Hi My dad was with the Royal Artillery in India serving in 69 Anti-Tank Regiment, then participated in Chindit Operation Thursday with 51/69 Regiment in 16 Brigade. Post extraction from Burma he served in 1 Essex and then 77 Indian Paratroop Brigade before coming back home to the UK. I was wondering if anyone had copies of the following war diaries that they would be willing to share. I've asked Drew5233 if he is still offering a copying service for Kew. These are the records that I'm interested in WO 172/711, WO 172/2275, WO 172/4721, WO 172/7630 and WO 172/7065. Regards to all
Hi Robert... you've already found an image I posted re a timeline for the 16th... A number of us here have done the TNA route and have a number of these records in our own personal files... mine include none of these as my specialisation is 111th IIB... A harsh reality is that these files are a wee bit on the large side when discussed in the volume you have mentioned here... Now most of us are happy to post up or PM specific files re known dates but this much would be above and beyond... no disrespect but there is a significant amount of time and cost that has been involved in gathering this... Drew has prob got a number of these copied off already (others offer this service) and supplies them at a very reasonable cost, compared to the TNA rates... I presume you do not live anywhere near Kew...? What material do you already have...? Books... Files... etc... Are there specific dates you are trying to find material for your (presumed) family research...? All of the regulars on here would be happy to assist with the basics to start you off... I have had one person thank me with a credit in a book but did me the disservice of expecting me to buy it... came in... grabbed what he could... buggered off...
Hi Hebridean Chindit I live in Manchester UK. So not easy to get to Kew. Considering current circumstances, I'm looking at more than £300 to travel to Kew by rail, and then I would only be allowed to research for 1 day in a week. So dependent upon how large each diary is, I might be looking at a number of trips down to London and back. I've got some material already:- - Dad's service record - Your timeline for 16 Brigade as they marched South to cross the Chindwin - Thankyou! - 51/69 RA - 51 Column war diaries for Jan-Oct 1944 WO 172/4646 supplied by bamboo43 - a copy of Bernard Fergusson's book - The Wild Green Earth - a copy on order of "Fifty First Field - The story of the 51st Field Regiment, Royal Artillery (Westmoreland & Cumberland Yeomanry), in the Second World War" book from Cumbria's Museum of Military Life - and of course quite a lot of information from the chinditsociety website I suppose the greatest frustration is that you don't know what is available until you see it. It's difficult to be specific as to dates other than what Dad's service record tells me of which units he was posted. I've had a response from Drew5233. He has a copy of WO 172/7630 that he can provide to me at his standard rate. I think the others will just have to wait until Covid has run it's course. Best regards
Me Ol' China (as I call B43) lives far too close to Kew but has pretty much exhausted material he requires for his primary research... I used to live within 8 miles of the beastie and got most of my material in 4 or so trips, including my grandfathers RNR records... you live approx 4 hours from there... I'm north of Inverness these days so... Barton's Narrative has some reasonable maps that show the physical routes they took if they would be of use to your research... the timeline came from there, iirc... some later maps are available from this link but they are "cleaner" than Barton's... Burma AMS Topographic Maps - Perry-Castañeda Map Collection - UT Library Online PM if you want any of the Barton ones... Kenny
Hi Hebridean Chindit Thanks for the info. Just ordered a war diary from Drew5233 for 1 Essex to cover the period when my dad was posted to them post cessation of Chindit operations. Will take a look at the Burma AMS Topographic Maps prior to anything else. Regards
I have WO 172/7065 as being 44 Indian Airborne Division Pathfinder Company, is that the correct reference? If so please drop me a PM Regards Andy
Hi AndyBaldEagle Thankyou so much for your help. I've posted a more comprehensive email in a conversation to yourself. One again Many thanks
