New subscription site offering WW1 war diaries coming soon

Many thanks to a British GENES reader who has just sent me the following information:

There is a very significant development taking place in WW1 military/family history with the digitisation of the entire WW1 medal rolls and the availability of these rolls (firstly by CD-Rom) and then via a new website 'The Naval & Military Archive'.

The links are here: http://www.naval-military-press.com/first-world-war-campaign-medals.-10.9-million-medals-5-million-soldierscomplete-on-one-fully-searchable-cd-rom-early-bird_price.html and http://ww1wardiaries.co.uk

The second link explains how for a reasonable subscription individuals will be able to go through as many Western Front war diaries as they like, no more individual download charges unless you want to get a copy from the National Archives website. This changes the way they can be used as it makes it feasible to look through multiple war diaries for a small cost. I also emailed Naval and Military Press who confirmed that the other 7 million newly digitised WW1 records on the site (apparently 6.5 million) will be on.

COMMENT: I've had a look, and the Naval and Military Archive site is stated to be arriving 'summer 2014' - the following is some additional info:

The N&M Archive will include the full sets of data currently on our military-genealogy.com website, bolstered by an additional 6.5 million newly digitised WW1 soldiers’ records, plus the War Diaries.

Subscription to N&M Archive includes full and unrestricted access to all these data sets and collections, as well as the 4,700 separate War Diaries. These consist of 1.52 million full colour pages, from WO 95 held at the National Archives, Kew.

Pricing for subscriptions will be modest, starting from under £5 for a 24-hour period to a full year at a remarkable £50.

Definitely one to keep an eye out for!

(With thanks to Justin)

Chris

Now available for UK research is the new second edition of the best selling Tracing Your Family History on the Internet: A Guide for Family Historians, whilst my new book British and Irish Newspapers is also now out. And FindmyPast - please reinstate the original Scottish census citations on your new site.