This collection might help fill in the gaps in what you know about a British family member who was part of the Normandy landing on D-Day. A survey conducted in the UK for Ancestry.co.uk has discovered that only 25% of the 61,715 soldiers that took part in the landings ever spoke to family members about the operation.
A third (33%) of Brits with a D-Day ancestor have lost all records of their family members story – including photos, letters or documents – over timeThe war diaries from TNA document operations for select British units on 6th June 1944 and include reports on action, intelligence summaries, and other pertinent material. Is there a war diary for a British regiment or unit of interest to you? Available are;
Only 15% of people that are aware of their ancestor’s involvement in D-Day spoke openly about it, with a further 15% saying they never brought it up
17% of Brits have no idea whether they have a relative that took part in the landings
31% of family members didn’t want to discuss the landings as they had lost too many friends, 32% simply wanted to put the day behind them and 24% were too modest to discuss their role.
1 Hampshire Regiment Infantry
1 King´s Own Scottish Borders Infantry
1 Royal Norfolk Regiment Infantry
102 Anti-Tank Regiment
114 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment
120 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery
141 Regiment Royal Armoured Corps
168 Light Field Ambulance
186 Field Ambulance
2 Essex Infantry
2 Gloucestershire Infantry
2 Lincolnshire Regiment Infantry
203 Field Ambulance
223 Field Ambulance
224 Field Ambulance
24 Lancers
3 Commando Special Services
33 Field Regiment
4-7 Royal Dragoon Guards
505 Company Royal Engineers
53 Medium Regiment Royal Artillery
6 Airborne Division Armoured Recce Regiment
6 Airborne Division G
6 Commando Special Services
62 Anti-Tank Regiment
7 Battalion Parachute Regiment
716 Company Royal Army Sevice Corps
73 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery
76 Field Regiment Royal Artillery
8 Brigade Field Ambulance
90 Company Royal Army Sevice Corps
HQ 185 Infantry Brigade
HQ 231 Infantry Brigade
HQ 27 Armoured Brigade
HQ 5 Para Brigade
HQ 8 Armoured Brigade GP
HQ 9 BR Infantry Brigade
Inns of Court Regiment
Marines War Diary Landing Craft Reports Normandy area
Staffordshire Yeomanry.
The 44 photographs are from the Imperial War Museum.
1 comment:
This is a terrific idea. It is unfortunate that LAC and/or Ancestry did not do the same with the war diaries of Canadian units involved in the D-Day landings. Perhaps this could be looked at over the next year, especially for the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Holland in 2020.
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