War Diaries through Heritage Canadiana

Discussion in 'Canadian' started by sapperschild, Aug 9, 2014.

  1. Nijmegen

    Nijmegen Member

    A monumental achievement, already found some very interesting stuff.

    Do they have a list of "things to come"? :)
     
  2. JohnS

    JohnS Senior Member

    Great stuff! Thanks.
     
  3. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    I was just in contact with Heritage and there should be more war diaries posted within the next month. I am not sure what they will be at this point but will probably include some fill-in reels.
     
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  4. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    I have found some mistakes in my spreadsheet as well as one mislabeled reel. I will post a corrected spreadsheet when I get back from vacation.
     
  5. stolpi

    stolpi Well-Known Member

    Nice work!
     
  6. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    Here is an updated spreadsheet with a few corrections. There is one reel that is incorrectly labeled. I have left it as described as the LAC, but the reel at Heritage is different and may be of interest to some members.

    Reel T-10893 is listed in the spreadsheet and at the LAC as:

    Volume 13875 - Headquarters, Defended Port of Saint John, New Brunswick 1942/12-1944/09
    Volume 13876 - Headquarters, Defended Port of St. John’s, Newfoundland 1941/09-1945/07
    Volume 13877 - Headquarters, Defended Port of Shelburne, Nova Scotia 1941/09-1944/07

    In reality, the Heritage Canadiana website has the following Volumes instead (which as Reel T-11066 at the LAC)

    Volume 14070 - Headquarters, 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade 1941/02-1941/08
    Volume 14071 - Headquarters, 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade 1941/09-1941/10

    Corrected Spreadsheet:
     

    Attached Files:

    stolpi likes this.
  7. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    The Heritage Canadiana website added 69 more reels to Canadian War Diaries on September 9th. I have attached an updated spreadsheet for those interested. The black reel numbers are the original, the red are the reels added during the last update, and the blue are the reels added during the current update.

    As noted above two reels as shown as the LAC website have been swapped at the Heritage Canadiana site. In the spreadsheet I have indicated what is listed at the Heritage site rather than at the LAC site.

    Update Spreadsheet:
     

    Attached Files:

    djbamforduk, Buteman and stolpi like this.
  8. JohnS

    JohnS Senior Member

    Thank you!
    I wish that they had them online ten years ago. It would have saved me a lot of printing charges and a few trips to Ottawa.
     
  9. Arthur001

    Arthur001 Member

    Hello,
    Re:
    Heritiage Canada War Diaries Infantry Regiments

    I do notice that (unless I'm missing something quite badly here-haha) that War Diaries of individual infantry regiments are not online. (I need more than the June-August Wilfred Laurier war Diaries-I need the Part 1 orders after the monthly War Diary.)

    I am about to go to LAC in Ottawa here in November. Going to spend some $$ on hotels, food and the LAC.


    What I am looking for is the Part 1 orders for June, July, August and a bit of September for all Infantry regiments in order to look at casualty data and reinforcements. Units involved would be 2nd, 3rd Canadian Infnatry Divisions, and the infantry regiments of the 4th Armoured Division.

    This info became available for Mid-September (reinforcements, non-battle casualties) onwards in the Heritage Canada Canadian First Army A & Q War Diaries. But June, July and August - I need more for this area.


    Is there a reason these are missing? Would they be posted any time soon? I am on a academic deadline, and have to make a decision to go.


    Arthur in London, ON.
     
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  10. 17thDYRCH

    17thDYRCH Senior Member

    Arthur,
    Compliments of forum member Klambie, I am in contact with a researcher based in Ottawa. If you want his contact info, please send a PM.
    cheers
     
  11. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    Arthur

    I replied to your PM about this matter. The LAC have not microfilmed the infantry war diaries, therefore Heritage Canadiana will probably not put these on line since they are only dealing with microfilm reels.

    David
     
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  12. Arthur001

    Arthur001 Member

    17th DYRCH and David, thank you very much for your help.

    David thank you for your great work of organizing the catalogue.


    I am going to request the LAC material today and it is best if I be the one looking through it as I know what I need. I will also use the time before I leave to go through the LMH online June-August War Diaries to see if I can get as much detail out of them as that can to save time when I am there.

    The non-battle casualties and reinforcement data is very tricky. It was not something prioritized in many war diaries, though it was significant info on how a regiment was weakened or strengthened. Often each regiment recorded (or didn't) it their own way, until in late September when the Canadian First Army A & Q HQ staff got proper regular returns per regiment. It is often ignored as a non-factor, and that is what my academic study is all about.

    The 2nd Canadian Corps A & Q is a complete bust due to it consolidating all returns to the Division, Corps troops totals and AGRA totals level. It is not divided per regiment, which is what I want. The 1st Canadian Corps A & Q for March-May 1945 is the complete opposite, which is great!! (And online)


    Arthur
     
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  13. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    Good luck, Arthur. Let us know how you made out in your trip. I have updated the Heritage Canadiana Spreadsheet by adding a second worksheet entitled War Diaries Not Posted. This is a list of reels, that hopefully, will be filled in as the War Diaries reels, now at 742 reels, is expanded. It will later help me when more diaries are posted. It will also give everyone an idea of what is left to post in the HQ, armor, artillery and engineer areas.

    David
     

    Attached Files:

    djbamforduk likes this.
  14. 17thDYRCH

    17thDYRCH Senior Member

    Arthur,

    Good luck in your research.

    David,
    Many thanks for recapping the spreadsheet.
     
  15. klambie

    klambie Senior Member

    Is it possible the infantry diaries have never been micro-filmed? Not a lot of experience with other units in Ottawa, but when I have, they tend to point you to the micro-film, not the originals. Have never got anything but originals for infantry.
     
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  16. JohnS

    JohnS Senior Member

    Thanks David. Keep it up!
     
  17. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    Kevin:

    That is correct. The infantry war diaries are not on microfilm reels at the LAC. We have had the same experience and have had to get special permission to photograph any war diary originals that are also on microfilm. I can't speculate as to why they have not been microfilmed.

    David
     
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  18. minden1759

    minden1759 Senior Member

    David.

    Outstanding piece of work and much appreciated.

    Not sure why 19 Cdn Armd Regt is not on yet.

    Regards

    Frank
     
  19. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    There was no 19th Armoured Regiment or 19th Army Tank Regiment in the Active Army. Only Active Army units maintained war diaries. There was a 19th (Reserve) Army Tank Battalion (The New Brunswick Regiment (Tank)) in the Reserve Army based at Moncton, New Brunswick, which had no war diary. The New Brunswick Regiment (Tank) was authorized the Active Army as the 1st Canadian Army Tank Brigade HQ Squadron on 24 April 1941 and went to England on 18 June 1941 on HMT Brittanic (E-163) with the brigade. The war diary for the active unit can be found on Reel T-11056 pp. 38-784 at the Heritage Canadiana site.
     
  20. JohnS

    JohnS Senior Member

    When they started doing this I wrote to them and asked them to scan the entire war diary, including all appendices because just the daily entries weren't enough for hard research. I got a good response, but I haven't been able to tell if they are including everything or not when they do a war diary.
     

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