This series contains the records of the War Crimes Section of the Judge Advocate General's Branch of Headquarters 21st Army Group, set up in 1945 to investigate alleged war crimes in North West Europe.

Following its creation, the War Crimes Group (North West Europe), British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) assumed responsibility for unfinished cases originated in other units and hence the series contains some case files dealing with suspected war crimes outside North West Europe (e.g. Russia and Italy).

The series also contains policy and administrative files dealing with civilian internment, detention reports, and CROWCASS lists.

Also contained in this series are records of subordinate headquarters concerned mainly with the convening of courts for the trial of war criminals, attendance of witnesses and general arrangements for trials. Occasionally there may be gaps in the sequence of original file references. These gaps may represent files which have not survived, but others may be filled by pieces elsewhere in the series.

Records in this series may contain photographs which could cause distress.