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Remembered Today:

Heavy Artillery Unit War diaries


tony paley

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No plan survives contact with the enemy, but I believe the softening up is well under way.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just wondering if all preparations for "The Battle of Loos" were progressing well and on schedule?

Certainly are from my point of view, the two diaries I have been waiting for have just become available - a few days early for the Battle of Loos, but I'm not complaining at that!

Hopefully yours are too.

I had just received the NA newsletter which surprisingly did not mention the release.

Thanks to all at the NA

Now to read them and hopefully find some useful information.

Regards

Richard

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Certainly are from my point of view, the two diaries I have been waiting for have just become available - a few days early for the Battle of Loos, but I'm not complaining at that!

Hopefully yours are too.

I had just received the NA newsletter which surprisingly did not mention the release.

Thanks to all at the NA

Now to read them and hopefully find some useful information.

Regards

Richard

Jolly good.

Blow the whistles.

Over the top lads.

Good luck.

See you all in Berlin for German sausage at teatime.

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Hmmmm.

Progress not quite as anticipated.

Tried :

23 Bde RGA - WO95/469

49 Bde RGA-WO95/544

51 Bde RGA-WO95/473

52 Bde RGA-WO95/544

65 Bde RGA-WO95/322 &

73 Bde RGA-WO95/476

And get the dreaded :This record has not been digitised and cannot be downloaded.
Request a quotation for a copy to be digitised or printed and sent to you."

Certainly are from my point of view, the two diaries I have been waiting for have just become available - a few days early for the Battle of Loos, but I'm not complaining at that!

Hopefully yours are too.

I had just received the NA newsletter which surprisingly did not mention the release.

Thanks to all at the NA

Now to read them and hopefully find some useful information.

Regards

Richard

Which diaries have you been able to access Richard?

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Seems as though WO95/200 to 216 are now available, covering Brigades up to about 15 Bde RGA.

At around WO95/260 there are Casualty Clearing Station diaries, then nothing until around WO95/290 Director of Supplies.

OK Chaps.

Looks as though out little jaunt is going to take just a little longer.

Back in the trenches.

If you can...

Bully Beef and Cold tea all round...

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Seems as though WO95/200 to 216 are now available, covering Brigades up to about 15 Bde RGA.

At around WO95/260 there are Casualty Clearing Station diaries, then nothing until around WO95/290 Director of Supplies.

OK Chaps.

Looks as though out little jaunt is going to take just a little longer.

Back in the trenches.

If you can...

Bully Beef and Cold tea all round...

The two I was interested in were WO95/222 & 224

I didn't look any further I'm afraid.

I guess its a continuing process, hope the ones you want pop up soon.

I had suspected they were coming as a few days previously the reference brought up nothing at all, presumably whilst changes were being made in discovery/the website?

Good Luck

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The two I was interested in were WO95/222 & 224

Hmm that's strange.

I'd searched up to and including these two, and found they were not on line.

Just checked again now and still get the message that these aren't digitised.

It also suggests that 222 & 224 aren't HA, but Army Troops Diaries.

You don't have the link that you used by any chance?

Perhaps its a "Discovery" thing?

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222 & 224 are described as army troops youre right but that seems to be a general term. The HAGs were I think attached direct to an army rather than division

However if you click on details it should bring up a list of sub folders down the right hand side

Speaking from memory now, I'll double check when i get back in front of a PC

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It appears that many diaries have become available online during the course of today.

At first glance it seems that files WO95/217 to WO95/268 approximately are now available.

These are not just HA diaries, they include some ASC Companies.

By the same token, not all HA Group/Brigade diaries seem to be on just yet.

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  • 2 weeks later...

More HA Diaries are now available on the NA site.

At present, available for download there are whole or part diaries for the following HA Groups/Brigades RGA.

1,2,3,4,6,7,8,10,

15,16,19,

24,25,26,29,

30,31,33,34,

40,42,43,45,48,

50,53,59,

64,65,67,

70,72,77,78,

80,81,87,

91,99

So, quite a few yet to come.

I have been able to download one diary of interest to me, 65 Brigade, WO95/322/7.

This covered the period 1/1/1918-30/6/1919.

61 pages amounting to 12.4MB, Very good quality colour scans, completely legible.

Very good value for £3.30.

Now the wait for 23,49,51,52 & 73.

Their release date is currently a closely guarded secret, in case they fall into the wrong hands.

The waiting.....the damned infernal waiting.......is the hardest part.

cue Tom Petty....

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For the life of me I cannot locate the Diaries for 26 HAG and 34 HAG: are they there?

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Obliged, Dai.

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Is that it for now then I ask myself?

Doesn't look as though anything else has gone on in the last week (see post #62).

I wonder when the remaining diaries will go on?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Probably having a senior moment (again), but all of a sudden a search for "Siege Battery" in the online collection no longer has any hits - previously there were 150-odd available digitised! Does anyone else have this issue? :blink:

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Yes I noticed this over the weekend.

Previously , if you entered WO95 AND Brigade AND Royal AND Garrison AND Artillery, and clicked the "Available for Download only" button, you got 157 hits.

Today, there are none.

And the diary I have already downloaded (65 Bde RGA - WO95/322) appears as " This record has not been digitised and cannot be downloaded. Request a quotation for a copy to be digitised or printed and sent to you."

I don't know what's going on.

Early last week when it was evident that no new diaries had appeared for about 3 weeks, I emailed the NA to ask exactly what the situation was.

I asked them words to the effect of:

"Is it too much to ask to have some sort of schedule somewhere on the NA website with a tentative date for the release of these diaries?"

Their response was :

"Yes it is!"

Actually that's a lie. There has been no response!

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Most curious indeed! Well, at least it's not that I'm losing more of my grey cells just yet!! :D

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I've been away so I've only just caught up with this thread.

These diaries shouldn't have "disappeared" so I've asked for this to be investigated (I don't have any clue myself as to the cause at the moment, it's not the system I work on).

You may see some changes fairly soon - but while things are in a "soft launch" (ie unannounced), there is a chance that they will flicker in and out of visibility depending how various aspects fo the loading process are going.

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OK, so far we have establised that the items are there - for 65 Brigade Royal Garrison Artillery you actually want items WO 95/322/6 up to WO 95/322/10. However, we're still investigating why those have stopped showing up in search, and why the piece level is giving misleading info.

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