carrierbarry Posted 18 September , 2018 Share Posted 18 September , 2018 I am trying to find what or where was Koetepyp in 1918. I know it was somewhere near Plogstreet woods.? it has something to do with the Cheshire Regt, Lancashire Regt or the South Wales Borderers during WW1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AOK4 Posted 19 September , 2018 Share Posted 19 September , 2018 Hello, This is Kortepyp of Korte Pijp southwest of Nieuwkerke. Jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carrierbarry Posted 23 September , 2018 Author Share Posted 23 September , 2018 Thank you, Any ideas what may have been there in 1918 ? was it trenches or Billets ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AOK4 Posted 24 September , 2018 Share Posted 24 September , 2018 There were plenty of billets there (hut camps) but the area was conquered by the Germans during the April offensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carrierbarry Posted 27 September , 2018 Author Share Posted 27 September , 2018 My Great Grandfather was buried there in April 1918. I have a grave no / marking How can that be ? There are no CWGC marked in the area or a church. Was it a dressing station ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ss002d6252 Posted 27 September , 2018 Share Posted 27 September , 2018 Who was your great grandfather ? Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carrierbarry Posted 27 October , 2018 Author Share Posted 27 October , 2018 William Albert Roberts, Cheshire Regt. KIA 10/4/1918 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Posted 27 October , 2018 Share Posted 27 October , 2018 On 27/09/2018 at 21:44, carrierbarry said: My Great Grandfather was buried there in April 1918. I have a grave no / marking How can that be ? What information do you have regarding his burial? Presumably he was buried, but that his grave was lost during subsequent fighting. He is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carrierbarry Posted 4 November , 2018 Author Share Posted 4 November , 2018 Many thanks for your help. Yes he is commemorated on the Plugstreet memorial. But what was at Koetpyp ? Was it a depot, hospital or airfield ? If the Germans overrun it in April 1918 am I right in thinking the British took it back in August 1918. ? Do any pictures excist ? Can anybody pin point Kortpyp was ? Thanks again Barry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carrierbarry Posted 4 January , 2019 Author Share Posted 4 January , 2019 Just found Kortpyp on an old trench map dated May 1918 To the left of the camp are three large long dark ground work marks, could these be mass graves ? Who knows how to read a trench map ? The transparacey of today shows these areas have not been farmed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteStarLine Posted 5 January , 2019 Share Posted 5 January , 2019 Hi carrierbarry, looking at (presumably) the same map (https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16&lat=50.7293&lon=2.8196&layers=101464927&b=1), they would be huts. Assuming this is your great grandfather ... ... one of the Australian battalions stayed in these huts late in 1917 and they probably were in the same condition until March 1918 at the start of the German Spring Offensive: "On the 15th December 1917 the Battalion left camp at noon and route marched for Camp No.2 at Kortepyp close to Ploegsteert, consisting of huts that were in a fair state of repair." The next step is to look at the Unit War Diary for the 11th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment (if this was the battalion your great grandfather was in) and determine where they were and what they were doing during April 1918. As others have said, they would have been over-run during the March Spring Offensive and the ground recaptured in August 1918. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurel Sercu Posted 5 January , 2019 Share Posted 5 January , 2019 In my very old notes regarding disappeared cemeteries this is the very scarce information I found (taken from a typewritten list in the In Flanders Fields Museum research centre) ... Kortepyp indeed approx 1.5 km (1 mile) southwest of Nieuwkerke centre. (Not new here.) There used to be a German cemetery, with 33 German graves and 7 British. That's all. No exact location, no idea where they were moved to. Aurel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AOK4 Posted 5 January , 2019 Share Posted 5 January , 2019 Aurel, Those (German) graves were most probably transferred to Dranouter Donegalfarm 183. The British graves should have been transferred to a British cemetery, but to which one I don't know. Jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurel Sercu Posted 5 January , 2019 Share Posted 5 January , 2019 Jan, I agree. As to the British graves ... Nowhere any mention. But then, there were "only" seven. And if (if !) the greatgrandfather of the initial poster (Carrierbarry) was buried there, with his name now on the Ploegsteert Memorial, they probably all (?) were moved as non-IDs. Aurel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AOK4 Posted 5 January , 2019 Share Posted 5 January , 2019 I saw that WA Roberts is not mentioned in the Red Cross files either, meaning the Germans were not able to identify his remains either nor that he died in their care as an identified POW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carrierbarry Posted 28 December , 2019 Author Share Posted 28 December , 2019 Thank you to all those that helped me with my search. Any information on Koetepyp is welcomed Barry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteStarLine Posted 29 December , 2019 Share Posted 29 December , 2019 Hi Barry, You asked me via message how I found what you called the"small print". We often forget when we supply answers that there are those who would like to know the technique. So: Visit the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site at https://www.cwgc.org/find/find-war-dead; Type in the surname, service number and select WW1 - a date of death helps but your date might differ slightly from their record; Click Search; There is a dark green chevron at the right - click on it; Click on Grave Registration; and Read the details for the person you searched on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteStarLine Posted 29 December , 2019 Share Posted 29 December , 2019 Barry, in case you want to visit, from preview.tmapper.com: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Baker Posted 29 December , 2019 Share Posted 29 December , 2019 The fighting at and around Kortepyp is covered in two of my books: "The battle for Flanders: German defeat on the Lys, 1918" and "The Battle of the Lys: North: Objective Ypres". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carrierbarry Posted 29 December , 2019 Author Share Posted 29 December , 2019 Again, I thank you for your help. This has been a family mystery for 100 years and now we finalyl have some answers. It took the British Army 2years (1920) before they told my grandmother her husband William was died and buried in a single grave no2;21 field grave, district of Koetpyp. I have attached the diary of the 11th Cheshire regt for the night 10 April 1918. The night my grandfather went missing. I think he may have been wounded and evacuated to Koetpyp. Where his grave was said to be. (Although there was an account by another soldier at the time that he may have been evacuated to a hospital in Armentieres) Anything on Koetpyp is of interest to me I plan to visit the area in the spring. Many thanks Barry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Posted 29 December , 2019 Share Posted 29 December , 2019 I'm sure you've seen his medal index card which shows he was previously Pte. 2420, Welsh Regiment. Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Baker Posted 30 December , 2019 Share Posted 30 December , 2019 William was officially reported as missing in action in the War Office casualty list of 27 November 1918. That is a few months later than would normally be the case. But that information would have been communicated to the family at some point. That William might be found in a "field grave" as late as 1920 would be no surprise at all. Don't forget - he was almost certainly buried by the Germans after they occupied Kortepyp. The greater question is why, if he was found that way, he has no known grave today. I suspect that the information came from Germany and that the location of the "field grave" was never discovered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carrierbarry Posted 30 December , 2019 Author Share Posted 30 December , 2019 Yes he was in a Welsh Regiment, thats why his widows address is Porth, South Wales. That is also the reason it took so long to find him, as we always looked into the Welsh Regiments. It appears he was only tranfered into the Cheshire's at some point of his journey from London back to the front at the beginning of April 1918. There records show they were short of men early April 1918. It is also the reason why information of him being AWOL took so long to reach his widow from the Welsh Regiment. Plus as you mention the information must of come from the Germans. Happy New Year to you All Barry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Posted 30 December , 2019 Share Posted 30 December , 2019 15 minutes ago, carrierbarry said: It is also the reason why information of him being AWOL took so long to reach his widow I think you mean 'missing' rather than 'AWOL'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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