KEY SOURCES

THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES (TNA) nationalarchives.gov.uk

Although most First World War records for British combatants are held here at Kew, many of the main records have now been digitised and can be found online either on TNA’s website or via a commercial partner. Check the First World War research guides on TNA’s website to find out what can be found where.

IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM SOUND ARCHIVE iwm.org.uk/ collections/ sound

The Imperial War Museum Sound Archive has been collecting the voices of veterans since 1972. The First World War interviews vary in length from a few minutes to 22 hours. These interviews have now been digitised and are available on the IWM website.

ANCESTRY ancestry.co.uk

As well as service records and medal index cards, this subscription site has a large number of war diaries, including many that cover the Battle of Passchendaele. These war diaries are operational documents and will give some idea of a regiment’s movements and the action they saw. Officer casualties are named, others are just listed as numbers under OR (other ranks).

FINDMYPAST findmypast.co.uk

First World War resources including service records and medal index cards.

THE LONG, LONG TRAIL longlongtrail.co.uk

One of the most useful online resources for anyone researching the First World War. As well as details about battles and regiments, the site has advice on finding First World War records and how to interpret them. Its page on the Third Battle of Ypres lists which divisions took part in each phase of the battle.

GREAT WAR FORUM 1914-1918.invisionzone.com

An off-shoot of the Long, Long Trail, the Great War Forum enables you to tap into the collective knowledge of the experts and enthusiasts who hang out there. Read the guidelines for posting before you jump in though as the site is so vast they are keen that new members post in the correct place.

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA

bac-lac.gc.ca/ eng/ discover/ military-heritage/ first-world-war/ personnel-records/ Pages/ personnelrecords.aspx

The Canadian Expeditionary Force played a crucial role in the battle and their service records are being gradually added to this site.