I have published a huge amount of information on Durham Light Infantry Other Ranks Army and Prisoner of War numbers on various pages of the web site. To make this mass of information more accessible and user-friendly to the novice DLI researcher, this is a concise index of the topics covered. Together these constitute a beginner’s guide to researching an individual WW2 DLI soldier’s career via his Army Number. If you have a DLI Army number to hand then you can place it in context by working through the sections below: Or put it in the site search engine at right.

Other Ranks Army Block Number Allocations explained.

Anatomy of an Infantry Battalion and the Individual Soldier’s Place Within It.

Anatomy of an Infantry Division.

Consecutive Other Ranks DLI numbers from 4435000 to 4459999 comprising all known fatalities, prisoners of war and gallantry award holders. Researched but not yet published.

Consecutive Other Ranks DLI Numbers, Index Page. Numbers from 4460000 to 4477000 comprising all known fatalities, prisoners of war and gallantry award holders. Also includes ex-DLI fatal casualties, POWs and gallantry awards i.e. those Other Ranks posted to other units from the DLI. If you have a soldier’s number that fits into this sequence, even if it isn’t already listed, then place it here and you can see instantly the fates of some of those there and thereabouts with him on the day he enlisted.

Consecutive Other Ranks Army numbers of soldiers who began their service with other regiments and corps, before joining the DLI, comprising fatal casualties, POWs and gallantry awards. These men have Army numbers outside of the 443- 447 sequence. Many came to the DLI as reinforcement drafts from other units as the war progressed and casualties took their toll. Almost every regiment and corps of the British Army is represented in this listing, which again is arranged consecutively. In this consecutive format it’s often clear from the first fatal casualties when a particular reinforcement draft arrived in the frontline. Researched but not yet published, apart from DLI Other Ranks fatalities who began their careers with the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment.

World War Two DLI Other Ranks with eight figure, 14200001 and upwards, General Service numbers, arranged consecutively comprising fatal casualties, POWs and known gallantry awards. The eight figure number came inro use in mid-1942. It is much less revealing about a soldier’s history and possible friends and colleagues than the old regimental number system. Nonetheless certain patterns can be observed of soldiers being drafted to the same DLI battalions from the same training drafts.

Consecutive German POW numbers assigned to WW2 British POWs, 1 to circa 294000. Incomplete for other regiments, but (almost) all 1945 German-held Durham Light Infantry Other Ranks POWs now included. See who was precisely with who from the DLI on the day their German POW numbers were issued. Friends tended to stick together, so adjacent POW numbers are often an indication that these men were captured together, too.

POWs and the active service battalions of the DLI in World War Two, a very brief guide to campaigns fought.

Durham Light Infantry Officer POWs in World War Two, a (mostly complete) alphabetical listing.

16th Battalion DLI Officers’ listings for 1941, 1942 and 1945.

Queries and comments? Contact me at thomas.tunney@btinternet.com

DLI WW2 Other Ranks Army Numbers, A Beginner’s Guide
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