Hello everybody, I am not familiar with the Commonwealth War Diaries, so I have a question which may sound silly to most of you... While I was browsing the site I found a link about the XXX Corps War diaries in which it is mentioned the term "Battle Log" On the other hand, when I went to read the basics about the British War Diaries (WW2 Commonwealth Army War Diaries), I did not see any inclusion of a "Battle Log" in the list of documents or appendices that are part of a War Diary. So what is exactly a "Battle Log"? Is it just a different term for the "War Diary or Intelligence Summary" section which is similar to the "Journal" in US Army? Thank you...
The files in general are referred to as war diaries.Inside the file you will always expect to see either a typed or hand written account in the diary pages of what the unit was doing and where. As well as the actual diary pages you can get a whole load of appendices which is what the 'Battle Log' will be. I suspect the Battle Log is similar to the Radio Log. It captures all the goings on whilst the units is engaging the enemy.
Thank you for the reply. I am confused because I see the term "signal log" for one of the typical attachments that are part of the war diary. It sounds to me that this "signal log" is close to the "radio log". From the link I provided in my previous post I find it strange that the above list does nor mention the term "Battle Log.."
I think the list you reference is more of an example of what you might find in a typical Battalion (or lower tier unit) war diary. I've read through quite a few battalion war diaries and can't remember ever seeing a 'Battle Log', and therefore think they are most likely only found in higher tier units like Brigade, Division or Corps war diaries.
See this excellent thread by Diane on all things war diary related. WW2 Commonwealth Army War Diaries
Yes, this was the first thing I read in this forum and there is no mention of a "Battle Log". I guess, I will have to go through different diaries to see if I can find the answer...
Thank yoy PsyWar.org. It is interesting that it is marked (with a marker) as "Appendix L." This is why it is not part of the list I posted earlier of the documents which must accompany a War Diary.. As I see it, it looks like a Signals Log, so I do not see why they felt the need to create a new Appendix for it. Perhaps, this "Battle Log" is is different in that it only summarizes the message text ?
