Ancestry releases UK First World War army diaries

Ancestry has released two collections of First World War army diaries for the British Army:

UK, WWI War Diaries (France, Belgium and Germany), 1914-1920
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=60779

These war diaries document operations for British and colonial units serving in theatres of operations between 1914 and 1920, including Russia, at home, and in the colonies, as well as British military missions and Armies of Occupation between 1919 and 1920. The diaries contain daily reports on operations, intelligence summaries, and other pertinent material, and they can provide an on-the-spot description of what your ancestor experienced. The range of dates shown for individual items does not mean there is a document inside the file for each day between the two covering dates.

No diaries for the campaign in South West Africa in 1914-1915 are included in this series because no British units participated; operations were conducted under the auspices of the South African armed forces.

Source: First World War and Army of Occupation War Diaries. WO 95/1096–3948. The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey, England.


UK, WWI War Diaries (Gallipoli and Dardanelles), 1914-1916
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=60380

You can use this collection of war diaries from the First World War to get a picture of day-to-day life in your ancestor’s unit. The diaries include information on a unit’s movements, where the unit was stationed on a given day, what activities troops were engaged in, and other information, such as embarkation, travel, or casualties.

Source: First World War and Army of Occupation War Diaries. WO 95/4263-4359. The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey, England.

Ancestry has blogged about the release at http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2015/04/22/reports-from-gallipoli-the-dardanelles-and-the-western-front-wwi-military-diaries-go-online/


In addition Ancestry has updated two further WW1 collections, by updating their search forms:

UK, Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1543

UK, WWI Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=5119

Details on the updates to the search forms are available at www.ancestry.co.uk/searchforms

Chris

For details on my latest book Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, and my other genealogy guide books please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. To commission me for genealogical research, please visit my research site at www.scotlandsgreateststory.co.uk.