Jump to content
Free downloads from TNA ×
The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

New CWGC site is Up!


River97

Recommended Posts

The site looks great, am getting the error messages (as reported above, so expected) and I'm looking forward to seeing it in action once it's running properly.

Nicely done so far!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As usual up for a few hours and then it all falls apart. I am getting error messages on every single search and timeouts as well. Looks like its one tweak too far...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sadly in the search function they did not take the opportunity to list the foreign nationals buried on CWGCs .

Again, Terry do you have good news? When I use the search function I can choose foreign nationals on CWGCs, i.e. German, but when entering the name etc the search does not work for foreign nationals. So why a country list when it is out of order please?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You may get error messages today as the site is adjusted on the live system
Just my luck that I want to use CWGC site just at the time they up grade it, I have not used the site fore months, they could have up graded then :whistle: O well I'll have to wait until it's all settled in.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Egbert

I don't understand. There is no option to choose Foreign Nationals - only the six CWGC nationalities.

CWGC cares for tens of thousands of Non-World War Dead and Foreign National War Graves under contract and by agreement with governments rather than as part of their Royal Charter obligations. They effectively are simply maintenance contractors for these graves.

The MoD has requested that CWGC does not include the NWW graves (most are MoD's responsibility) and it is the responsibility of the foreign governments to list their casualties (as VdK now is doing).

I would organise it that way but that is the reasoning.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Steve

Searching on Unit proved to be a nightmare to implement at this stage so it was not included in the first phase. It is all due to the huge variety of style of information in the field.

Terry

Thanks for the clarification.

Steve

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good to see that the links have been restored. Can someone advise me as to whether in respect of the Merchant Navy a search can be made on the ships name? This was possible in Geoff’s search system and I append an example of such a record where the ships name is in the Regiment field.

Merchant Navy

Thanks

Norman

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Norman

I suspect not directly if I understand Terry's response in Post #25 correctly, you'll need to export the data first.

Steve

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Norman

You can.

Simply search on the the 'Regiment/Service' you want (Royal Navy, Mercantile Marine etc in your case)and click the Export button when the search is returned. You will then have that section of the database delivered in seconds to your own computer as a spreadsheet. You can then play with it as you please - search for specific ships, dates etc.

You can do the same for army battalions, RAF squadrons etc

The ship name is not in the Regiment field but in its own 'Unit' field.

This is a major improvement for researchers as you can now work on your own PC and shuffle the data as you require.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Those using the Export Data option should note that there is a maximum of 75,000 records permitted in such downloads.

However, this is big enough for the largest 'Regiment' (Royal Navy), the largest Cemetery/Memorial (Thiepval) and the largest Date of Death (01.07.16).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well done to all involved in improving the CWGC site. Just had a quick try out: Single search using army number and a "multi" search for all Royal Irish Rifles killed on a particular date. Both searches worked great. I think the photos included on the downloadable certs are better too. (I think?)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just for info.

There may be an interruption to the site for a short while as the hosts are going to upgrade the RAM to cope with the increased demand over the next few days.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Terry

I know you must be having a busy day, but any time frame for the additional info search ? Apart from the excellent export facility the main difference with Geoff's site was the ability to search by different criteria. Looking for men who were listed as being from a certain place was a huge bonus, even allowing for the fact many had no added info. Do you have any idea what percentage did have added info from the final verification stuff ?

CWGC should be congratulated on the the new look site and I am sure these minor errors will be sorted.

By the way is this still officially called the Debt of Honour ?

Regards Steve

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Steve

The Add Info search is not far off. Can't say exactly when but it is top of the list and CWGC even mentions its approach on the Home Page of the site.

The database is now officialy 'The Register'. Research amongst new and infrequent users found that DoH had no meaning to them and was confusing. The whole site is designed to carry CWGC's message forward to the new generations coming through rather than to us - the already converted. DoH was a recent title anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Everyone here is focusing quite naturally on the search facilities of the new site. I certainly did when I first saw it.

However, when you have time, take a look around the rest of the site. There is a lot of information there with help, links to other sites, educational facilities, publications to be read online, forthcoming events/burials, aerial views of the cemeteries and quite a bit more. Make allowances for the fact that it is aimed at people of a lower knowledge level that that of most people on this forum though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Terry, I am inquiring because a friend from the WFA forum conveyed me the following:

Quote:

My latest search engine:

http://www.hut-six.co.uk/cgi-bin/ntse.php

Seems to reach parts the official (edit: CWGC) one does not reach:

http://www.cwgc.org/search-for-war-dead ... 0GOTTFRIED

Happy result so far, I wonder if they will add this to the CWGC search page?

Of course, this could be an error on their part, by accident the Foreign National links works.

Cheers,

xy end of quote

And there it goes -Gottfried indeed is on the CWGC site, but only through this trick. I am not a search engine guru nor website admin, but the functionality sure is on the CWGC site, maybe just not activated?

post-80-0-99990000-1328018242.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Egbert

All the Foreign Nationals an NWW names are in the database and always have been. However, they are not public.

If you know the old record number though, you can access them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Egbert

All the Foreign Nationals an NWW names are in the database and always have been. However, they are not public.

If you know the old record number though, you can access them.

Terry, is there a legal reason for not making them public? If not it would be nice to activate the feature to see my Grandfather on the official site which' organisation takes care of his grave. I cannot imagine that there are sort of "competition"-issues between CWGC and VdK ????

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As said above, MoD has asked for the NWW names not to be included and that is their right as they are the responsible authority for those and they pay for any activity related to them. The Foreign Nationals are not within CWGC's Charter remit and are subject to governmental agreements.

Both sets of data are in the CWGC database so that they can carry out their contracted maintenance functions. Neither sets of data is very complete and often consists of little more than a name and date of death.

There are no plans to include them in the search function for the reasons stated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the clarification, so its nothing on your side. I worked together with UK MoD since 38 years and the guys I dealt with were reasonable and great chaps. But somebody here must be nuts, as it would cost nothing to the MoD to make all dead buried on CWGC grounds visible to the public. Some people just are half-pregnant. Well the dead do not care, only the living.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another interesting couple of issues.

The cemetery reports on UK cemeteries do not include civilian war dead. I was looking for a WW2 casualty and particularly wanted to trace the plot details for the civilians to assist a chap who maintains a local site on memorials. I could find her by a person search, but although she is buried alongside her husband an AB who was caught, presumably on leave or off duty, in the same raid she does not come up on the cemetery list of casualties.

More challenging is the Cemetery search.

I tried to look up Cologne South. if I selected Cologne as the location, it didn't come up, while inputting it in the cemetery name field it did. Confusing or what. I'm sure that such snags will be sorted out eventually, but its a bit surprising that after a period of testing over several weeks the problem wasn't identified.

Still, its really good when you get there to be able to download into Excel, that really is one of thek key improvements we have been waiting for.

Keith

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Keith

Cologne South wouldn't come up under Location = Cologne as its correct administrative locality is 'Koln'. It does come up if you enter that but it is easier if you just enter the cemetery name.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...