Map sheet 66d - Germany

[Shiny]

Hi all,

I've got a map reference for a place a man was first buried before being moved at the end of the war and it's proving to be a real mystery.

To help narrow it down I need to know what area in Germany map sheet 66d covers.

It would be great to see the map but failing that just knowing where it covers would be a great start.

Can anyone help?

Michael

[micks]

Michael

If you google Mcmaster University Trench Maps

you will find the 66d

All the best

Micks

[tootrock]

Sheet 66d covers an area of France, south of Peronne, south-west of St Quentin, in the Somme Departement.

There are no maps of Germany, as the war was not fought there.

What was the full map reference given?

Any details of the man in question? I am sure more information will be forthcoming once we know.

Martin

Edited

[Shiny]

Hi All,

Just to give you a bit more background man I'm researching is LCpl Frederick Octavious Greenacre, 5 Bn Gordon Highlanders. I have newspaper announcements placed by his parents dated 19^th June 1918 saying they received a postcard from him saying he is a prisoner of war in Germany and is well, then another dated 25^th Jan 1919 saying he died on the 2^nd July 1918 at War Hospital, Foreste Stendal, Germany.

I received an email from CWGC in 2003 which explains he is buried in Savy now and then goes on to say:

“Whilst investigating this I did discover that he had a previous place of burial. This may explain Germany being listed as a place of death. I cannot name the previous place of burial as on our records it is simply recorded using a map reference.

66d.E.17.a.2.6

The map reference given above refers to maps held at the Imperial War museum.”

I always assumed he was buried in Germany and then moved after the war to Savy, however that is over 500 miles away and because of stories I've been told in other threads I'm starting to wonder if that is really what happened.

I have seen the map 66d of France and if I'm reading that reference right it does land on an area labelled Foreste (which I assumed was either French or German for Forest) but that then raises questions about the postcard from Stendal.

What I want to know now is whether there is a map 66 covering an area in Germany (I have been told the numbers were reused and so there would have been a 66 in both countries) and if so, does it cover the area where Stendal POW camp was.

Hope that makes sense.

Michael

[WhiteStarLine]

An intriguing mystery, Michael. The map in the IWM would be a trench map and the grid reference is standard in accordance with the Belgian scaling used - on Sheet 66d, in grid E find square 17. In the top left hand square, traverse until you are under the letter 'm' in Germaine and up until you are a fraction higher than the 'e' in Foreste. The German maps did not use a Belgian metric with an obscure French projection overlaid with a British squaring system in yards, so this map is your place.

Any chance that Germaine Foreste eventually became Germany somewhere in family history?

Cheers,

Bill

Edit: Map courtesy of McMaster (http://digitalarchive.mcmaster.ca/islandora/object/macrepo%3A4283/-/collection)

[SteveMarsdin]

Hi Shiny,

I know from the other thread that it's the postcard(s) from Stendal that don't seem to fit; do you still have them and is it possible to post a photo ?

[Shiny]

Thanks for the reply Bill,

I like your Germaine theory and the map you have put is the same area I was looking at so I'm please about that, at least I know I read it right. It just leaves the question now about the postcard from Stendal.

It could mean he was sent to Stendal and then moved back to work, he might have been an escaper who tried to get back to his own unit or it could be the Germans falsely registered him and held him where he was captured at St. Quentin. I suppose he may have been wounded in the battle and held in a field hospital at the front line but it still doesn't explain the postcard.

The Germany reference came from CWGC and from the newspapers in 1919 so I do think the family were at least told he was in Germany.

My big worry is that he was in Germany and someone else had picked up his papers or tags to hand in and was then killed themselves before they could do it.

I'm taking a group of scouts to visit his war grave next year and if that is the story then it may be that someone else is in his marked grave and he is in an unmarked one somewhere in Germany.

Thanks for the map,

Michael

[Shiny]

Hi Steve,

I don't have the postcards, only newspaper cuttings. I'll post the one I have announcing his capture, I'll have to scan the ones announcing his death later, but they are quite clear saying he was in a hospital, Foreste, Stendal.

Hopefully this might help,

Michael