British Army Casualty Lists 1939-1945 are online but what about RN & RAF?

Discussion in 'Research Material' started by gmyles, Sep 4, 2018.

  1. gmyles

    gmyles Senior Member

    Hi

    I have found the British Army Casualty Lists 1939-1945 absolutely invaluable in my research.

    Did the Royal Navy or Royal Air Force do anything similar?

    If they did, are they available online?

    Thanks

    Gus
     
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  2. minden1759

    minden1759 Senior Member

    Gus.

    Can I find the Army casualty lists on line?

    Regards

    Frank
     
  3. gmyles

    gmyles Senior Member

    Hi Frank,

    They are available on www.Findmypast.co.uk which is a subscription service.

    Gus
     
  4. minden1759

    minden1759 Senior Member

    Gus.

    Thanks. I will get on to them.

    Frank
     
  5. Gary Tankard

    Gary Tankard Well-Known Member

    Frank,

    I have them all till about March 1944 but I haven't yet transcribed them (just doing Italy as you'd expect) into my database. Findmypast lets you easily search for an individual but not great for finding list of unit casualties or specific overall casualties over specific time periods.

    Cheers,
    Gary.
     
  6. timuk

    timuk Well-Known Member

    I'm not sure about RN Casualty lists but ADM 104/127 to 139 gives all Rating deaths from Sep 39 to Jun 48. Lists give:
    Name, Official Number, Branch, Rating, Ship, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death, Cause of Death and Place of Death.
    Currently free to view on line at TNA site.

    Tim
     
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  7. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

  8. gmyles

    gmyles Senior Member

    Hi TD

    I have seen the Royal Navy one and it is very useful but it doesn't cover wounded Naval Casualties and/or POWs and most of the chaps I am looking at are on Combined Ops so they are marked as HMS Nile and similar.

    The RAF one only covers (I believe) casualties in the air. Those who died on terra firma are not covered. And once again, unless they died, there's little out there.

    I know of many Sailors, Marines and Airmen that were 'casualties' in Greece in 1944, as the documents I am reading say so, but unless they actually died, I am struggling to find their names or units.

    An example is on 6th December 1944, Marines from HMS Ajax were dispatched to the port of Piraeus to reinforce members of the Royal Navy who were defending the Greek Naval Headquarters at Piraeus which was under heavy attack from ELAS. The attack was unsucessful but there were many 'casualties'. If these 'casualties' were Army I would probably be able to ascertain each casualties name, unit and whether they were killed wounded or a POW. But as far as I know, I can't do this with RAF or RN casualties .

    Gus
     
  9. timuk

    timuk Well-Known Member

    I see your problem Gus and I don't know the answer. As far as POWs go the WO 392 series is the one to go for. In the context of German POWs the lists for RN, Army and RAF for Sept 44 should be on FMP as are the Army and RAF lists for Apr 45. Unfortunately for you the Navy list for Apr 45 (WO 392/17) is marked on the NA as 'Missing on transfer' ie. lost.
    Hugh MacLean may have better info and be able to help.

    Tim
     
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  10. gmyles

    gmyles Senior Member

    Hi Tim

    These are the documents I had to go through, to get the POW information in Greece. Made trickier as they weren't caught by the Germans and therefore aren't in the usual database locations.

    Army POWs

    G Coy - Air Formation Sigs - Missing personnel (WO 361-1091)
    POW Returns by ELAS 1944-45 (WO 361-751)
    Treatment and Recovery of British POWs held by ELAS trops in Greece (WO 32-14549)
    Offences against Allied Troops and others by Greek Resistance Organisations (WO 204-8904)

    Royal Navy POWs:
    RN Personnel taken prisoner by ELAS - ADM 358-4416.

    RAF
    (RAF) Prisoners of ELAS Greeks by Graham Cawthorne

    That's a lot of cross referencing.

    As yet have found nothing for the wounded Navy or RAF but I am going to Kew soon to look at the RAF Regiment ORBs so that's a start.

    Gus
     

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