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WWII archives mark 70th anniversary

The 70th anniversary of World War Two has been marked online with the launch of a special archive of BBC material relating to the conflict.

Audio recordings made after war was declared on 3 September 1939. Previously unreleased photographs and internal BBC memos are all included in the collection, which can be accessed for free.

On the BBC Archive site, you can listen to the famous address from then Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain which informed Britain that it was at war with Germany.

Additionally, records of prisoners held by German forces in Colditz Castle can now be accessed through the Ancestry.co.uk website.  They are part of an archive recording the details of 100,000 British Prisoners of War (PoWs).

The records were compiled by the German military authorities under the 1929 Geneva Convention, which requires opposing forces to notify each other of captured combatants.

Ancestry.co.uk has also made the UK Army Roll of Honour for 1939-1945 available, featuring the records of all British Army personnel killed in action during World War Two. The site costs £10.95 per month to access of £83.40 for a year's membership.

Links to both sites are:-

www.bbc.co.uk/archive

www.ancestry.co.uk

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