Hypothetical Question

[halsteadiron]

I am researching my grandfather’s brother, Private Harry Wright, who was in the 9^th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment. He was killed in action on 16^th September 1916 during the battle of the Somme and, as far as I can trace, whilst they were attacking the Quadrilateral. He has no known grave and is therefore commemorated on the nearby Thiepval Memorial. My hypothetical question is where he may have been buried as an unknown soldier, are there any nearby cemeteries where the casualties at this time may have been taken?

[LarsA]

There are casualties from 9th Suffolks and 16/9/1916 in Guillemont Road Cemetery and Serre Road no 2 Cemetery.

Lars

[johnboy]

If he was buried I doubt it would have been as an unknown. Unfortunately, it seems that few war diaries give coordinates of where the dead were buried. I think some could have been buried in shell holes with others or just behind the lines. Many of these burials would have been in areas where the ground was fought over at other times and graves were lost due to shelling etc.

If he was buried in a cemetery nearby then you would have to assume that it was lost due to war action.?

I have a relative on Theipval Memorial, kia 26/9/16 who was in the action to take the town.

[auchonvillerssomme]

If you check on the CWGC site for men killed on the same day with the same unit, and look at the 'concentration documents' Burial returns you will get a idea of where the bodies were brought in from to the concentration cemeteries.

For example

[roughdiamond]

Enter his date of death and Suffolk Regiment into the CWGC site and from the results you'll see where those with a known grave are buried.

Sam

[halsteadiron]

That’s excellent, thank you very much for your suggestions

I have just had a look at the CWGC site for Suffolk Regiment deaths on 16^th September and, although most have no known graves and are commemorated on Thiepval (83 names), there are also several at Guillemont Road Cemetery (13 names), Serre Road Cemetery No 2 (7 names) and also a few others

[ypres1418]

Hi,

where do you find the concentration documents, burial returns please,

need tolearn something new each day they say,

thanks,

Mandy

[auchonvillerssomme]

Mandy

They don't all have them but using this one as an example.

http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/534133/BARLEY,%20S

Below the mans details are the boxes to click on for more info.

Mick

[halsteadiron]

Not sure if I am missing something or not doing it correctly but, having checked the CWGC site, I am unable to get any of the downloads on that site to work. I have reinstalled Adobe Reader but that has not made any difference. Does anyone have any idea what I am doing wrong before I contact the CWGC site?

[johnboy]

There are sometimes 1or 2 boxes below the mans details, Click on one and then hover your cursor over the document, this magnifies it and allows you to read it.

[halsteadiron]

Thanks Johnboy, that part of it works although the download part still does not

[johnboy]

You could try right clicking on it and save to 'My pictures'?

[johnboy]

Forget the above!!

The download works for me. I am using W8. Click on download button. I then get a bar at bottom of screen which asks if I want to open or save. I click on open and it opens using windows picture viewer.

[halsteadiron]

I, too, am using Windows 8, however, I do not get anything coming up when I click on the download bar

Your first suggestion does work on the boxes below the mans details, I have right clicked on the image, then 'save target as' into 'my pictures', then opened it from 'my pictures' and then done a 'save as' on the image. A bit long winded but it did work! (although it does not work on the 'download certicate' button)

[johnboy]

Just got back on after a power cut!

What is it that you are trying to download?

The certificate is the mans details.

If you want the Grave Registration Document [the one you can hover over] you need to click on it and the download button comes up. If I click on that I get a bar at the bottom of my screen asking if I want to open it , save it or cancel. Unfortunately I can't do a screen shot while the bar is there or I would have posted it for you.

[halsteadiron]

It was both the Grave Registration Document (which is the one I have now managed to do with the 'save as' which you suggested earlier) and also the certificate (which I have not been able to do). I have spoken with my daughter and she has been able to download it ok on her laptop and email it to me. There must be something odd with my computer set up which is not allowing me to download from the CWGC site on my own computer!

Anyway, thanks very much for your help on this slightly off topic request, I have now managed to get the downloads which I need