War Diary of 1st Battalion Canadian Scottish Regiment, Vol. 56, April 1, 1944 to April 30, 1944

Public

The war diaries are official records kept by the Battalions during a one month period. They contain the daily orders, correspondence, newsletters, and an intelligence log detailing troop activities, locations, and weather conditions. The war diaries detail the activities and movement of the 1st Battalion from training in Canada and England to active duty on the Western Front and their return to Victoria in January 1946. This diary was kept while at the Ryde Area, Isle of Wight and Hiltingbury Common, England. It has entries about prepping for a move from Ryde and having security issues again with civilians knowing when and where they are moving, dealing with a camp that has only tents and no permanent structures, field firing and range work, cancelling all leave due to the vast amount of troop movement requiring transportation facilities to be kept clear, censoring the out going mail, the Legion showing a film every night to keep the men in camp because of the huge amount of troop movements in the surrounding areas, many of the troops deciding that their "glamour-boy" days are over and they are getting their "second-front haircuts" which are either about an inch long or shaved entirely while some are leaving their hair as is because they are sure they will get another privilege leave before being sent to the front, training for decontamination for Mustard Gas spray and testing respirators in a gas chamber filled with C.A.P. gas, discussing the procedure for burials, sharing the kitchen with the American "yanks", putting the whole battalion and surrounding civilians in a state of isolation to prevent any security leaks about the troop's movements, and getting a visit from King George VI, among other activities and information. Includes appendices covering orders, strength returns (daily & weekly), training syllabi, administrative memos, exercises, progress reports, movement orders, operation orders, two poems by Muriel Barnett, and correspondence about an order to remove the Oak Leaf battle badge from the battalion's uniform with the battalion requesting it be allowed to remain on their shoulders.

In Collection:
Creator Subject Language Identifier
  • Vol. 56
Date created Resource type Rights statement Extent
  • 149 pages
Geographic coverage Coordinates
  • 50.72999, -1.1621
  • 50.99833, -1.38544
Physical repository Collection
  • Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary’s) Collection
Provenance
  • Transferred to UVic Special Collections from BC Archives, March 2006.
Provider Genre Archival item identifier
  • Series 11. 4.16
Fonds title Fonds identifier Is referenced by Date digitized
  • February 13, 2019 to February 18, 2019
Technical note
  • Scanned on Plustek Opticbook at 600 dpi TIFF. Apr 1944 includes envelope of additional material. Scanned envelope front to show context in addition to the contents.
DOI

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