I would like to find citations for Mentioned in Despatches for the following members of the 8th Rifle Brigade. I suppose these were made, before an MiD could be awarded? Any clues?! Lt. R.B.M. Adams, MiD, French Croix de Guerre Sgt. W.F. Bonner, MiD Lt. D.A.O. Davies, MiD Rfn. R.E. Elmes, MiD Sgt. R.J. Farmer, MiD Capt. N.T.A. Fiennes, MiD Lt. P.S. Hodge, MiD Sgt. J. Macaulay, MiD Capt. J.H.J. Maidlow, MiD Sgt. D.N. Millwood, MiD CSM W. Page, MiD Rfn. F. Pocock, MiD Sgt. P.L. Rodwell, MiD Maj. A.P. Rowan, MiD
I presume you have searched WO 373 series? The National Archives | Discovery Advanced Search Form (There are a few instances when MiD citations have been archived. The majority, however, have not survived: some BEF / 1940, POW-related cases, for either before or during captivity, which were dealt with after liberation, those recommended for a higher award downgraded during the process to a Mention.)
Indeed, just 28 records for combination of words "mentions AND despatches AND rifle AND brigade" in National Archives, including "Other records". None of the ones I am looking for. Any other possible sources? Did the recipient receive a copy of the recommendation? And thanks for all replies so far!
For my own attempts at unit research in the past, I trawled through the war diaries. Of course there weren't any direct references to most awards, but sometimes, if you become familiar with the war diary, the way specific info is recorded, you might get a feel for why a person's name might have been placed in the diary relating to certain incident. That's entirely guesswork, of course, and having no clues as to actual dates of actions - ie LG lumps them all together months after the fact - doesn't help either. All you can prove is that the action occurred 'sometime before the LG date' ! Because of the standardisation of correspondence - to save time no doubt, there seems to be nothing of help there either. See an example of WW2 MiD certification via this link Mentioned in dispatches ยท IBCC Digital Archive This is an example, posted in Gallery by a forum member, of correspondence relating to award of the actual Oak Leaf emblem Oak Leaf | WW2Talk Have you got a copy of his recommendation for CdeG? Nothing definitive either but having looked a many Foreign to Brit awards, I have a hunch that some of these were a way of making up for well-deserving personnel not getting some higher recognition via British procedures. If they're detailed enough there might be a clue or reference in that citation to the same action for which they were previously Mentioned. By their nature these awards are confined to actions within a particular country, so again not helpful for service within an entire Theatre.
