Is their anyone who can help met out with War diaries of the following Canadian Units who fought in the Netherlands 1944-1945, payment arrangement can be made is a large amounts of copies/scan are available 1 Canadian Infantry Division units 2 Canadian Infantry Division units 3 Canadian Infantry Division units 2 Canadian Armoured Brigade 4 Canadian Armoured Division
Phillip - Good grief that is close to 40 diaries - and you forgot the 5th Canadian Armoured for another six- although the 1st Infantry and 5th Armoured plus 1st Armoured bde didn't leave Italy until Feb '45 - you might need a second mortgage ! Cheers
Phillip you might start at the DVA - they might have some information for you .... vac-acc.gc.ca Cheers
If they are the same as British Divisions they'll be more than 40 odd diaries for that list. There is 28 seperate diaries for the British one division and thats not including divisional artillery, divisional engineers and divisional troops like pioneer and MG battalions. If they are the same you'll probably be looking at over 200 diaries. I'll go if you pay my expenses
Phillip second thoughts - try ths one it looks a lot better What to Search: Topics - Canadian Genealogy Centre - Library and Archives Canada Cheers
Thanks Tom I hope that some may already have WDs at home, of course I can travel to Canada, but it would be much cheaper if someone already has some of them and I could arrange something.
Phillip Phil at militarycross might be your best bet - as he collects all sorts of things -and is very knowledgeable - why don't you Pm him - he might be away though as he hasn't been on for some time.... cheers
All war diaries are kept at the Library and Archives of Canada (the website is oddly unavailable right now. I will check back later). Many have been transfered to microfilm (mostly armoured regiments and formation headquarters, IIRC) and are available through inter-library loan, although I don't know if they are loaned internationally. Regular paper war diaries can be viewed/copied in person on location at the archives in Ottawa, or photocopies can be obtained via the archives, for a fee of course. I've been out of the loop for a few years now, so I don't know how much they've advanced in terms of electronic copies. There are several ways of obtaining copies of war diaries from the archives: 1. Contact the archives directly and have them photocopy the pages required. They will charge a fee per page plus postage. 2. You can 'hire' a freelance researcher to go to the archives and make the copies for you. 3. Visit the archives and make photocopies yourself. If you are looking for only the period of 44-45 when the units in question were in Holland proper, the number of pages from the war diaries would be significantly reduced, as you can request copies of specific dates or time periods. As it stands, I can get you started with copies in one form or another for the 5th Armoured Regiment (8th Princess Louise's (New Brunswick) Hussars) of the 5th Armoured Division.
Philip, I have the war diary for the 7th Recce, 3rd Div. Let me know if you want part or all it. Cheers from Canada. Randy
Is this sort of thing of interest to you Philip. Have 3 pages re Ottawa Camerons and 2 pages of Canadian Camerons.
Is this sort of thing of interest to you Philip. Have 3 pages re Ottawa Camerons and 2 pages of Canadian Camerons. always welcome, it safe met time and money to look for the books myself, thanks
Philip I will head off to the printer this morning. Looks to be about 200 pages to be copied covering early October to the end of April 1945. If you send me a PM with your address, I will send by regular mail. Cheers from the land of Dutch tulips, Randy
