War Diaries through Heritage Canadiana

Discussion in 'Canadian' started by sapperschild, Aug 9, 2014.

  1. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    With the help of Michel, I am working to update the spreadsheet. I will post it as soon as I am done. It looks like you missed only three reels, Michel. I will find which ones are missing.
     
  2. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

  3. Thanks David!

    The logic behind the choice of the added reels somehow escapes me. I would have thought that completing the 3 Cdn Inf Div General Staff series (T-7621 and following), its Inf Bdes (7 CIB : T-12012 and above, 8 CIB : T-12159 and below & 9 CIB : T-12330-1) and all its divisional units would have generated more interest than, for instance, the T-15473 (3 (New Brunswick) Coast Regt RCA) & next rolls. Not that I have anything against the coastal artillery in Canada during WW2, but I'm not sure that they saw much action and that their War Diary must be such a thrill to read...

    I hope they do it later though.

    Michel
     
    Last edited: Sep 21, 2016
  4. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    Actually, Michel, my current line of research is the Canadian Army at Home and those coastal artillery war diaries are a godsend. I will now post an updated spreadsheet based on today's, September 20th, 2016, additions.
     
  5. JohnS

    JohnS Senior Member

    Michel, the logic might be that someone requested them. I know the four that I requested in April are part of this group so I am part of their, `logic'.
     
  6. Well then, it's good to hear that your requests have been met. Mine also have, partially, so I guess I'll try and ask again for the remnant.

    Michel
     
  7. JohnS

    JohnS Senior Member

    Any bets on how long it takes them to upload again?
     
  8. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    Another 268 war diary reels have been posted at the Heritage Canadiana site today. I will spend some time categorizing them and get back to the forum soon.
     
    Mori, dbf and stolpi like this.
  9. JohnS

    JohnS Senior Member

    Wow! They have been busy.
     
  10. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    At this moment in time not all of the new reels have been fed into the site. As of 6:13pm Eastern Standard Time USA, only the new reels up to T-17821 have bee fed into the site. I assume that the rest should feed in over the next number of hours (or days).
     
    canuck likes this.
  11. JohnS

    JohnS Senior Member

    I noticed that too. Btw: I sent a thank you to them for posting all of these reels and I got back a piece of news. Apparently they will be uploading 4 million images to their website over the next few weeks. They have been busy!
     
  12. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    Thanks for the update, John. I imagine it will take some time for all reels to catch up. I hope that some more of the war diaries are among the 4 million images.
     
  13. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    BTW, I am waiting to update the spreadsheet until all the reels are in. The problem is with reels T-21299 to T-21314. The Library and Archives of Canada search engine has not yet categorized these reels so until I look at them at the Heritage Canadiana site I can't find what Volumes are on each reel. For anyone interested the Volumes on these reels are 14900 to 14913. They cover the General Pioneer Companies (2, 3, 4, 56, 22, 23, 27, and 28). Also on these reels are the Chief Signal Officer war diaries for First Canadian Army, 1st Corps, 2nd Corps, Western Command (post-war) and Pacific Command.
     
  14. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    Here are the new reel numbers, as a temporary measure for eager members (sorry no links).

    T-10576
    T-10577
    T-10578
    T-10579
    T-10580
    T-10581
    T-10582
    T-10583
    T-10584
    T-10585
    T-10586
    T-10587
    T-10588
    T-10589
    T-10590
    T-10591
    T-10592
    T-10593
    T-10594
    T-10595
    T-10596
    T-10597
    T-10598
    T-10599
    T-10600
    T-10601
    T-10602
    T-10603
    T-10604
    T-10605
    T-10606
    T-10607
    T-10608
    T-10609
    T-10611
    T-10612
    T-10613
    T-10614
    T-10615
    T-10616
    T-10617
    T-10648
    T-15877
    T-16454
    T-17811
    T-17812
    T-17813
    T-17815
    T-17816
    T-17817
    T-17818
    T-17819
    T-17820
    T-17821
    T-17822
    T-17823
    T-17824
    T-18306
    T-18307
    T-18308
    T-18309
    T-18310
    T-18311
    T-18312
    T-18313
    T-18314
    T-18315
    T-18316
    T-18317
    T-18318
    T-18319
    T-18320
    T-18321
    T-18369
    T-18370
    T-18373
    T-18375
    T-18382
    T-18383
    T-18384
    T-18385
    T-18391
    T-18392
    T-18393
    T-18394
    T-18397
    T-18400
    T-18590
    T-18593
    T-18594
    T-18595
    T-18596
    T-18597
    T-18598
    T-18599
    T-18600
    T-18601
    T-18602
    T-18603
    T-18604
    T-18605
    T-18606
    T-18607
    T-18608
    T-18609
    T-18610
    T-18611
    T-18612
    T-18613
    T-18614
    T-18616
    T-18618
    T-18620
    T-18622
    T-18624

    T-18630
    T-18731
    T-18732
    T-18734
    T-18733
    T-18735
    T-18736
    T-18737
    T-18738
    T-18739
    T-18740
    T-18741
    T-18742
    T-18743
    T-18744
    T-18745
    T-18746
    T-18747
    T-18748
    T-18749
    T-18750
    T-18751
    T-18752
    T-18753
    T-18754
    T-18755
    T-18756
    T-18757
    T-18758
    T-18759
    T-18760
    T-18761
    T-18762
    T-18763
    T-18764
    T-18765
    T-18766
    T-18767
    T-18768
    T-18769
    T-18770
    T-18771
    T-18772
    T-18773
    T-18774
    T-18775
    T-18776
    T-18777
    T-18778
    T-18779
    T-18780
    T-18781
    T-18782
    T-18783
    T-18784
    T-18785
    T-18786
    T-18787
    T-18788
    T-18789
    T-18790
    T-18791
    T-18792
    T-18793
    T-18796
    T-18797
    T-18798
    T-18799
    T-18800
    T-18801
    T-18802
    T-18803
    T-18804
    T-18805
    T-18806
    T-18807
    T-18808
    T-18809
    T-18811
    T-18812
    T-18813
    T-18814
    T-18815
    T-18816
    T-18817
    T-18818
    T-18819
    T-18820
    T-18821
    T-18822
    T-18823
    T-18824
    T-18825
    T-18826
    T-18827
    T-18828
    T-18829
    T-18830
    T-21280
    T-21281
    T-21282
    T-21283
    T-21284
    T-21285
    T-21286
    T-21287
    T-21288
    T-21289
    T-21290
    T-21291
    T-21292
    T-21293
    T-21294
    T-21295
    T-21296
    T-21297
    T-21298
    T-21299
    T-21300
    T-21301
    T-21302
    T-21303
    T-21304
    T-21305
    T-21306
    T-21307
    T-21308
    T-21309
    T-21310
    T-21311
    T-21312
    T-21313
    T-21314
    T-21315
    T-21316
    T-21317
    T-21322
    T-21323
    T-21324
    T-21325
    T-21326
    T-21327
    T-21328
    T-21329
    T-21330
    T-21331
    T-21332
    T-21333
    T-21334
    T-21335
    T-21336
    T-21337
    T-21341
    T-21342
    T-21343
     
  15. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

  16. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    I have updated the Heritage Canadiana war diary spreadsheet to the current number of reels, 1092 as of today, October 1st, 2016. You can download the spreadsheet in the Resource section of the forum. I deleted the old version and put up the new version.
     
    sanmil45 likes this.
  17. Mori

    Mori Active Member

    A big thanks for all the updates on this thread. This is really handy.

    Someone mentioned an automatic download tool: I also made one for myself. If you're not afraid of using a command shell (for only 1 command, no more), send a pm and I'll give you instructions.

    Besides war diaries, LAC has also posted countless files from CMHQ. Many are immensely interesting.
    @dryan67: have you considered making a spreadsheet for this collection too?
     
  18. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    Mori:

    My interest at the moment is with the Canadian Army at Home. In the future I will expand to the Canadian Army in Britain and the CMHQ files will be an important tool. I have also done some work with Movement Control files and the 1946 Army Central Registry, which both concern home forces. I am a Mac person and I tried to put unto effect an automatic download tool using PHP but the program I received was from a PC. Does your command shell work on a Mac? If so, PM me with details.
     
  19. Mori

    Mori Active Member

    Dryan,

    Your spreadsheet made me discover plenty of interesting files, especially the duplicates of German and British archives.

    I can sometimes link the Canadian entries and the TNA (of the NARA) equivalent. For example T-2425 War Diaries, 53rd (Welsh) and 15th (Scottish) Divisions is at TNA under WO 171/4276 and 171/4277.

    Well, T-2425 is only 53rd Div, and it includes war diary for February and March 1945. TNA WO 171/4276 is January-February and 171/4277 March-April, so it's not exactly cut the same way.

    Mori
     
  20. Tolbooth

    Tolbooth Patron Patron

    Dryan,

    Thanks for the great work.

    Also I don't know if anyone else has come across this but some of the diaries may be out of order within the reel.

    I was looking for 8th Recce Reg, Aug '44 (Op Totalise) but the scans went straight from July to September. Eventually found August between October and November, so it's worthwhile ploughing through the whole reel if you're looking for something specific.

    John
     

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