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Remembered Today:

Researching in France and Germany


Greenwoodman

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I'm going to have to do some research in France and Germany. In particular I'll be looking for something similar to the British War Diaries, and collections of senior officers papers. Can anyone give me some pointers as to what archives exist in France and Germany? Any explanations on line?

I know German official records are likely to be in "Hochdeutsch"?? (I think its called) - how does one overcome that with only pidgin modern German to help?

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Hello,

There are archives in Munich, Stuttgart, Freiburg/Breisgau and Dresden for Germany. If you don't know what regiment/division exactly you are looking for, they won't be able to help you! (Because the people in the archives don't know anything about WW1 in most cases)

I'll send you the online links in an email if you like to have them.

If you can't read Sütterlin (that's the German handwriting in those days), there is a certain chance you won't be able to understand anything in these files. You also have to be able to understand most military terms of those days.

I don't want to disappoint you, but it is really necessary to know what you're dealing with before going to Germany...

Greetings,

Jan

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The French military archives are in the Service Historique de l'Armée de Terre, Chateau de Vincennes, Paris. That is where the war diaries are kept. I'm told that it is impossible to consult the war diaries at the moment as they are 'all being microfilmed'. There are in any case restrictions on what you may photocopy and much of the archive documents are handwritten. The way to get into SHAT is to write to the director at the following address: M. le Chef du Service Historique de l’Armée de Terre,

Château de Vincennes, 94304 Vincennes CEDEX, France. tel. + 16 1 49 57 32 00.

Website: http://www.defense.gouv.fr/terre/orga/index4.html

If you tell the director the regiments/officers that you want to study, he will give you the box numbers that you need. Then you go to the archives, apply for a readers' ticket and bob's your uncle. Access to individual war records is, however, very restricted in France and you may find that it isn't possible to study them without permission from the families concerned.

Another possible source of information is the Bibliothèque de Documentation Internationale Contemporaine (BDIC), 6, allée de l' Université. Université de Nanterre. 92000 Nanterre Tel : +33 1 40 97 79 11. (Library) or + 1.40.97.79.00 . This holds substantial German records although I can't tell you precisely what the holdings are. The BDIC is in two parts: for photographs, objects and paintings are not at Nanterre but at the Hôtel National des Invalides, 75007, Paris, France, tel. + 33 1 44 42 37 71. The curator is Thérèse Blondet-Bisch: therese.blondet-bisch@libertysurf.fr, tel. 33 1 44 42 54 92.

Christina Holstein.

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Having done some research in the Stuttgart archives, my experience was that most 'combat reports' and some of the war diaries were typed, and so easily readable with schoolboy-deutsch. They also had an impressive map collection, and thousands of photos. These archives cover largely the 26th (Reserve) Division which was on the Somme front (Serre-Thiepval at various places in the line there) from end of 1914 until roughly the end of the 1916 battle.

It really is worth doing this sort of research; on my trip I was finally able to prove using German records just how many men died in the Hawthorn mine explosion.

For the French side, their diaries are also very detailed, as is their official history, copies of which are at the IWM and Historial Museum in Peronne. This magnificent piece of work runs to 40+ volumes! Much bigger, and more detailed, than our own.

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