Courts Martial of the Second World War
Search for courts martial from the Second World War in the following series of the Department of National Defence fonds.
On this page
Before you start
Gather information such as
- Name
- Dates of service
- Branch of armed forces: Army, Air Force or Navy
- Type of offence
Note
The original records for the courts martial of the Second World War were microfilmed and then mostly destroyed by the Department of National Defence. The quality of the microfilm varies.
Places to look
These records are not indexed, so they cannot be searched by name or type of offence. You will need to search through the files of the specific military branch relevant to the service member. The scope and contents sections of the archival descriptions will give you an idea of which files will be most useful.
The organization of records is different across the three branches of the military.
Canadian Army courts martial records
Reference: R112-609-0-E, RG24-C-27
Use finding aid 24-403 (in the “Finding aid” section of the above record) to locate files in this series. Some of the files are organized by file number while others are in alphabetical order by last name. The finding aid includes instructions on how to navigate the two parts.
Charges were laid using the British Army Act. A partial list of offences is available on our Courts Martial of the First World War page, and a full list is available in the Manual of Military Law, 1907, pages 267-413.
Royal Canadian Air Force courts martial
Reference: R112-908-X-E, RG24-E
Use finding aid 24-686 (in the “Finding aid” section of the above record) to locate files in this series. It is organized by case file number for microfilm reels T-21788 to T-21831.
Find the identified reel on Héritage and then browse its contents to find a specific file number. Courts martial are arranged on the reels roughly by ascending service number of the personnel, with "R" being the prefix assigned to Other Ranks personnel and "J" being assigned to officers.
The first reels are primarily composed of Royal Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force, Royal New Zealand Air Force, and other personnel serving in foreign forces who were court-martialled by Canadian authorities, usually while serving in facilities in Canada.
Charges were laid following the British Air Force Constitution Act of 1917, which applied most of the Army Act to the new Air Force. A partial list of offences from the Army Act is available on our Courts Martial of the First World War page, and a full list is available in the Manual of Military Law, 1907, pages 267-413. Modifications for the Air Force can be found in the Air Force Constitution Act, 1917, c. 51, Second Schedule, Part II.
Royal Canadian Navy courts martial
Reference: R112-5688-3-E, RG24-D
The series consists of courts martial files from the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) from 1942 to 1962, which include correspondence, investigative reports, records of proceedings and written evidence. The contents of the file may vary depending on the nature and context of the offence.
The records in the series are a fraction of the courts martial convened by the RCN during this period. The whereabouts of the other courts martial files are unknown.
Finding aid 24-685 is currently closed while it is being processed. If you are interested in courts martial from this series, please Ask us a question to see if it has been opened.
Access the records
Any record that was copied onto microfilm is open. Those that are still only textual are closed. No naval records were microfilmed.
Consulting open material
Digitized records are available through Héritage Canadiana.
You can consult records on site at our Ottawa location. If you can’t visit us in person, you can order copies or hire a researcher.
Consulting restricted material
Restricted files include all RCN courts martial and a handful from the Army and Royal Canadian Air Force.
You can request access to these records under the Access to Information Act or Privacy Act. Launch the ATIP assistant to help you determine the type of request to submit. You can also look at the previously released ATIP records database to see what has already been released.
Read Document restrictions for more information on access codes and what they mean.