Record revealed
Japanese Instrument of Surrender, 1945
After six years of brutal global conflict, this document marked the end of the Second World War.
Series
War Office: Allied Expeditionary Force, North West Europe (British Element): War...
Catalogue reference: WO 171
What's it about?
WO 171
This series of war diaries pertains to the British element of the Allied Expeditionary Force which invaded North West Europe in the summer of 1944 (Operation Overlord). They contain the daily record of events, reports on operations, intelligence...
Full description and record details
-
Reference (The unique identifier to the record described, used to order and refer to it)
-
WO 171
-
Title (The name of the record)
- War Office: Allied Expeditionary Force, North West Europe (British Element): War Diaries, Second World War
-
Date (When the record was created)
-
1943-1946
-
Description (What the record is about)
-
This series of war diaries pertains to the British element of the Allied Expeditionary Force which invaded North West Europe in the summer of 1944 (Operation Overlord). They contain the daily record of events, reports on operations, intelligence summaries, etc, of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces and of Headquarters Formation and Unit Commanders.
-
Arrangement (Information about the filing sequence or logical order of the record)
-
Arrangement
The series is arranged in the order Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, 21 Army Group, Armies, Corps, Divisions, Brigades, Lines of Communication, Areas and Garrisons; followed by Units of the Royal Armoured Corps and other Arms of the service, not in order of precedence. Apart from Supreme Headquarters, whose branches' war diaries in some cases span the years 1944-1945, the series is grouped in years.
The war diaries of Special Forces, including those in Norway and the Channel Islands, will be found at the end of each yearly group.
-
Related material (A cross-reference to other related records)
-
For Military Headquarters papers of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force covering the invasion of Northern Europe, 1944 to 1945, see WO 219
-
Held by (Who holds the record)
- The National Archives, Kew
-
Legal status (A note as to whether the record being described is a Public Record or not)
-
Public Record(s)
-
Language (The language of the record)
-
English
-
Physical description (The amount and form of the record)
-
11102 file(s)
-
Access conditions (Information on conditions that restrict or affect access to the record)
-
Open
-
Immediate source of acquisition (When and where the record was acquired from)
-
From 1972 Ministry of Defence
-
Subjects (Categories and themes found in our collection (our subject list is under development, and some records may have no subjects or fewer than expected))
-
Record URL
- https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C14378/
Catalogue hierarchy
Over 27 million records
This record is held at The National Archives, Kew
9,781,006 records
Within the department: WO
Records created or inherited by the War Office, Armed Forces, Judge Advocate General,...
You are currently looking at the series: WO 171
War Office: Allied Expeditionary Force, North West Europe (British Element): War Diaries, Second World War
You may be interested in
-
-
Focus on
Olga Gray and the Woolwich Arsenal Spy Ring
In 1938, thanks to years of work by a remarkable female agent, MI5 ensured a package of British defence plans stayed secret. -
Record revealed
‘The Book of Negroes’: Black refugees who fought in the American Revolution
This volume offers a glimpse of the numerous ‘Black Loyalists’ who seized the American Revolutionary War as a chance to gain freedom from enslavement.
Related records
Records that share similar topics with this record.