That's correct Tom! I meant that he'd written this retrospective diary while a POW.....but only detailed up to the end of 1940 before the Russians arrived to release them.
The records would show the date he joined, training units, possibly different Reg' he was assigned to. Embarkation date. Where he was at a specific time. Which with a little digging can be interesting. David
Xtreme His service record will tell you his official movements, attachments etc, it is the prime source of information when researching a persons military history. From them you can the obtain the War Diaries for the various units they would have been with, where they went and what they did. It is unlikely that he will be mentioned by name unless he was an officer, mentioning that in case you raise your hopes that his name will be there - it may be. TD
* * If he served with the Glosters as an infantryman in NW Europe then he was likely 2nd Bn Gloucestershire Regiment, which was a sister battalion of the 2nd Bn South Wales Borderers, in 56 Infantry Brigade, 50th (Northumbrian) Division. The 5th Bn Gloucestshire Regiment also fought in NW Europe, but now as 43rd Recce Regiment, 43rd (Wessex) Division; this was a recce and not an infantry outfit! Best, Steve.
TD.........no he wasn't an officer. Thanks for that info Steve......once I can get a death certificate and order the records I'll know a bit more.
Just for completeness of info on my re reading this thread: T Jones in the UK, British Prisoners of War, 1939-1945 Name: T Jones Rank: Private Army Number: 4075271 Regiment: South Wales Borderers POW Number: 259082 Camp Type: Stalag Camp Number: IV-C Camp Location: Bystrice, Czech Republic TD
When did he marry your mum , during or post war? Marriage Certificate might be worth looking at too if wartime wedding.
Jan 1941 when he was on leave Owen! The wife's going to dig through more papers today and see what we can come up with! Forgot to mention for those replying....my name's Pete.....cos I know a lot of you by name now!
Reason I ask , Pete is on this thread. If you havent got the original get a copy. http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/58394-wartime-marriage-certificate/
Pete What was your mothers maiden name? - I assume they married in Swansea? TD edited to add: 231 Thomas Jones married in 1941 thats the reason I am asking edited to add 2: 8 Thomas Jones were married in Swansea in 1941
Mother's maiden name was Griffiths......and they got married in Swansea January 1941....I just found the certificate! BUT.....his Army number does not match up to what we thought. It's 3911631 Gloucestershire Regiment......so the T Jones mentioned earlier is not him!
Now you have his army number send off for his army records . Beat the Xmas post. number block as mentioned in earlier post that is a SWB number. 3911631 South Wales Borderers 3902001 - 3947000 I wasnt convinced earler chap was correct one as that number was a Monmouths number
Name: Thomas Jones Spouse Surname: Griffiths Date of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar 1941 Registration district: Swansea Inferred County: Glamorgan Volume Number: 11a Page Number: 2149 Name: Dulcie R Griffiths Spouse Surname: Jones Date of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar 1941 Registration district: Swansea Inferred County: Glamorgan Volume Number: 11a Page Number: 2149 T Jones in the UK, British Prisoners of War, 1939-1945 Name: T Jones Rank: Lance Corporal Army Number: 3911631 Regiment: Gloucestershire Regiment POW Number: 70638 Camp Type: Stalag Camp Number: IV-B Camp Location: Mühlberg, Elbe, Brandenburg TD edited to add: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_IV-B
Fantastic info TD! But now I'm confused......I was always told he was in CZ.....but that shows Germany!
See if he did a Liberation Questinnaire, some nice chap might have a look at National Archives for you.
Would that be with his War Records? No at National Archives in London. see this thread. http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/44692-pow-liberation-questionaire-anybody-going-to-kew/ example here. http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/57299-pow-stalag-20b/?p=667238
Military District IV (Dresden) Stalag IV-A Elsterhorst Stalag IV-B Mühlberg (Elbe) Stalag IV-C Wistritz bei Teplitz Stalag IV-D Torgau Stalag IV-E Altenburg Stalag IV-F Hartmannsdorf Stalag IV-G Oschatz Oflag IV-A Hohnstein Oflag IV-B Koenigstein Oflag IV-C Colditz Castle Oflag IV-D Elsterhorst These are all the camps that came under District IV - Germany then was not quite the same as Germany today and included Czech and Polish land. It is possible therefore that his main camp was IV-C then he was moved to IV-B and that is where the record was taken. If he filled out a Lib Questionnaire it will tell you but not everyone filled one out so do not raise your hopes to high. TD edited to add: Reading the link - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_IV-B it reads: "The camp's Welsh soldiers also created their own periodical called Cymro ("Welshman"), edited by prisoner William John Pitt. The magazines were produced between July 1943 and December 1944. Eight issues of the magazines were created, and out of these one was lost in the camp. Although most of the issues are in English, two pages are in Welsh. The manuscript was bought by The National Library of Wales at Sotheby’s in 1987" So maybe he was mentioned in one of the periodicals. Link to magazine - https://www.llgc.org.uk/index.php?id=3776
