Guest somme Posted 27 February , 2003 Share Posted 27 February , 2003 Could anyone give me any advice regarding where in the PRO catalogue I would find corps, divisional and brigade records (assuming that such things exist....)? Further to this, does anyone know if records of the transport of troop units across the channel still exist? Many thanks, Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Bowbrick Posted 27 February , 2003 Share Posted 27 February , 2003 Nick, Divisional War diaries do exist and are accessible as the WO95 series. Records relating to the transportation of troops across the Channel also exist but are not complete. In addition the information given is brief. The ones I have seen simply give a unit, the names of officers and the number of ORs, such as RE Signal Unit, Capt J Smith & 78 ORs. Apologies I have forgotten the WO code! Hope this helps anyway, Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinWills Posted 27 February , 2003 Share Posted 27 February , 2003 Ian is quite right, but not only will you find divisional war diaries in the WO95 series, there are brigade war diaries and war diaries for virtually every type of unit you can think of. I once found some very useful maps with a brigade signals diary. The brigade and divisional diaries can also be useful when looking for higher level operational orders. Reports of various sorts are often to be found there as well. It is well worth spending some time browsing the PROCAT catalog (online from home) for WO95 or looking for a printed list at the PRO. Sometimes the titles given to units don't quite match with the names we know and love, so a straightforward search does not always work. As regards ships Ray Westlake has managed to provide many names in his "British Battalions" books which is OK if he has written one for the period your are investigating. Other sources are battalion, brigade or divisional histories which sometime mention them and sometimes don't. Having said all this someone will doubtless point us all to some obscure shipping records in an ADM(iralty) or Board of Trade series containing all the records we could possibly want! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry_Reeves Posted 27 February , 2003 Share Posted 27 February , 2003 With regard to troopships, you can sometimes find the name recorded in the unit war diary, but this applies to a unit move and not to individuals. Terry Reeves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Tulloch-Marshall Posted 5 March , 2003 Share Posted 5 March , 2003 Cross-channel troop movements ? - for "whole unit" movements look at the PRO WO95 war diaries for the Base Commander of the port of arrival - eg - in my grandfather's case, 1/4th QOCH TF - Havre Base Commander 20/2/15 shows 17 Cameron Officers and 481 OR's arriving on "SS Duchess of Argyll" and 12 / 473 on the "SS Queen Empress"(*) - and also on that boat 29 / 834 1/9th A&S Highlanders, men of No 16 General Hospital, part of No 107 ASC Labour Coy, and 36 / 306 assorted returnees. (*actually the "SS Empress Queen". The Queen Empress was also sailing channel crossings at that time but the war diary is mistaken on this occasion). PRO ADM and BT classes - ship's logs - can also be useful. Regards - Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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