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WW 2 Soldiers — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:24:26 +0000

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Researching British Soldiers Who Served in the 1914-18 Great War

WW 2 Soldiers — Sun, 20 May 2012 20:09:58 +0000

This article is brought to you by In the footsteps BATTLEFIELD TOURS

At In the footsteps BATTLEFIELD TOURS we occasionally receive enquiries about how to trace the records of British soldiers who served in the 1814-18 Great War. We do our best to help when such a request is made, but our resources are limited and we are conscious that our best is often very slow and not always that conclusive. To help those wishing to research records of British Soldiers who served in the 1914-18 Great War we thought that it would be useful if we put together some notes on the basics of how to research this information.

During the Great War of 1914-1918 Britain’s Regular Army was tiny by European standards and was quickly supplemented initially by Reservists and the Territorials. Kitchener’s Army of volunteers were rapidly trained and sent to the front and by 1916 it was necessary to introduce Conscription to make up numbers.

The casualty lists continued to grow at an alarming rate largely because of the very nature of trench warfare. The modern military innovations and communications that we know today simply did not exist and the 1914-18 Great War had developed into one of attrition. As a consequence, the British Army sustained massive fatal casualties averaging around 450 officers and men per day.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC)

The first place to begin your search is the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). They have the most complete record of soldiers (and others) that died in the 1914-18 Great War. This record is available on-line in their ‘Debt of Honour Register’ at http://www.cwgc.org/.

The information contained in the Debt of Honour Register includes the location of the soldier’s grave (or his commemoration, if he has no known grave). It will usually give details of his service number, rank, unit, date of death (if known) and place of burial or commemoration. Other information may be available, but this is dependent on material supplied (or not supplied) by relatives during and after the war. It should also be noted that whilst the CWGC make every effort the Register is not entirely free of errors.

The 1921 Compilation – Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-19

An excellent resource for locating those who died in the war is Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-19. Originally published in 1921 the compilations consist of 80 volumes for the soldiers with a separate volume for officers. Each volume deals with individual Regiment or Corps, and lists those who died, giving dates, locations, army number. It is not 100% accurate, but an excellent record that was based on regimental records.

These volumes give information that the CWGC does not for example, place of birth, place of residence, place of enlistment and any former regiment being the most common.

A full set of the Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-19 is available for the general public to reference in the Birmingham Central Library. Other Central and/or Reference Libraries may also hold copies, but check before going as they often only have the volume relating to the local regiment.

This work can also be obtained from the Imperial War Museum as a searchable CD-ROM and is also available from: http://www.naval-military-press.com/. The CD-ROM has the advantage that the casualties can be searched and sorted, which is a great benefit if you are researching a unit or what happened to a group of friends. Inevitably it does contain some transcription errors – but then again the originals have errors too. Overall, this is an excellent though very expensive resource. Many branches of the Western Front Association have a copy, as do some libraries – including the one at the National Archives.

Genealogy Websites

Military-Genealogy.com the Naval & Military Press’ website for military historians and family history researchers has computerised these records, along with similar records relating to the Second World War, and offer a pay-per-view service to search them. These works are also available as a searchable CD-ROM, published by the Naval & Military Press. For further details visit: http://www.naval-military-press.com/.

Another pay-per-view service is provided by findmypast.com that has made it possible to search for soldiers who died in the 1914-18 Great War on-line. It is also possible to access the registers of war deaths via their website http://www.findmypast.com/HomeServlet. In addition to their pay-per-view service they operate a voucher system whereby vouchers can be purchased from UK stockists or mail order, see their website for details.

Rolls of Honour

Many businesses, organisations, schools and towns created Rolls of Honour after the war. Many of these are now available on-line and can be accessed by searching Google then clicking on the appropriate search result.

In addition to these dedicated Rolls of Honour sites is a particularly good website http://www.roll-of-honour.com/ that is striving to list details of the various War Memorials in the UK. This also has a useful search facility that will interrogate the records they have in their databases.

Soldiers Personal Files

All British soldiers who served in the 1914-18 Great War had a personal file. Around half of these personal files were destroyed in the first German air-raid on London in the Second World War on the night of 7th/8th September 1940. The records that survived the Second World War were released to the UK National Archives: The Public Record Office at Kew in November 1996. Their website can be found at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/. The original documents are now so fragile that only microfilm is available for inspection and whether an individual soldier’s file has survived is entirely random.

Officers’ files had a higher survival rate and about 216,000 were released to the National Archives in February 1998. The criteria for release were that the officer had served in the British Army between 1914 and 1920 and that he had left the Army before 31st March 1922. It is often possible to locate an officer’s file on line, by typing the surname into the National Archives Catalogue accompanied by a record class number. Officers’ files are mostly contained in record series WO 339 or WO 374 (especially Territorial Officers).

The Medal Index and Medal Rolls

Besides a soldier’s (or officer’s) personal file the other major source of information is the Medal Card Index, also in the National Archives. This is the most complete listing of British service personnel in the First World War. The National Archives has now completed the digitizing of the Medal Index. The on-line version is available at http://www.documentson-line.nationalarchives.gov.uk/default.asp

Most soldiers who served with the British Army in the 1914-18 Great War qualified for campaign medals, normally the 1914 (or 1914-15) Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. The Army Medals Office recorded soldiers’ medal entitlement in lists known as rolls. The Index Card available on line provides the reference to where the soldier is listed on the Rolls, which are organised by regiment or corps. The information found on the Medal Card will include the soldier’s name, rank and serial number, his regiment or corps, sometimes his unit (e.g. battalion or Field Company RE), his date of death (if he died during the war), the campaign medals he was awarded and the reference numbers that allow the soldier to be traced on the Medal Rolls, which are not available on line.

It is important to check the actual Medal Rolls because they can give extra vital information about a soldier, such as his battalion, that allows further research to be undertaken. This is particularly true of soldiers who served in the cavalry, yeomanry and infantry, but much less so for the larger corps, such as the Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers and Army Service Corps.

Unit War Diaries

Once a soldier’s unit has been identified it is possible to find out more about it. All units from battalion level (and the battalion’s equivalent in other corps, such as a Field Artillery Brigade) upwards were required to keep War Diaries on active service. These diaries are preserved in the National Archives: The Public Record Office, Kew, in record series WO 95. War Diaries rarely mention ordinary soldiers, but they do provide a detailed account of the unit’s movements and activities.

Regimental Histories

Nearly all infantry regiments and battalions have published histories. These can usually be purchased through that Regiment’s PRI or through most reputable bookshops. On-line bookshops such as Amazon will also have these available.

We hope that the information contained within this article has been of assistance and will help you trace the records of the soldier you are interested in. If you feel that we can be of assistance please email us at inthefootsteps@btinternet.com and we will try to help. Please bear in mind however our opening paragraph, as our resources are limited and we are conscious that our best is often very slow and not always conclusive.

Ian R Gumm

at Willowmead

20th January 2007

In the footsteps BATTLEFIELD TOURS SERVICE

If you are interested in following “in the footsteps” of an ancestor, relative or particular unit we can put together a bespoke battlefield tour proposal for your consideration. The proposal is without obligation as we do not undertake any preparatory work until an order is received.

We also offer a range of commemorative certificates that can be purchased from our website. These decorative certificates are designed to commemorate the military service of service personnel in a readily displayable format, they are not meant to be facsimiles of official documents.

Visit our website at In the footsteps BATTLEFIELD TOURS for further details.

By: Ian R Gumm

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ARLINE

PS3 Games?

WW 2 Soldiers — Sun, 20 May 2012 08:16:20 +0000

Some or most of these are not released, I would like to know what you think of these, any/all other recommendations are welcome.

Army of Two.
BlackSite: Area51.
Assassin’s Creed.
Heavenly Sword.
John Woo Presents: Stranglehold.
Ninja Gaiden Sigma.
Mafia 2.
Resident Evil 5.
The Darkness.
Transformers: The Game.
Grand Theft Auto IV.
Armored Core 4.
Soul Calibur IV.
Tekken 6.
Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII.
Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions of WWII.
Warhawk.
Need for Speed: ProStreet.
Burnout Paradise.
Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights.
MotorStorm.
DiRT.
Midnight Club: Los Angeles.
MX Vs. ATV: Untamed.
Need for Speed: Carbon.
Stuntman: Ignition.
Fatal Inertia.
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.
Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway.
Unreal Tournament III.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
Time Crisis 4.
Haze.
Battlefield: Bad Company.
Medal of Honor: Airborne.
Project Origin.
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2.
Killzone 3.
Frontlines: Fuel of War.
Turning Point: Fall of Liberty.
SOCOM: Confrontation.
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas.
Resistance: Fall of Man.
Wolfenstein (rumored remake)
WWE Smackdown! Vs. Raw 2008.
Skate.
Tony Hawk’s Project 8.
Soldier of Fortune: Payback.

I look forward to buying some of these, God knows I probably won’t have enough money for all in this or the next year..

As stated, some/most of these are not yet released, but it gives you a glimpse of what I like, so, if you want to comment on these, please do, I would like some more recommendations.

So, does anyone have any good ones?

By: x0xtr1cksterx0x

About the Author:

KATHY

If it hadn’t been for the cold, would the Germans have conquered Russia in WWII?

WW 2 Soldiers — Sat, 19 May 2012 20:08:25 +0000

I saw this documentary on the History Channel that pretty much attributed Germany’s defeat on the Eastern front in WWII to Russia’s climate. As the Germans were about to take over Moscow in 1941, winter caught them almost by surprise. They then realized their troops were not equipped to fight or neutralize an attack amidst such a terrible cold. German soldiers who survived depicted horryfying scenes. Most of their comrades were dead-frozen in the position they fought. The documentary made particular emphasis on the might of the German army in comparison to the Russian, which was rather weak by all standards. Stalin even forced the prisoners deported to Siberia to put on a uniform and fight at all costs or else they’d be shot.

Is there an expert on the topic who can offer more information? What are the other theories as to why Germany lost WWII?

By: ¡Yo soy español!

About the Author:

MARGO

The Lesser-Known Facts: A WWII Study Guide to American (Non-)Involvement

WW 2 Soldiers — Sat, 19 May 2012 08:05:55 +0000

This July 24th marks the 65th anniversary of the German retreat from Brittany and Normandy just a month and a half after the D-Day invasion of World War II. Heralded as the major turning point on the European front, the Allied invasion of Normandy remains one of the most celebrated military operations in living memory, having helped put an end to what is commonly known in America as the “Good War.”

While buzzwords like D-Day, Allied Forces, and Good War give WWII an honored place in American culture, they can also obscure the fact that this war remains the most gruesome conflict in all of human history – and one in which Americans initially fought tooth-and-nail not to get involved. So before you saunter confidently into your next US history exam, consider using the following facts to enhance your personal study guides.

In the summer of 1940 – nearly a year after WWII started with the German conquest of Poland – only 21% of Americans polled said that they weren’t outright opposed to entering the war. (Compare that to the roughly 75% of Americans polled who supported the Korean war in 1950, the Vietnam War in 1965, or the Iraq war in 2003.) American sentiments against intervention were so steadfast that in 1941, President Roosevelt was forced to wage an undeclared and arguably illegal naval war against German subs in the North Atlantic; only by claiming that the Pan-American Security Zone somehow stretched all the way to Iceland could he bypass the otherwise strict laws against this type of involvement.

In addition to its reluctance to enter into WWII, America demonstrated little interest in accommodating the Jews, Slavs, Roma, and other ethnic and minority groups targeted during the Holocaust. While some few thousands seeking asylum – including Albert Einstein – were lucky enough to gain admittance to the US, many thousands more – including Ann Frank’s family – were waitlisted in accordance with the nation’s restrictive immigration quotas. And although America’s initial disinterest can partly be attributed to a general lack of knowledge about the Nazis’ activities, the US State Department eventually did receive a cable detailing the plans for genocide in August of 1942 – and nevertheless decided to keep the intelligence a secret. Over the duration of the Holocaust, an estimated 11 to 17 thousand people, including 6 million Jews, perished in slave-labor and concentration camps.

After the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor finally catapulted America into the fray, over a million African-Americans reported for duty. Since their sacrifice was not considered on-par with that of their white counterparts, black servicemen were frequently relegated to menial positions that segregated them from other soldiers. In fact, Nazi POWs were often allowed to dine with white US soldiers from whose company blacks were excluded. This sad state of American civil rights prompted some blacks to defy the draft board by using racial stereotypes to their advantage. Malcolm X, for example, enthusiastically expressed a desire to “kill some crackers” in order to be disqualified from a war in which he did not feel morally obliged to participate.

Most astonishing of all is the fact that of the approximately fifty million people who were killed during World War II, about 20 million were classified as noncombatants – even though both sides agreed not to target civilians in 1939. After the repeated bombings of thriving cities like Tokyo, Dresden, and London, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 became very representative of the Allies’ so-called “tarnished victory” at the end of an unprecedentedly devastating conflict.

Considering that WWII happened less than 70 years ago, it is remarkable to think how many facts have already been overlooked. If any of them came as a surprise to you, make sure to pick up a study guide on your way out.

Shmoop is an online study guide for English Literature, Poems and American history. Its content is written by Ph.D. and Masters students from top universities, like Stanford, Berkeley, Harvard, and Yale who have also taught at the high school and college levels. Teachers and students should feel confident to cite Shmoop.

Article from articlesbase.com

How do I find information about a WW2 soldier?

WW 2 Soldiers — Fri, 18 May 2012 20:19:22 +0000

Michael asked:

He served in WW2 in the Army where he died right after the D-Day Invasion. I would like very much to get his military records and all his honors that were instilled upon him and his actions. This man was my Great Uncle. This is important.

HOLIDAY

How can I find out more about WW2 refugee records?

WW 2 Soldiers — Fri, 18 May 2012 08:06:10 +0000

Sheldon asked:

My grandfather was captured by the Nazi’s ion WW2 and taken to a camp at around aged 15 after which he fell in to the hands of the Americans (I’m guessing it would be the army but to be honest we’re not quite sure).

Obviously, there must be records in reference to these sort of activities but does anyone know how I can locate refugee records? Where would be a good place to start looking?

BRAM

Millvale WWII POW Gets Purple Heart 65 Years Later

WW 2 Soldiers — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:15:01 +0000

Millvale WWII POW Gets Purple Heart 65 Years Later (WTAE-TV Pittsburgh) – Shot down over Germany during World War II, David Rohm thought he was going to die. But the tech sergeant from Millvale survived his wound — along with more than a year in a POW camp — and is getting a Purple Heart after a 65-year wait.

Flew in Enola Gay during WWII

WW 2 Soldiers — Thu, 17 May 2012 08:16:17 +0000

Flew in Enola Gay during WWII (Chicago Sun-Times) – Imagine Joyce H. Kress’ surprise when she read about the atomic bomb being dropped on Japan and realized that she had once ridden on the plane that made the historic flight.

My Granddad was in WWII and i would like to find out more info?

WW 2 Soldiers — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:26:27 +0000

I have his army Serial number #38297460.I looked it up but only gave me basic info can anyone help with better info?I know hw got a few medals like the bronze star and such but want to find out more.

By: mark d

About the Author:

SAWYER