Anyone require War Diaries or other files from the National Archives?

Discussion in 'For Sale & For Trade' started by Drew5233, Mar 8, 2011.

  1. Jonathan Ball

    Jonathan Ball It's a way of life.

    Andy

    Disc arrived this morning and is great.

    Cheers mate.
     
    Drew5233 likes this.
  2. Jen'sHusband

    Jen'sHusband Punchbag

    I took Andy up on his offer to provide me with a copy war diary, and it arrived in the post yesterday. It's already made for wonderfully engaging reading and I look forward to going through the remainder over the coming days (though my girlfriend doesn't!)

    I looked at the cost - 10p per page and realised that if I were to travel to Kew, the fuel alone would outweight the cost of paying Andy to do it all for me. And then there's the time!

    I would heartily recommend taking advantage of Andy's trips to Kew - aside from writing a cheque, I didn't have to do anything and have a pukka war diary to leaf through whenever the mood takes me. Result.

    Just need to decide which one I'd like next...
     
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  3. Nicola_G

    Nicola_G Senior Member

    Hi Andy

    If you go again I would be interested in going with you. I need to check some more stuff relating to my uncle and it would be good to have a knowledgable person 'on hand' lol. I got help last time from the staff, but have a feeling I might have missed stuff.

    I'm only in Ealing so its easy for me to get to Kew (2 buses) so can met at any time.

    Thanks
     
  4. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Hi Andy

    If you go again I would be interested in going with you. I need to check some more stuff relating to my uncle and it would be good to have a knowledgable person 'on hand' lol. I got help last time from the staff, but have a feeling I might have missed stuff.

    I'm only in Ealing so its easy for me to get to Kew (2 buses) so can met at any time.

    Thanks

    Hi Nicola,

    Drop me a PM if you need some help looking for specific units/files or better still start a thread in the research sub-forum (100 heads are better than two etc).

    The best way to do things is to find what you are after before you go or you can end up loosing valuable time looking for files/diaries rather than copying them.

    Regards
    Andy
     
  5. Ben Blackwell

    Ben Blackwell Member

    Thanks for the most recent discs. They are very interesting and have helped my research a lot.
    Ben
     
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  6. Nicola_G

    Nicola_G Senior Member

    Drew PsyOrg is going tomorrow and is checking some files for me. If I don't get any joy from that I will let you know. Thanks
     
  7. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    My next trip will be next Tuesday, 26th April.

    Feel free to PM me any requests.

    Cheers
    Andy
     
  8. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    A few new members have recently been asking me what exactly do War Diaries contain. Thinking that a picture paints a thousand words I thought I post a series of different examples of what can be found within the whole file.

    Whilst nearly all the diaries will contain a written account (Typed or hand written) in chronological order and seperated into monthly entries the degree of detail varies greatly depending on who is writing it and what is happening at the time of writing. In the main they can come in two forms: Either a day to day log of accounts like you would expect with a diary or a summary of events written after the event from memory or notes.

    Unit War Diaries can also contain the following:

    Sketch Maps and Trace Maps which are excellent for identifying where a unit was, sometimes down to an actual house. They vary in detail depending on the artists skills. Trace maps are on tracing paper and are designed to sit on a master map. Some of these can be hard to identify a location but some are not.

    Officer and Other Ranks Field Returns These help to track the career of an officer within a unit. A must for anyone researching an officer. Unfortunately the Other Ranks section are normally less detailed but sometimes do contain the names of men attached to or from another unit and those away receiving mediacl treatment to give a few examples.

    Unit Nominal Rolls These contain the names of everyone in a battalion and sometimes list them down to Company level. A rarety in a war diary but they do exsist.

    Standing Orders and Similiar Pages These contain all the information form a higher command that needs to be passed onto soldiers further down the chain of command within a unit and can list anything from what uniform and equipment is to be carried to who a duty officer is.

    Intelligence Reports All the latest information available at the time on the enemy. Some can be very interesting looking back with hindsight and seeing what was actually thought at the time.

    Special Orders of the Day and Messages from Commanders Original messages from Commanders like Montgomery that were read to troops before embarking on a major operation.

    Patrol Reports These contain a detailed account by an officer from one individual patrol and anything that happened on that patrol.

    Battle Accounts Similiar to the above but covering a battle rather than a patrol.

    March or Movement Tables A chart that shows in reasonable detail how a unit moves from one place to another. Some list the drivers names and registration marks of their vehicles and some don't.

    Newspaper Clippings and Articles printed at home or abroad about a unit can be added to the diary at a later date.

    Propaganda Leaflets Original leaflets dropped by the enemy and attached to the units file.

    Battalion News Sheets Designed to boost morale and keep troops on the ground informed with what was going on around the world, at home and on their front.

    I'm sure other members that are familiar with war diaries held at Kew would agree there can be much more information available too and the above is just a selection of what you might find within a diary. I think its fair to say from my experience that the thicker diaries are bar far the best as they contain the most information.

    But remember when all is said and done though-YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO GET IN A DIARY UNTIL IT IS ORDERED AND VIEWED.

    Below I've listed some examples of what I have mentioned above so you can see what you could end up with.

    Many thanks
    Andy
     
  9. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

  10. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

  11. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

  12. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

  13. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

  14. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

  15. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

  16. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

  17. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

  18. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

  19. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

  20. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

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