St Barbara [Deepcut] 1901-2008 (updated 4th edition)
Printed by the RLC Association, and published by the Church Council

Books on Bomb Disposal and 321 EOD Company RAOC :

Bombs have no pity
By Lieut-Colonel George Styles G.C. (William Luscombe 1975)
My War Against Terrorism

Fetch Felix
By Lieut-Col Derrick Patrick ( Hamish Hamilton 1981)
The Fight Against the Ulster Bombers 1976-1977

A Price on my Head
By Kevin Callaghan GM QGM (Owl Books 1993)
Retired RAOC AT WO1 & RLC TA EOD Officer

Braver Men Walk Away
By Peter Gurney MBE GM & Bar (HarperCollins 1993)
Memoirs of the World's Top Bomb-Disposal Expert
Retired RAOC AT Conductor & SO13 Explosives Officer

The Longest Walk, The World of Bomb Disposal
By Peter Birchall (Arms & Armour Press 1997)
History of the ‘Ammunition Technician’ Trade 1896 - 1996

A Special Kind of Courage
By Chris Ryder (Methuen 2005)
Story of 321 EOD Company/Squadron - Battling the Bombers