Military History

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World War One World War Two The Army The Royal Navy
The Royal Air Force British Army Regiments





General Military Information

British Military Records through the ages

When you are searching for Military Service Records there are a few important pieces of information that you need to have. These are:

  • Full name of the individual. If you have as full a name as possible as this will make tracking your individual easier. E.g. John Brown. There must be hundreds of John Browns. If you have a middle name it will make things a bit easier. E.g. John W Brown.
  • The Service in which he served. Army, Royal Navy or Air Force.
  • Rank and Regiment or Naval Ship or Squadron. Having the service number can be particularly helpful.
  • Find out when the person served; pre First World War, First World War and after 1920.
  • The more details you have the better. Even the Enlistment date and Demob dates are helpful as well.


Researching Prisoners of War

The International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva keeps lists of all known POWs and internees of all nationalities for the Second World War. Enquiries concerning these lists should be directed to:

Archives Division and Research Service
International Committee of the Red Cross
19 Avenue de la Paix,
Geneva CH-1202,
Switzerland

email: archives.gva@icrc.org


POW Links


Book! Prisoners of War, British Army, 1939 - 1945

That lists alphabetically over 107,000 British Army POWs of all ranks held in Germany or in German occupied territories in World War Two. It gives each POW's camp, POW number, surname, initials, rank, army number and regiment/corps.

It was re-published in 1990, by J B Hayward and Sons of Polstead, Suffolk (cost £38) ISBN 0-903754-61-


Useful Links



A-Z List of Ex-Military Service Organisations

A-Z List of Ex-Military Service


Medals and Decorations

World War One and Two Dual Links


Women in the Military



Canadian Soldiers












http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/researchguidesindex.asp?j=1




http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jeffery...s/RNShips.html





Royal Navy Air Station-- Fleet Air Arm, a branch of the RN


My father was on just as many ships during ww2 He served on the same ship several times. Non officers changed ships each time they went on leave, or when the ship put in for repairs.

Your great Uncle was a stoker, later a leading stoker, which meant he worked in the engine room. A stoker basically shovelled coal into the boilers to steam up . On ships without coal the rank was kept but he would still work in the engine room.

http://www.mariners-l.co.uk/UKRNMainBases.htm

Go to this site for all the shore bases, mainly WW2 tho' , your great uncle would have visited it several times during the war usually for further training or awaiting a new ship.

QUOTE re VIVID This was his Shore Base http://www.maritimequest.com/guestbo...message_57.htm 'The Royal Naval Barracks at Devonport (adjacent to Plymouth) was built in the late 1800s and at the time the Commander in Chief of the area had an official yacht HMS VIVID. He decided that the new barracks should take the designation HMS VIVID. It was customary for satellites of shore establishments to take the "ship name" of their parent with I or II and so on added. HMS VIVID I was the signals centre associated with the Devonport Barracks but not actually inside the perimeter. HMS VIVID II and III would have been shore units, part of the Devonport barracks, probably not actually within the perimeter but certainly within the general area of Plymouth Naval Base.' UNQUOTE



http://www.gwpda.org/naval/j0300001.htm This site records the Battle of Otranto Straits 15th May 1917. Your great Uncle was on board the ship HMS Dartmouth at the time.

QUOTE from enemy perspective on http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian...horthy/06.html 'The enemy had lost twenty-three net-trailing drifters, two transports, two destroyers and one aeroplane. In addition, the enemy flagship Dartmouth was attacked by a German U-boat as she was entering the harbour of Brindisi and holed by two torpedoes. The French destroyer Boutefeu, going to the assistance of the Dartmouth, ran onto a mine released by the U-boat and sank.' UNQUOTE

HMS Pembroke is a shore base not a ship. It's Chatham Naval Barracks and also home of the Coast guard Service. 

Note from Caroline's brother: Had a quick look at the site. 
Under Military, HMS Pembroke closed years ago. 
Ended up in the University of Greenwich.

You can look up th ships he was on here:

http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/pre-dread.htm

Royal arthur was an armoured cruiser

Minos was a destroyer

I think Watchful was a shorebase in WW1 too.

Do you have his service record? you can search for it here and down load it for £3.50

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/d...=*&queryType=1

You won't find Ships's crews list as all ships changed their crews on a regular basis.

Have you searched the sites listed in other posts above?

Googling is as good a way as any to find out the history of the ship and which battles for example that ship took part in. His service record will give you the dates he was aboard so you can easily see what action he was involved in himself during the war.

Lancastria Association of Scotland

www.lancstria.org

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