Hi All are war diaries from ww2 available to the public. I can find only small mentions of my grandfathers regiment and thought maybe if the diaries are available i may get some info. cheers Tony.
Hi All are war diaries from ww2 available to the public. I can find only small mentions of my grandfathers regiment and thought maybe if the diaries are available i may get some info. cheers Tony. Yes! at The National Archive, Kew. It's rare for Regiments and Museums to hold war diaries and if you ask they seem to point in the direction of Kew. Having said that, you could try Regimental Chronicles for your grand fathers regiment, usually available via the museum curator.
Thanks 52nd Airborne I dont mind paying for them at kew, but i want to be sure i know im asking for the right one. My grandfather was a gunner with the Royal Artillery he spent 3 years in Malta and in oct 1943 was sent to Italy. here his regiment changed and he was with the 51 Medium regiment. i believe it was part of the 8th army. he was killed on 25 Jan 1944 and is buried at Minturno Cemetery. The 51 medium regt gave out a booklet with a role of honour printed and he is on that. the CWGC also gives his regt as the 51 medium. and it is on his service records. so is it their diary i ask for? or another command that his regt was under. cheers. Tony.
Thanks 52nd Airborne I dont mind paying for them at kew, but i want to be sure i know im asking for the right one. My grandfather was a gunner with the Royal Artillery he spent 3 years in Malta and in oct 1943 was sent to Italy. here his regiment changed and he was with the 51 Medium regiment. i believe it was part of the 8th army. he was killed on 25 Jan 1944 and is buried at Minturno Cemetery. The 51 medium regt gave out a booklet with a role of honour printed and he is on that. the CWGC also gives his regt as the 51 medium. and it is on his service records. so is it their diary i ask for? or another command that his regt was under. cheers. Tony. Unfortunately the National Archive don't have a search service. "so is it their diary i ask for?" - Yes! Best thing to do is, go to Kew yourself and have a look. You may not be successful on your first visit, but the staff at The National Archive are very friendly and more than helpful and they will be able to point you in the right direction. Good Luck!
You can book a readers ticket in advance of your visit if you visit the archives web site www.nationalarchives.gov.uk be prepared for several visits to read all the relevant pages that interest you.
hi tony thought this might be of help to you http://www.ra39-45.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/index.html its a great site telling you about royal artillery units
Thanks all for the replies and help. I may get to Kew one day ,but at the moment its a long way from Liverpool for a day trip. will have to plan it in the future as it seems like ive got a lot of searching to do when i get there. Cheers. Tony.
Andalucia, I just came across your thread from July. Ignore me if you've sussed the Diaries for yourself. I have been in search of diaries recently and live a bit further away than yourself and had to find an alternative to popping back and forward to London. If you go to the National Archives website, click on advanced search on home page (just below search this site), enter 51 Medium regiment under keyword and change the dates to 1943 /1944. Hit search and a list containing the Medium regiment should appear. I think your looking for the WO170 series but once you've found the reference containing the info you require, Select Request This, select a paper copy, fill in the requested details and Kew will send a quotation for what you have requested. A word of warning, if your not sure the document is the one you want only request the dates around the date your grandfather was killed. It probably won't mention him by name but a least if it mentions a casualty for that date it's a good bet your on the right track. Diaries can be quite long and I think they are charging 45p per page copied at the moment.
