Ian McCallum Posted 26 April , 2022 Share Posted 26 April , 2022 Hi Folks, Any Tank afficiadoes have the war diary for the 13th Tank Battalion over March- April 1918. Looking to track its movements during German Offensive. Any help greatly appreciated. Iv'e got its history but its both difficult to read and pretty sparse over the period. Cheers Ian McCallum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johntaylor Posted 26 April , 2022 Share Posted 26 April , 2022 Hi Ian, I've never seen a War Diary for 13th Bn in the National Archives, only the War History which you've already got (ref WO 95/115/2). It may be worth checking with the Tank Museum Archives in Bovington to see if they have a War Diary, but I think it's a long shot. Please let us know if you find one! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian McCallum Posted 26 April , 2022 Author Share Posted 26 April , 2022 Thanks John I'll check it out and let you know. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delta Posted 26 April , 2022 Share Posted 26 April , 2022 These might help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian McCallum Posted 26 April , 2022 Author Share Posted 26 April , 2022 Brilliant Delta. Just what I was hoping for. Can I ask you the source? I am researching a Tank officer 2/Lt. William Ribchester. He served with the 13th Tank Battalion. He was wounded(at duty)? on 22 August 18. I Presume they mean that he remained on duty? Apparently he wrote a report about it. Thanks again Ian McCallum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delta Posted 27 April , 2022 Share Posted 27 April , 2022 Ian They are includes the WO file mentioned by John Taylor but they have not yet been digitised. Wounded at duty indicate Ribchester suffered a minor wound which did not require him to be hospitalised. Stephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johntaylor Posted 27 April , 2022 Share Posted 27 April , 2022 That's a really good find Stephen - though it concerns me that these were missed out when the copied the file. You say they haven't been digitised "yet", so does this imply they're going to go back and finish off at some stage? I was under the impression they had finished digitising the files, and in this case they obviously didn't make a very thorough job of it. All the best, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johntaylor Posted 27 April , 2022 Share Posted 27 April , 2022 Following my last message, I went back to see if the 13th Tank Bn War Diary has been digitised by the National Archives but indexed incorrectly, which turns out to be the case. For some reason the War Diary (including the files attached to Stephen's email above) is in WO 95/115/1: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/0dd76170cf9548418f80fc6c5da823f5 This is wrongly described as "5 Brigade Tank Corps. 5 Brigade Mechanical Transport Company (1090 Army Service Corps Company)". I suppose someone should point out this error to the NA, but I don't think I'll be volunteering for that job. Anyway at least the mystery is solved! Well done again to Stephen for pointing out that the files do exist after all. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian McCallum Posted 27 April , 2022 Author Share Posted 27 April , 2022 Brilliant work John. Downloaded it this morning. Thank you very much for your time and effort. Ian McCallum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johntaylor Posted 27 April , 2022 Share Posted 27 April , 2022 Not at all - it was great teamwork! All the best, Johm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johntaylor Posted 28 April , 2022 Share Posted 28 April , 2022 I've just notified National Archives of the error in the catalogue. Hopefully they'll correct this, so other people will be able to find the 13th Tank Bn War Diary in future. All the best, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian McCallum Posted 28 April , 2022 Author Share Posted 28 April , 2022 Good man. That will help future researchers. Ian McCallum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johntaylor Posted 20 June , 2022 Share Posted 20 June , 2022 Hi, following our discussion I contacted the National Archives who have now corrected the entry in their catalogue: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/0dd76170cf9548418f80fc6c5da823f5 Thanks again, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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