Army War Diaries Method

Supporting guides

• What Is an Army War Diary?
  A war diary is the official daily record of a unit, covering movements, orders, operations, casualties and administration. It was written for the unit, so most entries name officers and events, not every other rank by name.
• How Do I Find the Right War Diary?
  Find the war diary from the battalion or equivalent unit and the dates of posting, using the catalogue at The National Archives. Searching by surname will not find a war diary, because war diaries are catalogued by unit and date.
• How Do I Read a War Diary Entry?
  Read an entry as a dated unit entry: place, orders received, action taken, casualties and remarks. One entry rarely explains a whole operation, so read the days before and after it as a sequence.
• Will a War Diary Name My Ancestor?
  A war diary may name officers, casualties and men mentioned for particular reasons, but most other ranks appear only in strength figures or casualty numbers. Absence of a name is normal and is not evidence that a person was not there.
• What Are War Diary Appendices and Maps?
  Appendices can include orders, maps, sketches, returns and messages that explain an entry. When an entry is short or coded, the appendix for that month is the next place to look.
• Why Are There Gaps in a War Diary?
  Gaps come from lost months, units in transit, periods out of the line, and diaries kept unevenly under pressure. Note a gap as a gap, and look for brigade or division diaries that may cover the same dates at a higher level.
• When Should I Use Brigade or Division Diaries?
  Use brigade and division diaries when the battalion diary is missing, thin or silent on a move, because higher formations recorded orders and movements that affected their units. They give context, not a substitute battalion record.
• How Do I Handle Place Names in War Diaries?
  Place names in war diaries may be spelled phonetically, abbreviated, or given as map references. Cross-check a place against a contemporary map and against the entries around it before fixing it on a modern map.
• How Do I Read a Casualty Entry in a War Diary?
  A casualty entry gives numbers, and sometimes names and circumstances, for a date and an action. Match it to the casualty record and the service record before treating it as the full story of one person.
• War Diary or Service Record: Which Proves Presence?
  Only the service record posting proves a person belonged to a unit on a date; the war diary then shows what that unit did. Presence in a place needs both halves, posting plus unit action, not either half alone.
• In What Order Should I Use War Diaries?
  Work in this order: service record postings, battalion war diary for those dates, appendices, then brigade or division diaries. That order stops a vivid diary entry from attaching itself to the wrong person.