Military History

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

BRITISH WARS through the Centuries

Roman Invasion (43)

Manduessedum (61)

Battle of Mons Graupius (83)

Norman Conquest ' War (1337 to 1453)

Battle of Agincourt (1415)

Wars of the Roses (1455 - 1485)

Battle of Bosworth Field - last British king to die in combat (1485)

Italian Wars (1494 ? 1559)

Eighty Years' War (1598 - 1648)

Spanish Armada (1588)

Bishops' Wars (1639 - 1640)

British Civil War (1642 - 1649)

First Anglo-Dutch War (1652 - 1654)

Anglo-Spanish War (1654 - 1660)

Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665 - 1667)

War of Devolution (1667 - 1668)

Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672 - 1674)

King Philip's War (1675 - 1676)

Monmouth Rebellion (1685)

Battle of Sedgemoor (1685) - last battle on English soil

War of the Grand Alliance (or King William's War) (1688 - 1697)

Jacobite Rebellions (1689 - 1746)

Battle of Culloden (1746) - last battle on the British mainland

War of the Spanish Succession (1702 - 1713)

Queen Anne's War (1702 - 1713)

War of Jenkins' Ear (1739 - 1742)

War of the Austrian Succession (1740 - 1748)

Seven Years War (1756-1763)

Fourth Anglo-Dutch War (1780-1784)

American War of Independence (1775 to 1783)

Napoleonic Wars (1803 - 1815)

Battle of Trafalgar (1805)

British-American War (1812)

First Anglo-Afghan War (1839 - 1842)

First Opium War (1839 - 1842)

Crimean War (1854 - 1856) Charge of the Light Brigade

Second Opium War (or The Arrow War) (1856 - 1860)

Anglo-Zulu War (1879)

Boer War ( 1880 - 1881 and 1899 - 1902)

Anglo-Irish War (1919 - 1921)

World War I (1914 - 1918)

World War II (1939 - 1945)

Cold War (1945 - 1991)

Malayan Emergency (1948 - 1960)

Korean War (1950 - 1953)

Mau Mau Uprising (1952 - 1960)

Cyprus Emergency (1955 - 1959)

Suez Crisis (1956)

Brunei Uprising (1962)

Konfrontasi (1962-1966)

Aden Emergency (1963 - 1967)

Icelandic Cod War (1975 - 1976)

Falklands War (1982)

Gulf War (1990 - 1991)

Kosovo War (1999)

Sierra Leone (2000)

2001 Afghanistan War (2001-2002)

2003 invasion of Iraq (2003)

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

Woolwich Arsenal Empoyee Records

At one time there were an estimated 80,000 employees.

Carole Jones
General Manager
Support Services
DSDC Llangennech
Mwrwg Road
Llangennech Llanelli
Carms SA14 8YP

Tel: 01554 822497

If anyone requests a search of these records then it would be helpful if they back the cause and have a whinge about records being held in Wales rather than at the Arsenal (Heritage Center in Woolwich) and also stress the importance of not destroying records after the 100 year rule which is based from the employees DOB (although it is thought that they have been fairly reasonable on this one and so chances are they may still have the record).

This link explains more about the Arsenal - Royal Arsenal

Prisoner of War Links

• 306 Labelled Deserters, Later Pardoned
• COFEPOW- Children & Families of Far East Prisoners of War
• Australian POW
• Behind the Wire. POW 1914-1918

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-

Shop: The Queens Shilling and it specialises in military books and items

Commercial Road,
Parkstone,
Poole
Dorset
Tel: 01202 723335

Useful Links

• Military Images

• British Battles

• The Second Anglo-Afghan War 1878-1880

• Imperial War Museum London

• Imperial War Museum Photograph Search

• British Military & Criminal History in The Period 1900 to 1999

• National Archives of Australia

• The Tank Museum

• The Story of the Home Guard

• The Home Guard

• Home Guard Pocket Manual

• ForcesReunited

• Seniors Network

• For pre-WW1, WW1, Royal Navy and Air Force can be searched for at the National Archives in Kew If you find someone in the burnt records- WO 363, For the Army in WW1. Don't leave it there..... Also check the unburnt records - WO 364.

• War Memorials In Cheshire and Lancashire

• United Kingdom National Inventory of War Memorials

• International Committee Of The Red Cross

• The Naval & Military Press' Website for Military Historians and Family Genealogists.

• Fleet Air Arm Archives

• Royal Engineers Museum Website

• Boer War Database ~Military History Resources

• Boer War 1899-1902~ A Database

• Military book and Medals Anglo-Boer war 1899-1902

• Indian Mutiny Medal Recipients

• Anzacs Officers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps Died at Gallipoli, 1915

• Anzacs Anzacs Site

• Age Concern Time capsule - Military Service - Stories and Facts

• Archive of Victorian Wars

• Past Times - Service Personel

• Sparticus Various info about Various Wars & Prominent People of the Time

• Land Forces of Britain, the Commonwealth & The Empire

• Research undertaken at Kew by Kevin Asplin - Reasonable charges

• WW1, WW2, U.S. Army and Navy

A-Z List of Ex-Military Service Organisations

A-Z List of Ex-Military Service

Medals and Decorations

• Downloadable Pictures and Descriptions of UK Military Medals

• List of Victoria Cross Recipients by Nationality

• British Medal Forum

• Medal Cards Interpreting Campaign Medal Index Cards

• MOD-Service Records and Medals

World War One and Two Dual Links

• WW1 Cemeteries Military cemeteries in Belgium, France, Turkey, Italy, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Egypt, Poland, Greece, USA, China (Hong Kong), Bulgaria, Malta, Netherlands, Denmark.

• Commonwealth War Graves Commission

• Rushden Roll of Honour

• In Memories-Details of Commonwealth World War One and Two Communal Cemeteries and Graveyards in Belguim and France

• British War Memorial Project

• Aftermath - The Memorial Gates Trust

• South Africa War Graves

• New Zealand Armed Forces and Memorial Project

• Australian War Graves Photographic Project-AWGPA

• Australian War Memorial - A Database of Australians Who Fought in Various Wars

• Nominal Roll Commemorating The Men and Women Who Served in Australia's Defence Forces

• Roll Of Honour Mainpage

• War Memorial Name Transcripts

• The People of Peterborough Who Were Killed During The First and Second World Wars

• War Memorials and Graves on Isle of Wight

• Tidworth Military Cemetery

• War Memorials in The Old Avon Area, Bristol

• Neglected War Graves in Britain

• Memorial Genweb This Site is in FRENCH

• 16th Irish Division - Dedicational Site The Role of The Irish in The War

• Bromton War Memorial, Kent

• Rainham War Memorial, Kent

• Anns Hill Cemetery War Graves (Gosport)

• Times Past - Tales From WW1 & WW2

• The Scots at War Men and Women Who Served in Scottish or Commonwealth Scottish Units.

• The Naval & Military Press' Website For Military Historians and Family Genealogists

• American Battle Monuments Commission

• The Long Long Trail The Facts of the British Army in the First World War

• WW1 Photographs

Women in the Military

• Reminiscences of Land Army Girls

• Times past - Land Army Girls

• Brief history - Wrens

• World War I Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service QAIMNS Nurses

• Voluntary Aid Detachments

• The History of Voluntary Aid Detachment

• Postcard Images of VAD Life

• A Database for Canadian Women in World War One

• The Auxiliary Territorial Service - ATS

• The Women's Army Corps

• Scarlet Finders - British Military Nurses 1875-1925

Canadian Soldiers

• Canadian Military History

• The Canadian Great War - Canada's Role in World War I 1914 ~ 1918

• Canadian Libraries Archive Database

• Archive of Canadian Soldiers With Photographs

• War Diaries of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF)

• 102nd Canadian Battalion BN CEF

• Veterans Affairs Canada- Canada Remembers

• Canadian Expeditionary Force Study Group Forum

• The Maple Leaf Legacy Project A Project in Remembrance of Canada's War Dead

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