War Diaries and Trench Maps from WWI

I watched a video the other day by Max Dutton as he described information about the Battle of the Somme. He described many different resources one might look at for information on WWI veterans. Part of his presentation was in looking at maps available through the National Library of Scotland where one can look at overlays of maps showing the trenches with modern satellite maps. 

The combination is very illuminating as one can see directly how and where the trenches were located relative to present-day geographic features. Events and locations are put in context in terms of where they happened and what conditions were like for the front-line troops.

 

Overlay of portion of map Belgium/France, WW1 Trench map: 36C.SW, 23 November 1917 on modern satellite image (retrieved 11 April 2020 from Ancestry.com); showing area of battles fought by 5^th Battalion, Scottish Rifles (Cameronians) near Cuinchy, France

Max also reminded us about the war diaries that are available on the Ancestry website.

I took the opportunity to review the circumstances under which my wife’s half-uncle died in 1916. He was part of the 5^th Battalion of Scottish Rifles (Cameronians) and died on 3 April 1916 from wounds received near Auchy, France. His body is buried in Bethune Town Cemetery. I wrote about him and other family members in a post titled Cooper Family Soldiers, on 11 November 2018, and in another post about A Visit to Vimy, on 21 May 2029.

The diary entry for 3 April 1916, the date of Alexander’s death, does not mention any engagements with the enemy. On 24 March, however, there is an entry that says, “The left Company B was much troubled with rifle grenades which landed very accurately and caused some casualties." Company B may have been the 2nd company, to which Alexander belonged. So, it is likely he was wounded on March 24th and then succumbed in hospital in Bethune, on April 3rd.

 

Entries in war diary of 5^th Battalion, Scottish Rifles (Cameronians) for 1-5 April 1916. (retrieved 11 April 2020 from Ancestry.com)

Entry in war diary of 5^th Battalion, Scottish Rifles (Cameronians) for 24 March 1916 in which engagement with Germans and casualties reported. (retrieved 11 April 2020 from Ancestry.com)

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has details of almost every soldier who died in Europe and is buried there. The data for Alexander Cooper included his company, battalion, parents’ names, grave location and, of course, date of death. They also have documents that have the information.

These sites are among the many valuable sources of information about past conflicts, but particularly WWI. Especially check out the diaries to get a real feel for what conditions soldiers had to endure on the front lines.

Colourized Photos

MyHeritage has a new service. As they describe it, “MyHeritage In Color™ is an exciting new feature that lets you colorize your black and white photos automatically. The results are mind-blowing and are sure to impress your family and friends.”

Like probably most members of the website I tried my hand at colourizing some old photos this week. The results truly are “mind-blowing.”

I started with old wedding photos of my direct ancestors. Here they are, along with the originals.

 

1890 James Shepheard & Mary Elizabeth Pearson wedding photo

1914 James Pearson Shepheard & Carrie Jane Thompson wedding photo

1939 William Calvin Shepheard & Norma Mabel Miller wedding photo

I also tried the photo that is the background of this blogsite. You can see the original in the right side margin. It is not quite as good as the others, but I think that is due to the original probably not being the best in terms of contrast.

1886 Miller-Watson Family

The process works pretty well on snapshots as well as studio portraits. Here is one taken of my wife and me - a few years ago.

 

1969 Linda & Wayne

This is a really neat idea! One could spend days going through their library and seeing how the people looked like if they had had colour photography. I am sure I won’t be able to resist doing many more.

Military Veteran Recordings

Recordings of parents, grandparents and others born a long time ago are invaluable in learning about family history and history in general. While not always entirely accurate due to fading memories, they allow, firstly, preservation of the voices of those now gone from our lives and, secondly, glimpses into actual events by people who were there.

I will be giving talks at the Family Tree Live event in April. In addition to activities and presentations about family history, the event will also celebrate the 75^th anniversary of VE Day, which tool place on 8 May 1945. Many of the speakers and exhibitors will focus on the military.

In this post, though, I want to deal with sources that I came across several years ago, but for whatever reason have never used in a blog post.

There are a few websites on which you can hear individuals speak about their experiences during the major wars of the 20^th century, as well as other military activities. These are actual recordings of soldiers or their family members talking about actual events. Most have transcripts available with the recordings.

One site is called The Memory Project, which “houses more than 2,800 testimonials and over 10,000 images from veterans of the First World War, Second World War, the Korean War and peacekeeping missions. While the archive no longer accepts submissions, it remains the largest of its kind in Canada.” The group also provides speakers for schools and communities. Information and recordings are available in both English and French.

Veterans Affairs Canada hosts a First World War Audio Archive where, again, you can “[l]isten to Veterans as they recall their life and times during the war years.” The site also has a substantial amount of information about other aspects of the war and Canadians’ involvement. The Veterans Affairs site itself is the place to go to learn about all of Canada’s military activities, in English and in French.

For the United States, “[t]he Veterans History Project of the American Folklife Center collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war.”

The US Library of Congress has a department, Recorded Sound Research Center, where audio and visual material is stored and accessible by the public. One such library is the Marine Corps Combat Recordings.

The Imperial War Museum, in the United Kingdom, has a Sound Archive which “holds over 33,000 recordings relating to conflict since 1914. This consists of the largest oral history collection of its type in the world, with contributions from both service personnel and non-combatants as well as significant holdings of speeches, sound effects, broadcasts, poetry and music.”

Family historians may find any or all these sites of interest. Members of their own family might even be featured. In addition to the audio recordings, they also contain substantial information about past war records.