# How to Read a Polish Soldier’s Service Book and Release Papers Source: https://www.polishgenealogist.co.uk/military/polish-soldier-service-book-release-documents/ Last updated: 2026-10-16 Summary: What the Army Book 64, Polish unit certificates and Resettlement Corps release papers record, how to read them and where the personal service file is held. Publisher: The Polish Genealogist (professional Polish genealogy research, polishgenealogist.co.uk) --- A Polish relative’s service book, unit certificate or release paper can connect a family in Britain with the person’s military and earlier family records. Record the names, numbers, dates and original place names before interpreting the service history. Different documents may cover different stages of that history. This guide explains how to compare Polish and British entries and turn them into focused research questions. For the wider archive routes, see our [guide to Polish military records](https://www.polishgenealogist.co.uk/military/tracing-polish-military-service/). Our commissioned research uses the papers your family holds to investigate relevant Polish and continental sources, with findings in English. > **Have a service book or release papers in Polish and English?** Tell us which papers you hold and what you want to discover. We interpret their entries, compare any UK service file your family already has and investigate relevant Polish and continental records, with findings in English. [Start from the papers](https://www.polishgenealogist.co.uk/services/polish-military-service-records-research/) ### The Soldier’s Service and Pay Book (Army Book 64) Army Book 64 is a British Soldier’s Service and Pay Book. The National Army Museum describes Part I as recording the service or regimental number, enlistment, rank, training and next of kin; Part II records pay. Check the title, part and completed fields in the particular booklet your family holds rather than assuming that every copy contains the same information. For research, note every dated entry alongside the number, unit and place printed or written with it. An enlistment entry in Scotland or Palestine identifies a place and date in the record. It does not, on its own, prove how the person reached that place, which earlier army they served in, or every campaign they later joined. ### Certificates of service and unit papers A unit certificate, promotion paper, leave pass or decoration document can connect a person with a unit and date. Copy the original heading and wording, including whether the paper records an event or was issued later. A unit name is a lead to the relevant unit history; it does not by itself place the holder in every battle fought by that formation. Our [guide to Polish decorations and medals](https://www.polishgenealogist.co.uk/military/polish-military-decorations-and-medals/) explains related award papers. ### Polish Resettlement Corps release documents The Polish Resettlement Corps was formed in 1946 to bring Polish servicemen under British command into civilian life in Britain or to help them emigrate, and it was disbanded in 1949. Men who joined it enlisted for up to two years, left earlier once they had found work, and received release documents: a certificate of service with the Corps, a release or demobilisation certificate, and notes of the civilian employment, training course or hostel they were going to. The National Archives at Kew holds the Corps’ administrative files in series WO 315, including the procedures for discharge and for transfer to the Class W reserve on absorption into industry; the personal files are elsewhere, as explained below. A release document usually gives the Corps unit and camp, the date of release and the civilian address. The camp names recur in the British records of the time: a Resettlement Corps camp was often the first British address on a marriage certificate or a naturalisation application, and our guide to [Polish Resettlement Corps records](https://www.polishgenealogist.co.uk/military/polish-veterans-resettlement-in-britain/) lists the camps and what the Corps’ records contain. ### Reading the papers together - **Numbers:** copy every service, regimental, prisoner or other number with its label and source. Do not assume that numbers from different record systems are interchangeable. - **Unit and date on each document:** build a provisional timeline, then compare it with other papers. Leave gaps visible until another record supports the connection. - **Birthplace and parents’ names:** compare every available version. Keep the original spelling and investigate differences rather than treating one language as automatically more accurate. - **Next of kin:** a name and address may help identify relatives and the home locality. Check the relationship and the address date before using it to select a parish. - **Stamps and signatures:** a medical board, a chaplain or a commanding officer named on a stamp can identify a unit when the typed heading is missing. ### Where the personal files are GOV.UK directs applications for the records of Polish personnel who served under British command in World War 2 to the Ministry of Defence. Our [MOD Polish service-record guide](https://www.polishgenealogist.co.uk/military/ministry-of-defence-mod-polish-service-records/) explains that route. The family obtains British official records; we can interpret a file the family already holds and connect it with Polish and other continental research. Disclosure and the amount of surviving information vary. ### A worked example Consider three hypothetical papers: a service book opened in Scotland in 1940, a unit certificate dated 1945 and a PRC release form dated 1948. First compare the names, birth details and numbers to establish whether they concern the same person. Then record only what each document supports: the dated entry, the named unit and the release details. The Scottish entry does not prove an earlier journey through France; the unit certificate does not prove participation in a particular battle; the release date is not automatically the arrival date in Britain. Those are questions for further records, not completed findings. ### From the papers to Polish research A birthplace, parents’ names or next-of-kin address can give Polish research a specific starting point. The next sources may include parish and civil registers, residence records or earlier military collections, depending on the place, period and survival. Our [Polish military research service](https://www.polishgenealogist.co.uk/services/polish-military-service-records-research/) connects those records with the family papers and provides an English-language report, references and copies where available. ### Official sources - [National Army Museum collection (Army Book 64 examples)](https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1994-01-238-9) - [The National Archives: WO 315, Army Records Centre (Polish Section) and Polish Resettlement Corps](https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14519) - [Ministry of Defence on Polish service records (2015)](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/minister-for-the-reserves-gifts-ww2-records-to-polish-government) - [GOV.UK: get a copy of military service records](https://www.gov.uk/get-copy-military-records-of-service/apply-for-the-records-of-a-deceased-serviceperson) - [Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, London](https://pism.org.uk/family-research/) ### Related guides - [MOD Polish service records](https://www.polishgenealogist.co.uk/military/ministry-of-defence-mod-polish-service-records/) - [Polish Resettlement Corps records](https://www.polishgenealogist.co.uk/military/polish-veterans-resettlement-in-britain/) - [Identify a Polish WW2 uniform from a photograph](https://www.polishgenealogist.co.uk/military/identify-polish-ww2-uniform-photograph/) - [Polish military identity cards](https://www.polishgenealogist.co.uk/military/polish-military-identity-cards/) > **Research service:** Need help tracing a relative’s military service? · 10, 20 or 30 hours of research for one person · [View research packages](https://www.polishgenealogist.co.uk/services/polish-military-service-records-research/) --- Research help: The Polish Genealogist researches Polish family history, military service and citizenship evidence in Polish, British and international archives, with reports in English. Services and prices: https://www.polishgenealogist.co.uk/services/