Who kept the records ?

[Garwood]

Given the wealth of information that can still be accessed from the period,who was responsible for record keeping at the time in the field etc?

There must have been quite an organisation to cope with this volume of information kept on paper .

Edited 29 January , 2017 by Garwood
typo

[Ron Clifton]

Records, particularly personnel records, were kept by "The Adjutant-General's Office at the Base" otherwise known as "General Headquarters, 3rd Echelon." It was based at Rouen. By 1916 it consisted of about 1,500 officers and men but this number had doubled by the Armistice. War Diaries were kept by units and formations in duplicate, one copy being sent to Rouen at the end of each month.

 

Throughout the war, it was commanded by the Deputy Adjutant-General, Major-General E R C Graham.

 

Ron

Edited 29 January , 2017 by Ron Clifton

[brianmorris547]

Every Unit (apart from some ASC) was required to send a weekly report on Army Form B 213 to the Adjutant General's Office at the Base. The form is headed Field Return. I believe that it was to be completed on Sunday of each week. An example can be seen in the WDs of 154 Field Company RE of 37 Division. Very few still exist.

Brian

Edited 29 January , 2017 by brianmorris547

[Old Owl]

At Battalion level it was the Adjutant, generally a Captain, who was responsible for recording daily events and casualty returns in the Battalion War Diary.  The Bn HQ would also have have a number of clerks to assist with filling in other recorded requirements.

Many Regimental Histories have been written using the Bn War Diary as a basis for confirming dates and facts--hence some histories are very good if the Bn had a good Adjutant. 

[Garwood]

Thanks all ,very interesting .Obviously a well sorted system !

[Ron Clifton]

The form B213, the weekly Field Return, was indeed sent to the Base every Sunday. Its main purpose seems to have been to advise of the number of rations required by the unit during the following week, but it also gave details by name of all officers and ORs joining or leaving the unit.

 

When the clerks (the orderly room sergeants of infantry battalions and other similarly-sized units) had copied the details into the men's records, there was presumably no need to retain them, and the forms appear to have been destroyed. A great pity, given the loss of over 60% of the personnel records in the Blitz in 1940.

 

Ron