Photographs taken of the 2nd Division - 2 Battalion Machine Gun Corps on 8th February 1919.

Hi Ral, page 1037 of the diary of the 2 Battalion Machine Gun Corps mentions the following:

“The Battalion complete with Transport was photographed at 10.30 hours on 8th February 1919. Groups were also taken of the Officers and Sergeants”. (The Battalion was at Evinghoven, Germany on this diary page). Link: http://talk.operationwardiary.org/#/subjects/AWD0003a8r

I was just wondering if these photographs are in the National Archives or with the 2nd Battalion Machine Gun Corps – 2nd Division archives and would be of interest to anyone researching this diary.

Posted February 17, 2016 12:36 AM

by ral104 moderator, scientist

I'm afraid I can't find them in the IWM collections, although that doesn't necessarily mean they're not there, just that they may not have been digitised.

@David_Underdown would know better than me, but I suspect if they were part of the official war photography collection they may be held by TNA.

Unfortunately, all the Corps' own records were destroyed in a fire during 1920.

Posted February 17, 2016 9:47 AM

by David_Underdown moderator

The IWM photo collections are the most likely location. National Library of Scotland also have copies of the official collection I think. Both sets are largely digitised I think.

Posted February 17, 2016 4:12 PM

by ral104 moderator, scientist

Thanks, David. Marie, I'll have another look through the IWM collections tomorrow - perhaps a different search term will turn something up.

Posted February 17, 2016 9:43 PM

by marie.eklidvirginmedia.com

Ral, According to the author of the diary of the 2 Division-2 Battalion Machine Gun Corps, the Battalion photographs arrived on the 27th February 1919. (Page 1047) Link: http://talk.operationwardiary.org/#/subjects/AWD00039up

Posted February 18, 2016 12:17 AM

by ral104 moderator, scientist

Still no luck finding them, I'm afraid. I'm wondering whether it was something the battalion organised themselves.

Posted February 18, 2016 10:01 AM

by marie.eklidvirginmedia.com

This is the entry about the photographs to be taken on page link: http://talk.operationwardiary.org/#/subjects/AWD0003a8r “Conference: Instructions were issued to Coy Commanders re the taking of a photograph of Btn complete with Limbers, every available man to attend.”

Posted February 18, 2016 3:02 PM

by ral104 moderator, scientist

Thanks, Marie. I'm not sure IWM have them, I'm afraid - unless they've been wrongly classified. It could be that they were lost along with most of the other Machine Gun Corps records.

Posted February 19, 2016 9:33 AM