War Diaries - 145th Royal Armoured Corps (8th Bn Duke of Wellington Regt) Regt

[CatOne]

Hi,

Does anyone know where I can obtain a copy of the war diaries, or any other information, for the above regiment? (my great uncle Reginald Thomas Hall was KIA'd in Italy serving with them in WW2, info obtained from CWGC site)

Thanks,
Catherine 

[Kevwood]

Hi Catherine, some links and other info here.

http://regiments.org/regiments/uk/inf/033DWR.htm

Also this http://www.dwr.org.uk/dwr.php?id=71&pa=52 Which has this on it.

The 8th Battalion was reformed in July 1940 and in the following year was converted to 145 Regiment RAC and as such served in North Africa and Italy.

And also this, doesn't say much though.

http://regiments.org/regiments/uk/cav/RAC.htm



Kev.

[CatOne]

Thanks Kev, will check these out 

Regards,
Catherine

[OldBraggs]

WWII War Diaries are in the National Archive.

Steve

[Tati]

Don't know if this is useful, but I ordered my grandfather's War Diaries through documents online. Once you know the Catalogue reference, you can have the documents copied by them. It costs 10£ just to get the estimate in the first place (but this can include up to 5 or so different references). If you order indeed, the 10£ are deducted.
    
Tanja  

[CatOne]

Thanks Steve n Tanja.

Approx. what sort of cost would you say it would be for the war diary docs? Over £50? I've just sent off for his army records at £30, plus a couple of certificates I needed, might have to wait till after Christmas at this rate!   

Thanks again
Catherine 

[Tati]

It's based on the number of pages, and I don't remember the price of each page, so I can't really tell. I paid around 55£ (including postage to France) for the war diaries of 4 companies that I was interested in. Some were just 2 A3 pages, others were a few dozen. The whole thing was quite heavy though!
 
Having said that, the war diaries I actually have are not what I would call fascinating either. They tell the movements of the company and what they are generally occupied at day by day. Hadn't I been interested in the Commanding Officer, who is actually about the only person mentioned by name, I would have been sorry for spending 50£.

Tanja 

[CatOne]

Hhhhmmm dont know whether to get them then.....was hoping there might have been some mention of my g uncle in them. He made the newspapers here as something of a local hero. Apparently the one who stands up in the tank directing (dont know the proper name!) was killed and my uncle volunteered to take the tank through a heavily guarded area (September 1944, in Italy). Anyway he was killed by a sniper and is buried near Rimini.

His fiance, Margaret, stayed lifelong friends with his parents (my great grandparents) even calling them mum and dad.

I think I'll see what his army papers say before sending for the war diaries.

Thanks again
Catherine 

[145croc]

Hi Cat.

My father was a Sgt with 145RAC, and I've been researching his military history. Back in 2007, my brother and I visited the Coriano Ridge War Cemetery. While there, I took photos of all the gravestones of the men from the Royal Armoured Corps. I've checked them and your uncle's is among them. Your uncle was L/Cpl 7948545 R T Hall, He was killed on 18/9/44 aged 24 years. On 18/9/44, the regiment attacked San Martino and a number of men were killed. From what I've learned, my father was very fortunate to survive that day. Some of my fater's 'mates' are buried there (Ronnie Quin being one of them). Ronnie was killed the same day as your uncle, and I'm therefore pretty certain that my father would have known your uncle too. 

I have a copy of the 145RAC War Diary - I got it via the Tank Museum at Bovington. I've had a quick look, but can't find any reference to your uncle.

I've only just come across this topic (some years late)and have joined up today simply to tell you what I know. I hope you see it and that it is of help. If I find anything more, I'll add it.