In the footsteps of the Hawke Battalion in Antwerp

[Niko]

Hi,

 

Last weekend, I had the honour and pleasure to guide one of our fellow members and grandson of a Hawke rating, Randallovic, around in the battle area of the Hawke Battalion in and around Antwerp, here are some of my (and his) pictures:

 

First, this is the Nethe battlefield at the Hof van Lachenen, between Lier and Duffel, where the Germans were able to get over the river.

 

 

The Belgian 7th Line Infantry, together with the Karabiniers and Chasseurs à Pied, and with the RMLI in support, tried to throw them back from these fields, allmost loosing one of their regimental flags in the process. They only succeeded partially:

 

 

The 1st Naval Brigade was to take up positions around this railway on the reverse bridgehead of the Nethe, but were ordered back when they already advanced passed the intermediate line:

 

 

The marine brigade also pulled back towards the intermediate line, this is the northernmost point between Vremde and Broechem:

 

 

After pulling back from the intermediate line, the Hawke was positioned between fort2 and fort3 near Borsbeek, believe it or not, this is the same area nowadays:

 

 

Some views of Fort3 and the church of Borsbeek:

 

 

 

After the retreat over the Scheldt River, parts of the Hawke Battalion were involved in the infamous Moerbeke Affair, so of we went to Moerbeke Station. The tracks are gone but the station is still there, and you can clearly see where the train was stopped:

 

 

 

 

The prisoners were marched off towards Eksaarde (Exaerde). Some of them tried to escape but were shot by the germans. They are now buried at Eksaarde Cemetery:

 

 

The prisoners spend their first unconfortable night into the church of Eksaarde:

 

 

The Germans held a court martial because Commander Hanson wrestled a gun from a guard during the shooting of the prisoners. he was executed at Eksaarde....But where? Some reports say against the wall of the old cemetery (now long gone) around the church, but that wall was quite too low..... So we asked a local historian, he didn't know either, until he mentioned a chapel only 500 yards away, with some bullet marks on the wall nobody can explain. We went to investigate:

 

 

We keep it in the middle if this is the correct spot, but it is one of the possibilities......

 

Anyway, the outcome was the same and Commander Hanson was buried at Dendermonde Cemetery, about 15 Miles further away, another strange thing as you know that the 5 soldiers, shot in the escape attempt are buried in the local cemetery....

 

 

After that, we drove via Fort Liezele back towards Antwerp and Lier. Next day, we visited Fort2.

 

Hope you'll enjoy this.

 

 

[michaeldr]

6 hours ago, Niko said:

The Germans held a court martial because Commander Hanson wrestled a gun from a guard during the shooting of the prisoners. he was executed at Eksaarde....But where? Some reports say against the wall of the old cemetery (now long gone) around the church, but that wall was quite too low..... So we asked a local historian, he didn't know either, until he mentioned a chapel only 500 yards away, with some bullet marks on the wall nobody can explain. We went to investigate:

 

6 hours ago, Niko said:

We keep it in the middle if this is the correct spot, but it is one of the possibilities......

 

Indeed a possibility, as there is an account of Hanson's first burial being "by the Church (could be chapel?)at Exarde"

This is from Len Sellers' magazine RND issue No.10, September 1999, page 903

It is a quote from a letter addressed to the Secretary of the Admiralty, London SW
from Commodore William Henderson, 1st Naval Brigade, at that time (15th Feb 1918) interned at Groningen.

 

Sir, 

I have received a letter from Lieutenant Commander F C Grover RNVR, who has just arrived in Holland from Germany for internment in the country, and in the letter he tells me the story of the death of Lieutenant Hanson RNVR, late commanding D Company of the Benbow Battalion, 1st Naval Brigade.

 

“Poor Hanson was shot by the Germans on 10th October 1914. He had struggled with a sentry who was about to fire on one of of our men trying to escape after we were taken prisoner on the night of the 9th, and under German Military Code such an act can be punished by death. I tried to get the sentence mitigated, and so did the Commander of the troops guarding us, for it was evident that Hanson was overwrought by the fatigues of the previous day. The matter was referred to highest authority; at that time, General von der Goltz was Military Governor of Belgium, but it was of no avail, and Hanson was shot at midday, and is buried by the church at Exarde. He particularly wished to be remembered to you, and said how much he hoped that you would think that he had done his duty, and he sent many remembrances to the officers and men of his battalion.”

 

I wrote this because I feel sure Their Lordships if not already in possession of the details would be glad to know something about this officer's last moments. His death was apparently one of those cold-blooded military murders, of which we have already had too many instances.

I call Their Lordships' attention to the public message to myself, and his battalion. His last thoughts were evidently not concerned with his own fate, but with what to him was a very much higher consideration, viz. his duty. Lieutenant Hanson during the short time that I knew him, impressed me as being one of the most zealous and earnest officers in my brigade. I felt his death, and still feel it, very deeply. Perhaps the gist of this letter of mine may be of some consolation to his relations.

 

I have the honour to be
Sir,
Your obedient servant

 

Many thanks for the posts and the photographs

regards

Michael

 

 

* edit to add the ref given by Len - ADM 137/4819

Edited 19 February , 2018 by michaeldr

[Niko]

Thank you Michael. We had the same feeling about it.

 

 It's still very odd, the old disused cemetery was round the church, the new cemetery where the ratings and marines are still buried, is about a mile away, and the small footpath towards the chapel is in between.... so why bury him there?

 

Another point, as the ratings slept in the church, it might have been that the officers were taken to the chapel, or it might even have been used as place for the court martial.

 

I don't know if the Germans would have taken the risk, with 600 ratings in the church, to execute one in the cemetery there, in case they might revolt.

 

I have been reading some personal accounts from ratings who were there in the church, but there seems no eyewitness account from the execution itself, which gives the chapel spot more credit.

 

Niko.

 

Edited 19 February , 2018 by Niko

[Phil Evans]

Niko. Michael,

 

My impression is that Hanson was originally buried in Lokeren. Whether he was tried and executed there, I don't know, but it is possible.

He was exhumed, by the Germans, on 28th June 1918 and re-interred in Grave No.290 at Dendermonde.

 

I am not sure where in Lokeren he was buried. It is possible that there were two locations where German (and French, Belgian and  British) casualties were buried, one being the town cemetery.

 

A proper translation of this passage may help. There is a nuance in it that Google translate is not to be trusted with:

 

"Op 6 Mei begon men alhier met de ontgraving der gesneuvelde en andere bezweken soldaten. Die vuile karwei wilde men ons opleggen, maar dit weigerden wij tot tweemaal toe en werden er gelukkiglijk van ontslagen. Echter werd ons streng bevolen de lijken goed aan te wijzen, een kaartje met hun naam en den nummer van begraving op de kist te hechten en deze te vergezellen, iedermaal er een transport was van 6 à 10 lijken naar Appels-Dendermonde. Ook werden de ontgraven soldaten uit de kommandan­tur naar ons kerkhof gebracht om dan medegevoerd te worden naar 't mili­tair kerkhof. Gezien wij de ontgraving niet deden kwam er een ploeg soldaten van 12 man die met dit vuil werkje gelast werden." (26)

[26) DE VOS, F., The war diary of Maurice Laekeman. Lokeren during the first world war, in: De Souvereinen. Journal of the Heemkring of Lokeren, jg. 12 No. 3 (Lokeren, September 1981), pp. 99-100.]

 

Does anyone know where and when, a German HQ was established in Lokeren?

 

Phil

Edited 20 February , 2018 by Phil Evans
Spelling and grammar

[Niko]

Phil,

 

Eksaarde was probably just part of the Kommandantur Lokeren.

 

Ortskommandanturen were bigger than town boundaries, for example, where I live, Wommelgem,  was part of Kommandantur Boechout.

 

Also, bodies were sometimes moved a few times in the war. As the chapel is about 500 yards to a mile from the cemetery, he might have been buried in a field grave there, and later on in the war transported to Lokeren town cemetery. From there on, in 1918, in the wave of grave concentrations towards military cemeteries by the Germans, moved to Dendermonde.

 

I saw the same with the belgian soldiers killed in the 3rd Sortie of Antwerp. First they had a field grave and were in 1915 moved to the local cemeteries in the area, to be moved again in spring 1918 by the Germans to Dendermonde, as this was the military cemetery closest by.

 

In the text, the author says that the dug up bodies from the Kommandantur (=area) were first all transported to the cemetery of Lokeren, before being put on transport, 6-10 at a time, towards Dendermonde.

 

Thank you for that date, it is something to work with.

 

Edited 21 February , 2018 by Niko

[Phil Evans]

Niko,

 

Eksaarde was part of Kommandantur Lokeren.

 

Your comments are very helpful and lead me to retract my statement and revert to the account Michael posted.

 

As I now see it, there were two distinct sets of exhumations in which Lokeren was directly involved. In May 1918, the town cemetery itself was cleared. Then in late June, graves from differing, but unidentified, locations within the Kommandatur of Lokeren were cleared. The bodies were however brought into Lokeren before being transported on to Dendermonde. The section I quoted in my original post refers to these two episodes.

 

The Dendermonde register is too big to post here, but I have cropped the header section and the reference to Hanson and posted them below. If you want a copy of the full document, please contact me. I did find it online about five years ago, but I can't find a link now.

 

Phil

 

 

[Niko]

Phil,

 

Great find.

 

Here is some information about the Kommandantur Lokeren:

 

"Het Etappengebied wordt onderverdeeld in Kommandanturen. Lokeren is de grootste Kommandantur van het Waasland en strekt zich uit van Zeveneken tot Doel. Lokeren is immers perfect centraal gelegen tussen Antwerpen, Gent, Dendermonde en de Hollandse grens. Aan het hoofd van de Kommandatur staat een kolonel, die samen met zijn officieren een waar schrikbewind voert te Lokeren."

 

"The Etappengebiet is subdivided into Kommandanturen. Lokeren is the largest Kommandantur of the Waasland and stretches from Zeveneken to Doel. After all, Lokeren is perfectly centrally located between Antwerp, Ghent, Dendermonde and the Dutch border. At the head of the Kommandatur is a colonel, who, together with his officers, conducts a true reign of terror in Lokeren."

 

Source: https://degeestopstap.com/2013/09/17/lokeren-in-de-grote-oorlog/

 

Now, the key of the whole question will be at the archives of Lokeren, I think, if they kept the register of the Kommandantur for the reburials......

 

 

Edited 21 February , 2018 by Niko

[AOK4]

Phil,

 

Great find, I'll contact you about that. I'll start a search in the meantime to see whether I can find where the two mentioned Germans were buried originally.

 

Jan

[Niko]

Well, that brought me to the next step, I went for the Belgians buried at Dendermonde, there is still one soldier buried who died at Exaerde on 10/10/1914 and was also transferred via Lokeren to Dendermonde, which gives proof of my statement:

 

 

Note that the grave number (293) is only 3 graves away from Hanson's (290) at Dendermonde, so he probably was transported on the same badge of bodies from Lokeren to Dendermonde. It also mentions that he was on the 'liste communal', so hopefully this list still exists.

 

Also, I found the card of Coling, from grave 291, according to it killed in Lokeren:

 

 

And, I went one step further, I also found Maes Edouard, 6th Line Infantry Regiment, whose body is missing, but WAS SHOT BY THE GERMANS (TRYING TO ESCAPE?) BETWEEN EXAERDE AND MOERBEKE:

 

 

So, it is highly probable that he is the unknown Belgian soldier buried with the British sailors and marines in Eksaarde town cemetery!

Edited 21 February , 2018 by Niko

[Phil Evans]

Niko,

 

I thought you may be able to put it to better use than me, although I originally used it for the British on this thread a few years ago.

 

It seems that they were reinterring up to ten bodies a day, so the full list may give more context, if it looks like they are coming from a similar area. Just be careful, as they are not all reinterrments, as I found out. In fact, I am now inclined to think that Hanson is possibly the only British casualty to have been exhumed.

 

I have been using this blog as a secondary source, although Google translate does distort it somewhat. You will find a map of Kommandatur Lokeren in there.

There is more on the British Eksaarde burials here, although I haven't gone into it in any depth yet.

 

The register will be on its way to you both shortly.

 

Phil

[Niko]

Well,

 

Still working on the Hanson issue, I got hold of the Regimenal History of the 2. Bayerische Landwehr Regiment, that was only partially involved in the Moerbeke action.

 

It does mention the action, and the fact that the 250 Germans were overwhelmed by the number of prisoners, totalling about 1200, and were of course very nervous.

 

It also mentions the name of the commander of the battalion of the 1. Bayerische Landwehr Regiment, Major Ludwig Ritter von Wilm, who got the Ritterkreuz of the Bayerischen Militär-Max-Joseph-Ordens for his part in the action at Moerbeke.

 

So, he is the one responsible for the unit that eventually shot Hanson. I managed to find a picture of him and his papers for the medal online:

 

Edited 22 February , 2018 by Niko

[Niko]

And then, finally, after all these years.....

 

 

Here is the face of Lieutenant Commander Oswald Hesketh Hanson.....My god, I'm deeply moved.....

 

Found the picture on the website: http://archive.marlboroughcollege.org/browse.aspx?SectionID=4

[michaeldr]

Niko,

 

Thanks for the photograph of Hanson which is quite new to me

I've had a look under his name at the UK's National Archives, but there is little substantial to add

 

He was ranked a Lieutenant Commander RNVR from 7^th March 1912

 

There are two notes on his death/burial

One states that he was shot “...while attempting to escape and is buried near the church there (Exaerde)...” [This information supplied by his sister]

That is followed by an entry in a different hand saying

“Enquiries made by the FO (Foreign Office) resulted in discovery in churchyard at Exaerde of grave with inscription 'Hanson, Harry, English Lieut' thought may be that of this officer CW28002/15”

 

The second note is copy of a statement by Staff Surgeon J L Greig in July '15 *

“This officer was taken prisoner by the Germans: on hearing, as he thought, a party of British Marines approaching he shouted to warn them. The sentry broke his wrist with a blow from the butt of a rifle & he was next morning shot without any trial.”

 

I am inclined to think that Lieutenant Commander Grover's letter is more detailed and reliable regarding the circumstances of Hanson's death

 

* Edit to add:

This is very likely to have in fact been Louis Leisler Greig: see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Greig

Edited 23 February , 2018 by michaeldr

[Niko]

Michael,

 

Great information you have there.

 

So Hanson was most probably buried in the old churchyard (not the new cemetery). It still seems odd to me, he was moved in 1918 to Lokeren and from there to Dendermonde, while his men, in the cemetery only 150 yards away, were left????

 

Of course, when the F.O. did the enquiry, it went  via the British Red Cross to the International Red Cross (I have found the card online), so it might have had something to do with the translation as well.

 

I'm still inclined to think that he was buried near the chapel, which is close to the town border with Lokeren.

 

 

 

[Niko]

And again, some new information....

 

The train was ambushed by troops of the II. Battalion of the 1. Bayerische Landwehr Regiment:

• 7. and 8. Kompagnie were resposible for the attack, the 10 Germans killed were from the 7. Kompagnie. One of them was Hauptmann Zickwolff;
• 6. Kompagnie was responsable for gathering the prisoners in the fields over the Canal near the bridge, next to the artillery positions;
• 6. Kompagnie was also the unit that transported the POWs to Eksaarde and fired the fatal shots at the escapees on the northside of Eksaarde;
• 10. Kompagnie took over the guard at the church of Eksaarde and kept the prisoners there until October 12, when they were taken by foot march to Dendermonde and then by train via Brussels, Liège, Aachen to Köln where they arrived in the night of October 13/14.
• Officers and men were seperated, the men in the church the officers in the sacristy (or the chapel??)
• 10. Kompagnie was most probably also the unit that shot Lieutenant Commander Hanson.

We keep on searching.....

Edited 23 February , 2018 by Niko

[AOK4]

Hello,

 

This info is known from the regimental histories.

 

The regimental histories give a bit of info and I'm sure there's more info in the war diaries in Munich. You should have a look there (if you know how to read the handwriting of course).

 

Jan

 

[Niko]

Name	Surname	Rank	Unit	Date of death	Cemetery now	Block	Grave
Zickwolff	Stefan Rudolf	Hauptmann	7/II/1BLR	9/10/1914	Bayreuth
Angerer	Lyonis	Wehrmann	7/II/1BLR	9/10/1914	Vladslo	4	664
Kroth	Jakob	Wehrmann	1BLR	9/10/1914	Vladslo	4	663
Zeh	Johan	Wehrmann	7/II/1BLR	9/10/1914	Vladslo	4	823
Billner	Joseph	Wehrmann	7/II/1BLR	9/10/1914	Vladslo	4	822
Schönfelder	Joseph	Wehrmann	7/II/1BLR	9/10/1914	Vladslo	4	821
Weismann	Georg	Wehrmann	7/II/1BLR	9/10/1914	Vladslo	4	820
Roth	Joseph	Gefreiter	7/II/1BLR	9/10/1914	Vladslo	4	819
Bernhardt	Paul Richard	Wehrmann	7/II/1BLR	9/10/1914	Vladslo	4	818
Maier	Johann	Soldat	2/II/2BLR	9/10/1914	Vladslo	4	815
Bestl	Jacob	Gefreiter	6/II/1BLR	9/10/1914	Vladslo	4	660
Häufle	Johann	Wehrmann	6/II/1BLR	10/10/1914	Vladslo	4	655

 

The list above is what I found out about the German casualties in the Moerbeke Affair, at least, this is how they fugure in the list of the Dendermonde Cemetery.

Edited 23 February , 2018 by Niko

[AOK4]

Hello,

 

Bosh should be Bestl (transcription error by the Belgian writer of the document). He is buried in Vladslo 4/660.

The body of Zickwolff was repatriated as so many other Germans, he was buried in the family grave in Bayreuth on 28 March 1916.

 

Jan

[Niko]

Thank you Jan.

 

I made the changes!

 

My friend's grandfather, Ian Pugh, was lying right next to the Marine who shot the German from his horse. That must have been Zickwolff.

 

Niko.

 

[michaeldr]

In slightly more detail than the very brief note on the Admiralty record, the following is how the death of Hanson is described in 'The King Maker', a biography of Staff Surgeon Louis L. Greig written by his descendent Geordie Greig and based on papers left by Louis Grieg (accessed via Google Books)

In this version it ties in more or less with the account given by Lieutenant Commander F C Grover

 

'The next day they were marched to a village called Exaarde where they were kept for three days inside a church: there were 1,200 prisoners; 200 Marines, 600 sailors from the Royal Naval Division, 400 Belgians and four Royal Naval Division Officers. Their impotence struck home when a sailor named Hanson was executed. Hanson thought he had seen some more Marines approaching and courageously called out 'Don't come here' while other British men were being rounded up. 'They are Germans!' he cried out. A guard clubbed him with a rifle butt and Hanson reacted by grabbing the gun and wrestling over it, both men rolling on the ground. Other German guards panicked and ran in among the allied prisoners, indiscriminately bayoneting three to death and wounding half a dozen others. The next morning, the senior British officer was told that he must break the news to Hanson that he had been sentenced to death. 'The poor devil did this after writing various letters for him (as Hanson's right wrist was damaged from a blow in the scuffle the night before). The senior officer was allowed to stay with him until 9.30am. At 10am Hanson was shot. Comment is useless,' wrote Louis.

[Niko]

So, he was kept in solitary confinment..... again a point extra for the chapel site....

[AOK4]

I'll visit Eksaarde and Moerbeke tomorrow and stumbled again on this old topic. Interesting theory about the chapel.

@Niko

Anyway, I can confirm that the German soldiers who were originally buried in Eksaarde were transferred to Dendermonde in June 1918 (at the same time as Hanson, so he was probably buried in Eksaarde as well). The only reason that I can come up with why the British graves remained in Eksaarde (apart from Hanson's grave) is that this was a joint grave and joint graves were usually not allowed to be exhumed. Hanson as an officer would have had a single grave.

Jan

 

[Niko]

It's still just a theory, Jan.

But I'm a strong believer.