World War 1 War Diaries

What is a "War Diary",  How can they help researchers?          

Most  "small" units of the British Army (Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery, Engineers, Lines of Communication, etc., etc., etc.) kept a day by  day record of their activities, actions, and movements whilst they were deployed overseas in a war zone. These documents are a basic source of information regarding the likely actions of an Officer or Other Rank for any period of time which may be of especial interest, for example his wounding or death, or even his entire period of overseas service. Care must be taken however not to rely exclusively on this source, please also refer to "Higher Echelon War Diaries".

What will a War Diary tell me?

The detail to be found in these diaries  varies enormously and is largely dependent upon the amount of activity taking place and the Adjutants' inclination to record it. Often a diary may contain three or four pages of script dealing with one day's events (a battle, or the like) and at other times it may be difficult to ascertain just what the unit is doing with itself, - one diary that I am aware of manages to summarise three whole months in France during 1917 with less than twenty words, though it has to be said that this is an extraordinary example  and the unit concerned did spend the whole of this time in training for a "secret mission" (which was in the event cancelled!).

Officers and Other Ranks      

Officers are commonly mentioned by name in unit diaries, arriving, leaving, going on leave, sickness, taking part in an action etc., whilst the specific naming of Rankers is fairly rare. For them the mention of acts of bravery or the granting of awards are the most common reasons for their details appearing, though there are many exceptions to this, - for example one Adjutant in the Queens Own Cameron Highlanders felt the need to record that Private 1777 Donald Mackenzie had fallen off the Battalion baggage wagon during the course of a routine move late during 1915! (Maybe there was more to it than meets the eye ? - Nevermind, Mackenzie was one of the fortunate ones, he survived the war relatively unscathed and was discharged to "Class Z" Army Reserve on the 1st of April 1919).

Some Battalion diaries can be outstanding with regards to recording casualties; for example the 16th Bn Manchester Regiment's diaries for July 1917 (and other dates) record every Officer and Man killed, wounded, missing, missing believed wounded,  and missing believed killed on the opening day of "Third Ypres" (giving name, number, and rank, as well as "type" of casualty for the OR's). Their sister battalion, the 19th, who take part in the same action, give the names of the Officer casualties and then simlpy state "283" OR casualties, all types. It's simply pot luck as to what you will find. 

Common problems with War Diaries

Occasionally sections of the unit War Diaries are simply "missing", - for example the diaries of the 19th Battalion The London Regiment for September and October 1915 are not in the relevant file boxes, there simply being a note on file to the effect that the records for these months were "lost". This Battalion suffered very heavily during the Battle of Loos and it may be imagined that the paperwork was simply destroyed whilst they were in action; there may be many reasons for such deficiencies.

Fortunately this does not create a dead-end as far as researching the Battalion's activities is concerned as you can always fall back on the detail to be found in the relevant Brigade and Divisional War Diaries. This might not be quite so "personal" as far as recording the Battalion's activities is concerned, but will fill the gaps. (See "Higher Echelon War Diaries").