Military Model Scene

Title: RAF WWII Operational and Flying Accident Casualty Files in the National Archives
Author: Mary Hudson
Publisher: Air World
ISBN: 978-1-52678-352-3

'Exploring their Contents' from Air World, an imprint of Pen & Sword. A 302-page hard-cover book. The author was a member of the WRAF/RAF, and later became a specialist civil servant in the MoDs Air Historical Branch, which meant working with these files on a daily basis to answer enquiries from the MoD and members of the public. Sometimes due to new finds as well as families who still want to find closure to what happened to their parents/grandparents etc..
Split into 3 main parts, and each of those sub-divided into individual chapters and sub-headings, plus another 10 appendices with useful additional information. The Casualty files, or 'P' files, record details of personnel who were dead, missing, wounded and injured while in RAF service in WW2. These files have been transferred to the National Archives, while other classifications (which are explained) have not been saved or which may still be held by the Air Historical branch of the MoD. There is such a lot to this whole topic, from simple administrative detail of how the files are catalogued as well as what additional they may, or of course may not, contain. Events in the UK, such as aircraft crashing at bases or otherwise in the UK, it was less easy to know what happened to those aircrew who were brought down over enemy territory, or possibly at sea. The bulk of the book tackles the stories of those in the war in Europe and the Mediterranean, though at the end of the book it explains why there is a lot less detail about those lost in the Far East, where the Japanese were less concerned about such records. In Europe it was the Red Cross that did a lot of work in gathering information, as well as records such as the Death Cards which were kept by German authorities. Even so, there was still a good deal of contradiction between some reports, and at times, a level of detail gathered which was not felt to be right to be shared with the next of kin. After D-Day, there was a lot more to be discovered by teams sent over to search for the missing. Reading the detail of how these files are made up is simply fascinating to read, and amazingly complex in some cases. At the heart of things are the number of graves in CWGC cemeteries which still have no name given to the burial. So much work has gone into trying to identify those personnel, and to bring closure to their story for their families. The Search teams worked with others such as the CWGC, the army Graves Registration Units and their US equivalents, and through co-operation with their counterparts in France, Holland and Belgium for example.
Throughout the book there are a lot of photos showing examples of the many different documents that are mentioned in the text, all original documents from the files. Some of the numbers quoted on the number of Unknown graves is quite staggering, and the work that goes into identifying those casualties even now is amazing. The work of some, such as the Graves Registration units who had the unenviable task of exhuming thousands of bodies at the end of the war, moving them to centralised British war cemeteries, and the detail of what was sometimes then found within those graves is simply fascinating. Some searches have led to answers for many aircrew and their families, but for many others the questions still remain. Put simply, I found this a fascinating read, with an incredible level of detail and hard work by some very dedicated people.
Thanks to Pen & Sword for our review copy.

Robin