Difference between revisions of "Official unit diaries and histories"

Revision as of 06:31, 30 August 2015

The beginnings of a list of sources for official unit diaries (e.g. contemporary accounts of troop movements, casualties, etc) and histories. Please add any you know of, either here or to a page for the specific unit it relates to. If the page doesn't exist yet, you can create it and it can always be tidied into place later if necessary.

Australia

Digitised images of selected original war diaries recording the daily activities of Australian Army units are available for the First World War - AWM4. These Australian Imperial Force unit war diaries, 1914-18 War, are available for free, and you can sign up to transcribe them on their site.

Canada

Several official histories are available as PDFs via the National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces Official Histories page, including:

• Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War: Candian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919
• Official History of The Canadian Forces in the Great War, 1914-1919, Vol I Part 1
• Official History of the Canadian Forces in the Great War, 1914-1919, Vol I Part 2
• The C.A.M.C. with the Canadian Corps during the Last Hundred Days of the Great War.
• Official History of the Canadian Forces in the Great War: The Medical Services
• Report of the Ministry Overseas Military Forces of Canada, 1918
• The Naval Service of Canada : Its Official History. Vol 1, Origins and Early Years.

Great Britain and Ireland

• There's a list of extracts or summaries from War Diaries on the Long, Long Trail site

• There is an excellent page of Infantry Battalion War Diary Transcript Links (WW1) containing 'links to transcripts of First World War British Army infantry battalion war diaries from WO 95 which have already been published on other sites'. These official unit diaries should be added to the relevant battalion pages.

India

Italy

New Zealand

'campaign histories and the regimental histories covering New Zealand's involvement in the First World War' from the New Zealand Electronic Text Collection. A useful index for this content is provided on the WW1 NZEF Unit Histories page.

Transcribed Regimental Diaries and links to images of originals in the Australian War Memorial

New Zealand's Te Papa has lots of online material from the First World War. Their Collection of World War One Ephemera includes 'Gallipoli campaign photographs, propaganda and recruitment information, French & Spanish postcards, Gallipoli diary, Troopship magazines & battle plans etc'.