Will O'Brien Posted 7 December , 2004 Share Posted 7 December , 2004 As per CWGC Name: COLES Initials: J Nationality: United Kingdom Rank: Private Regiment: East Surrey Regiment Unit Text: 13th Bn. Date of Death: 07/12/1917 Service No: 28665 Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead Grave/Memorial Reference: B. 77. Cemetery: DENAIN COMMUNAL CEMETERY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will O'Brien Posted 7 December , 2004 Author Share Posted 7 December , 2004 & the cemetery info Cemetery: DENAIN COMMUNAL CEMETERY Country: France Locality: Nord Location Information: Denain is a town in the Department of the Nord, next to Valenciennes on the road and motorway towards Cambrai. The Communal Cemetery is situated in the north-east corner of the town approximately 1.2 kilometres from the town centre on the D40, following the route to Oisy and the Lycee A Kastler. The Cemetery will be found at the centre of a junction 20 metres from a traffic light controlled crossroads (D40 and D240). The CWGC plot will be found in the centre of the cemetery. Historical Information: Denain was a German hospital centre during the greater part of the War; and from the 1st November, 1918, to the 12th March, 1919, the 33rd Casualty Clearing Station was posted in the town. The Communal Cemetery, was used by the Germans to bury their soldiers and (in 1917 and 1918) 153 British prisoners. A British plot was made at the South-East end, after the capture of the town; and after the Armistice the graves of the prisoners and other British graves were regrouped beside it. There are now over 300, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, over ten are unidentified and special memorials are erected to four United Kingdom and three Canadian soldiers, buried in the German plots, whose graves could not be found. The British plot covers an area of 777 square metres. No. of Identified Casualties: 294 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will O'Brien Posted 7 December , 2004 Author Share Posted 7 December , 2004 Given Denain was a German cemetery during 1917 I assume John Coles was a POW when he died or his body was recovered from the battlefield & buried by German forces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will O'Brien Posted 7 December , 2004 Author Share Posted 7 December , 2004 John Coles' online MIC index entry can be seen here This indicates that John also served with the Middlesex Regt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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