Alastair Fraser Posted 3 November , 2004 Share Posted 3 November , 2004 Some members will remember discussions about the search for Wilfred Owen's dugout south of Serre which was shown in the Ancestors series on BBC2 in Britain. During this investigation conducted by No Man's Land, the bodies of 3 soldiers were found, one British and two German. The British soldier was a member of 1st (King's Own) Royal Lancaster Regiment and was killed on 1st July 1916. Unfortunately he remains unidentified but was buried in Serre Road No.2 cemetery recently (See the October issue of WFA Bulletin for a very interesting report on the funeral - which does not mention No Man's Land unfortunately!) One of the German soldiers has been identified by members of No Man's Land and is known to be Wehrmann Jakob Hones of 121 Reserve Infanterie Regiment, 26 Reserve Division. An article about the identification process can be found at Hellfire Corner by following this link http://www.fylde.demon.co.uk/fraser.htm Our thanks to Tom Morgan for publishing this article. Work is progressing on the other German soldier and we strongly suspect that he was a senior NCO who was killed at about the same time as Jakob Hones. We await final confirmation on this however. I will keep everybody posted. Regards Alastair Fraser Project Historian No Man's Land: the European Group for Great War Archaeology Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J T Gray Posted 3 November , 2004 Share Posted 3 November , 2004 That is astonishing, Alastair. Thank you for sharing that with us! Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Nulty Posted 3 November , 2004 Share Posted 3 November , 2004 Alistair Many thanks for your posting. I read the article in WFA Bulletin yesterday and was curious about the cicumstances surrounding the finding of the body. You have now filled in the gaps. Regards steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Mackenzie Posted 3 November , 2004 Share Posted 3 November , 2004 Alastair. Congratulations to you, Volker, Ralph and the others involved in this. A great success and moving as well. Neil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desmond7 Posted 3 November , 2004 Share Posted 3 November , 2004 Credit to all involved. Detective work of the highest calibre. A great article in all aspects. Des Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Furnell Posted 3 November , 2004 Share Posted 3 November , 2004 Congratulations and very well done. It is not very often that you hear of a German Soldier being identified,and must be a rare thing. I have not seen the programme,but will keep my eyes peeled for a repeat,and can only agree on the article. Wonderful stuff. All the best. Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastair Fraser Posted 6 November , 2004 Author Share Posted 6 November , 2004 Thank you for the very complimentary comments on the article. Regarding Simon's post on the identification of German soldiers it is not unkown to get identifications for German soldiers. In the last year we have been given details of two other identity discs from German casualties by CWGC. Ralph Whitehead was able to get further information on both men and Volker Hartmann has tracked down a distant relative of one of them. I have just had some more detail from the family of Jakob Hones, via Volker, this evening regarding the photo in my article on the Hellfire Corner site. It seems to suggest that the photo is of Jakob Hones' Korporalschaft. This is a group equivalent to two British sections i.e. about 18 men. Volker has counted them and there are 19 men and a bicycle which seems near enough. The family seem to have a number of postcards which might yield further information. Regards Alastair Fraser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest KittyHauser Posted 16 April , 2005 Share Posted 16 April , 2005 Dear Alastair, I wonder if you could tell me a bit more about the 'flint scraper' found with the other German soldier - like where it was found, exactly, and what it seems to be? Is there a picture of it anywhere - or have you (or someone else) written it up somewhere I can see it? Thanks! Best wishes Kitty Hauser Some members will remember discussions about the search for Wilfred Owen's dugout south of Serre which was shown in the Ancestors series on BBC2 in Britain. During this investigation conducted by No Man's Land, the bodies of 3 soldiers were found, one British and two German. The British soldier was a member of 1st (King's Own) Royal Lancaster Regiment and was killed on 1st July 1916. Unfortunately he remains unidentified but was buried in Serre Road No.2 cemetery recently (See the October issue of WFA Bulletin for a very interesting report on the funeral - which does not mention No Man's Land unfortunately!) One of the German soldiers has been identified by members of No Man's Land and is known to be Wehrmann Jakob Hones of 121 Reserve Infanterie Regiment, 26 Reserve Division. An article about the identification process can be found at Hellfire Corner by following this link http://www.fylde.demon.co.uk/fraser.htm Our thanks to Tom Morgan for publishing this article. Work is progressing on the other German soldier and we strongly suspect that he was a senior NCO who was killed at about the same time as Jakob Hones. We await final confirmation on this however. I will keep everybody posted. Regards Alastair Fraser Project Historian No Man's Land: the European Group for Great War Archaeology <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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