28 March 2006

Royal Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment War Diaries

The war diaries of the Royal Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiments for World War 1 are transcribed. The information presented totals almost 16,500 records covering 15 battalions during World War 1. With a few exceptions operational orders, appendices or other supplemental documents are not included. Full text search is available.

For World War 1 there were four types of battalion; Regular (the 1st and 2nd Battalions), Territorial Force (4th Battalion), Service (or Kitchener) and Labour Battalions. For both regiments the large number of reservists, together with existing TF soldiers, meant that the TF battalions were split into two, the 1st/4th and the 2nd/4th. Both of the Wiltshire Regiment TF battalions were sent to India to guard the Raj. In 1917 the 1/4th Battalion was sent to Palestine, which is when
it commenced a war diary. The 2/4th remained in India and, not being in an operational theatre, did not maintain a war diary.

Most of the World War 2 diaries have been transcribed and are being checked before being placed on line.

No comments: