private marlow royal warwickshire reg

[BIFFO]

I have a Private William Thomas marlow 10th batt royal Warwickshire reg number 27141 formerly number 5328 Lincolnshire reg

cwgc just says war dead 31-10-18 buried at poznan old garrison cem poznan wieikopolskie poland

my question is why was he in Poland was he a prisoner how did he die

any help would be good

Biff

[John Beech]

Biffo

Prior to WW1 Poland did not exist, the German border was directly with Russia. I am sure there will be websites giving more details. What is now Poland was partitioned between Russia, Prussia and Austria Hungary in 1795. Poland became an independent country post WW1.

According to the CWGC, after the First World War, the graves of Commonwealth servicemen who had died in what was now Poland as prisoners of war were gathered together in Poznan Old Garrison cemetery.

It goes on to say that 'There are now 174 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in the cemetery. One of the burials is unidentified. Special memorials commemorate one casualty known to have been buried in Czersk Prisoners of War Cemetery, 29 known to have been buried at Szczypiorno Prisoners of War Cemetery and 18 known to have been buried at Pila (formerly Schneidemuhl) Prisoners of War Cemetery, all of whose graves could not be identified.'

Czersk, Szczypiorno and Pila were all formerly towns/villages in Prussia.

Regards

John

[BIFFO]

Thank you very much john,pow was the only thing I could think of

Biff