Finding persnal and service record of my great grandfather

[Faishal khan]

I am looking for my great grandfather s  world war 1 service records.I have his victory medal. "5474 DV ALIMU K KHAN 17 DIV SIG COY" written on the medal. 5474 is his service number and SIG COY is his unit please anyone can help me this because it is very important to me and I am struggling from 2 year , I am from india

 

 

[charlie962]

Welcome to the forum.

His unit as inscribed was the 17th (Indian) Divisional Signal Company.

The Division was formed in 1917 from other units and served in Mesopotamia.

Charlie

On the rim of the medal, does it say DV or DVR ?

Edited 20 February , 2022 by charlie962

[Tom Lang]

9 minutes ago, Faishal khan said:

I am looking for my great grandfather s  world war 1 service records.I have his victory medal. "5474 DV ALIMU K KHAN 17 DIV SIG COY" written on the medal. 5474 is his service number and SIG COY is his unit please anyone can help me this because it is very important to me and I am struggling from 2 year , I am from india

 

 

Hello Faishal and Welcome to the Forum.

My I ask you to firstly use the notes and assistance from the mother site How to research a soldier - The Long, Long Trail (longlongtrail.co.uk)

Kindest Regards,

Tom.

[charlie962]

Tracing service records for members of the Indian Army units is very difficult because the records remained in India after the war. They may be lost or there may yet be something held but uncatalogued at the Indian National Archives.

An idea of the activities of 17 DSC ( of 17 Indian Division) can be obtained by looking at the war diaries that can be downloaded for free if you register, here at National Archives, London.

"Search results: Wo95 mesopotamia 17 signal company | The National Archives" https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_q=Wo95+mesopotamia+17+signal+company&_sd=&_ed=&_hb=

You will be most unlikely to see individuals named but you never know. These diaries include the postwar period of occupation.

Charlie

[charlie962]

I have taken this from Wikipedia without verification ( a bad practice but it gives a starting point!)

The 17th Indian Division started forming in Mesopotamia from August 1917 with the 50th, 51st, and 52nd Indian Brigades. Shortly after being formed, the 50th Brigade exchanged places with the 34th Indian Brigade of 15th Indian Division.

 

Most of the infantry battalions that had already been in Mesopotamia for some months, guarding lines of communications so were somewhat acclimatized and accustomed to the country. The division was involved in the action at Fat-ha Gorge on the Little Zab between 23–26 October 1918 and the Battle of Sharqat, 28–30 October 1918 under command of I Corps.

 

At the end of the war, the 17th Division was chosen to form part of the occupation force for Iraq.

Edited 20 February , 2022 by charlie962

[charlie962]

A further note. I think the establishment of a DSC in Mesopotamia was 6 officers and 118 other ranks so quite a tight little unit. edit- I took that from Howard Wilkinson's book but when I look at first page of War Diary I see they started in August 1917 at Poonah with 6 British Officers, 301 British Other Ranks, 56 Indian Other Ranks and 18 Followers !!

Charlie 

Ps.  The war diaries to which I gave you a link may be completely baffling to you but if so do please come back with lots of questions.

 

Edited 20 February , 2022 by charlie962

[Faishal khan]

I am not confirm that it is DV aur DVR because it is not clear but all i can see that DV is clearly incrypted on that medal.what is the mean of DV or DVR?

[charlie962]

DVR would be his rank which if it was like this it would mean he was a transport Driver for the Signal Company.

Charlie

Edited 20 February , 2022 by charlie962

[Faishal khan]

Can you please find all the names of soldiers of that unit.because you are a true expert and i belive in you that you can surely help me with this. Please provide me his all the records

 

[charlie962]

4 minutes ago, Faishal khan said:

Can you please find all the names of soldiers of that unit.because you are a true expert and i belive in you that you can surely help me with this. Please provide me his all the records

 

As I said above, those sort of records along with service records are probably lost although there is some talk that the Indian National Archives may hold some records, perhaps medal rolls. Can I suggest you contact them?

They rarely exist for British units because these too were destroyed deliberately or accidentally long after the war.

Charlie

[Faishal khan]

But I don't know where in India i have to search

 

[charlie962]

Google National Archives of India and you will find their website with contact details. But it may be a long wait for a reply.

Charlie

 

PS   If you do find out anything from Nat Archives of India we would love to know.

Edited 20 February , 2022 by charlie962