Template talk:Infobox theatre of war/doc
Possible fields to start with
- date_entered_ToW – the date when the unit moved there, not when overall activity started
- date_left_ToW – the date when the unit left there, not when overall activity ended
- This should probably be more specific to avoid confusion between e.g. when the Western Front became a theatre of war and when a particular unit moved there.
- Also, how 'engaged' is engaged, or are the source records pretty clear on this? --Mia (talk) 17:14, 3 December 2014 (PST)
- location – ideally, a link to a geonames address? Failing that... ? --Mia (talk) 17:14, 3 December 2014 (PST)
Officially recorded dates of entry to theatres are usually when a unit disembarked from a ship, not when they were actually in action. A soldier's entitlement for most campaign medals started as soon as he set foot on land. For once, this makes things simpler.
For the purposes of recording a unit's location, I wouldn't worry too much about whether or when an area was officially classed as a theatre of war for campaign medal purposes. Service in Britain and Ireland will need to be recorded even though these were not theatres, even during the Easter Rising. The "campaigns" section in soldiers' service records usually includes home service as well as theatres, so there is a precedent. Also some units went to a country before it was officially a theatre of war. eg 42nd Division landed in Egypt in September 1914 but that wasn't a theatre until November.
Theatres sometimes coincide with countries, but only roughly at best, and sometimes not at all. eg Western Front effectively includes all of France and Belgium, but Gallipoli is a very specific part of Turkey.--GavinRobinson (talk) 02:11, 4 December 2014 (PST)
- Ok, so we don't need to overthink this one. I've changed start/end date to 'date_entered_ToW' which hopefully makes it clear that it's about a unit entering a location.
