Where are all the War Diaries Then? Hidden on yer Hard Drive, that's where.

Discussion in 'Unit History' started by von Poop, Jan 21, 2011.

  1. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Evenin'
    I know there's a lot of traffic here in War diaries and copies thereof.
    They're pretty much the bread & butter of getting people started in finding stuff out beyond the books and interweb.

    Lots of chaps are uploading 'em, and or putting up links to other places where they're hosted, and a magnificent effort that is.

    But!
    There's more out there lurking on Hard Drives and unscanned - I know it.

    Get 'em uploaded!
    Jpegs, transcriptions, zip files, excel, links, whatever - get 'em shared and feed the overall online story of WW2's commonwealth forces.

    We have plans relating to a better war diary area, but it's a question of time/resources, and having a bloody great heap of the things to start off with would be nice.

    Cheers,
    ~A

    This has been a public information request on behalf of WW2Talk. :unsure:
     
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  2. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    There are plenty on the AWM however a bit of a job to download.
     
  3. Rob Dickers

    Rob Dickers 10th MEDIUM REGT RA

    :unsure:
    Is there not a copyright question on publishing diaries on the net or elsewhere?
    Rob
     
  4. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    :unsure:
    Is there not a copyright question on publishing diaries on the net or elsewhere?
    Rob

    The Australian ones are available for free so posting the links would be sufficient as the website is quite easy to navigate.

    They are downloadable for personal use.
     
  5. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Adam

    Thanks for starting this thread with it's timely reminder that tempus fugit !

    War Diaries ?

    I luv em!................... particularly when they relate to units in which I once served.

    First, a confession.

    I have this particular thing, call it an obsession if you like, that makes me want to leave footsteps behind when I am no longer here to make my case.

    I think it stems from something I once read that said a person is not truly dead until no-one mentions their name anymore. If you go along with this particular resoning then you might understand why I've placed on the internet an obscene amount of trivia regarding my life in HM Forces during WW2.

    As an aide-memoire I constructed this amalgam of chronological data borrowed from the internet and merged with excerpts from my personal diaries and Army Records.

    I think the heading will suffice to show you how it works, it runs to 94 pages of a WORD doc and I am always delving into it when I want quick accurate info in a hurry.

    Ron’s Definitive WW2 Chronology
    with full acknowledgement to the brilliant Spartacus website shown below for the WW2 Chronology.
    <http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWchron.htm>
    With additional entries by Ron taken from:
    1. Regimental Diaries of the 49th LAA and the 4th Queen’s Own Hussars.
    (References to Ron, Ron’s Battery or Squadron highlit in YELLOW)
    2. Ron’s personal Diaries from January 1942 to December 1946
    3. Ron’s postings on the BBC WW2 Peoples War, prefixed with SEE:
    4. Ron’s War Office Records, obtained in 2004, are shown in RED
    5. An amalgam of Ron’s personal diary PLUS the official 49th LAA Rgt Diary

    Note 1: At the end of this document there is an article about the history of the 8th Army plus the 4th QOH Regimental Diaries.
    Note 2: Ron’s personal diaries are interwoven with the Regimental Diaries.
    Note 3: The hyperlinks underlined below were working at the time this file was updated


    I show below a typical entry for June 1943

    Regimental Diaries:
    On 30 May the Regt left Tunis and moved into Algeria to Las Croix and on the
    On 31 May moved to 7 miles west of Guelma. The regt was camped in olive groves north of Oued Seybouse. During this period there was a major change in vehicles in order to standardise within 78 Div.
    On 17 Jun 78 Div was visited by HM The King. 78 Div was then ordered back into Tunisia.
    Ron placed on a charge for being AWOL in Guelma !

    Ron swam in the sea at Carthage

    On 21 Jun 84 Bty moved with 11 Bde Gp to Hammamet, 30 miles SE of Tunis




    I may very well return to this thread !

    Ron
     
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  6. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    I must confess I did start to upload some I Corps war diaries and it was taking so long I lost the will to live.

    If someone cares to tell me a fast way of doing it I'll happily consider it. Failing that I'll always share anything I have within the 200 ish 1940 war diaries I have so far with anyones specific area of interest.

    Cheers
    Andy
     
  7. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

    :unsure:
    Is there not a copyright question on publishing diaries on the net or elsewhere?
    Rob

    It appears that as long as you post your own transcriptions or images of copied diaries and credit the source, the information contained therein is Crown Copyright and can be reproduced for free for non-commercial purposes.

    Which is exactly what we do here.
     
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  8. Philip Reinders

    Philip Reinders Very Senior Member

    The RA ones that I have get on my site, the others are copied for my work and payed for by my company so can't put them up, however if someone has a question about a date I can always check them.
     
  9. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    The Australian ones are available for free so posting the links would be sufficient as the website is quite easy to navigate.

    They are downloadable for personal use.

    Once again the Aussies win on digitising useful stuff.

    Maybe this is a 'Big Society' thing? (Little bit of politics ;))
    No real sign of the powers that be doing it, and they're the history of our Dad's & Grandads (And you personally Ron, Tom, Brian etc., of course!), so I think their accessibility should be increased.

    Host 'em here, Rapidshare, Flickr, wherever, and we can maybe start building a more cogent list or set of links to 'em, alongside the threads we already have.
     
  10. Smudger Jnr

    Smudger Jnr Our Man in Berlin

    Posted mine already:D

    Regards
    Tom
     
  11. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    Guess I'll be typing through the rest of the winter months then. :lol:
     
  12. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Guess I'll be typing through the rest of the winter months then. :lol:

    Let me know when your done - I'll send you all the BEF ones :)
     
  13. Trux

    Trux 21 AG

    An excellent idea of course Adam. Look what wonders have been achieved on the BEF markings thread. Perhaps it needs narrowing down to a smaller topic at a time otherwise the prospect is somewhat daunting.

    Am I the only person who is so technically inept that I would not know how to scan and upload to the forum.

    Mike
     
  14. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

  15. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    To all those that continue to add War Diaries:

    Ten out of Ten, a gold star, and an extra cream cake.

    Great stuff chaps, If I haven't repped you, I apologise.

    ~A
     
  16. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    It's been a while and definately worth a bump from some of the work I did last year for forum members.

    So come on Chaps/Chapettes get your relative stories and the images on here...I know I copied some cracking stuff last year and one great little story was uncovered in January this year...Over to you !
     
  17. Deacs

    Deacs Well i am from Cumbria.

    Will come back to this one when i can think of a better way to describe what i am wanting to know.

    Sorry guys

    Michael.
     
  18. TijgerB

    TijgerB Member

    Well mainly "my" war starts when yours stop. But I have always been willing to share with people who share with me like here on the forum. Plus help with translations if I can.
     
  19. muggins

    muggins Member

  20. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

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