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Remembered Today:

German Burials and Graves


Derbys

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Hello
I am researching German PoW burials in the U.K.      Can anyone share any photographs of burials or graves of German POWs in the U.K.
Thank you for your help.

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Many thanks NigelS,

 

....and here is a letter dated 1919 requesting W.W.Winter, photographers Derby, take photographs of German PoW graves at Donington Cemetery (close by Donington and Kegworth PoW camps) to be sent to relatives in Germany (these individuals were subsequently reinterred years later at Cannock Chase).  Hope you can see the attached letter clearly enough.1372207789_WintersLetterfromOswestry(3).jpg.66609ee4b8cf71b01647cd2a29bfad9e.jpg

 

It would be fantastic if we could find any of these particular photos of the Donington graves taken by Winters............

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Derbys the majority of German graves from both world wars were concentrated in the early 1960,s into the main German Cemetery on Cannock Chase Staffordshire. The site is very large with WW1 graves on the far side, and also the crews of the four German airships were moved to here as well. SG

200px-Germancemetery.jpg

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Was going to answer that... there's even a general there, I think. I need to dive into my picture stock when I'm back home in a few days... I think I have a pic of his grave in there somewhere.

 

M.

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Thanks to all for your replys - very useful.   My main focus at the moment is finding photos of the graves of German officers who were initially buried in Donington Cemetery prior to being reinterred at Cannock - W.W.Winter, photographers of Derby, took photos of the individual graves which were to be sent to relatives in Germany - previous attachment refers.   Finding one of these photos will be like looking for a needle in a haystack but (as far as can tell) copies were made, so while there may all be in Germany, I still hold on to a hope I might find at least one.

Chris

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Derbys,

 

I don't know if this is of any interest, but below are the original grave numbers of the 34 German burials at Castle Donington. Extracted from HO 282/21 held at the National Archives.

 

1031390541_CastleDonington1.jpg.92c702ab2441ac134b9c1a4b11485c46.jpg

 

723807028_CastleDonington2.jpg.0be4d1681e77f84c0645830b8640b1d1.jpg

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Thanks Phil, this is very very interesting, I know there were a number of deaths due to the flu epidemic - I’ll cross reference with what I’ve found about those individuals.

Many thanks again - much appreciated.

Chris

.....if only I could find at least one of the photographs taken of these graves at Donington Cemetery taken by W.W.Winter, Derby, before they were removed and reinterred at Cannock Chase Cemetery.........

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Chris,

 

Given the close date range, I suspect they are probably all victims of the flu epidemic, one way or another. It shouldn't be too hard to check using the ICRC Archive.

 

I used Mastaller as an example:

Four of them appear on List 230, Appendix 1, (Document Ref: A34172), as being admitted to hospital for influenza and pneumonia.

The grave references will also appear in Appendix V of the various lists. List 235 has over twenty of them (A37032 & A37033). The last column also indicates which list their death is notified on and includes the cause usually: e.g. List 219, Appendix III (A27787).

 

A couple of years ago I attempted to compile a database of the original graves for all those from WW1 now buried in Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery, mainly due to the missing names from Greenwich Cemetery. See this thread. Castle Donington Cemetery was one of the easier ones.

 

Phil

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Hi Phil,

Since our last exchange and following receipt of your list of grave numbers, I have just cross referenced this to my 'master list' from ICRC - and it corresponds exactly, which is a relief ! - so I have details of rank, dates of death, ICRC cards - and now I have the actual grave numbers they were buried in Donington Cemetery. The picture is building, so thank you again.

My specific mission is to find at least one photograph of one of these graves taken by W.W.Winter of Derby.- you'll have seen the instructions (above) issued to Winter in 1919 to take a photograph of each grave to be sent to relatives in Germany, and copies were to be made....now that would make my Christmas !!   Interestingly, those instructions of 1919 also tell Winter to photograph a memorial to these German officers installed in Donington Cemetery - its not there now so tracing a photograph of this is also a challenge.

Should keep me out of trouble in 2019....

Regards

Chris

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The CWGC Register refers to them being in a special plot, so going by your letter, there must have been something to set it apart.

 

Good luck with your search.

 

Phil

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Thanks Phil.  Yes, we know the spot where they were all buried before they were moved to Cannock. - just trying to find a photo/s of them.  Yep, I think I'll need luck...a lot of it....

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  • 4 weeks later...

I have only just found the site, so I hope these pics will be of help. They are from Lyness cemetery on Hoy Orkney. I know that those who died 21st and 22nd June 1919 were killed after scuttling their ships and rowing away from the sinking ships. They were classed as Internees before the scuttling but after, the remaining sailors were reclassified as POW due to the German Navy breaking the terms of the Armistice

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Found it!!!

 

dives back into my pics and found those from my visit to Cannock Chase in 2013.

CIMG0139.thumb.JPG.923792998977fe79470ff75e77b778a9.JPG

Three interesting graves: General Major August Ditges, who died in 1919.

I couldn't find any info on him.

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then there's a more famous guy: Ernst Bush was a WWII Field Marshal.

Bush did fight in WWI. then in WWII he led 16th Army in Operation Barbarossa. He surrendered to Montgommery in May 1945 and was held POW in Aldershot, where he died.

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And last but not least, nurse Thea Grellert is, I think, the only woman buried there.

 

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hope this is somehow of use.

 

M.

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Hi,

thanks for posting. I don´t think that there ever was a Generalmajor of that name in the German Army. His rank were abbriviated as GenMaj or GM. There is no mention of an officer of any rank in the Ehrenrangliste 1914-18 which lists all active German officers killed or died in WW1.

I think August Ditges was a Gemeiner, which means simple soldier. Haven´t found anything on him yet, either (except that he is burried there).

https://www.volksbund.de/graebersuche/detailansicht.html?tx_igverlustsuche_pi2[gid]=cca798c9958af652c523795128530f36&cHash=d9b1b6ececd823a3dbaf72d269b253cf

But I stand to be corrected.

GreyC

Edited by GreyC
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Hi

 

Just a word of extreme caution.

 

The details recorded by the CWGC for German burials are very often incorrect. I have found regiments, dates of death even names being recorded incorrectly.

 

Regards,

 

Graeme

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Hi Graeme,

thank you for the words of warnng.  But here in this case it seems that everything is in order, only the abbreviation needed clarification.

Best,

GreyC

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My deepest apologies for this mistake... I'll have to go back to my writings of the time and correct it all ... 

 

:unsure::unsure::unsure:

 

M.

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7 hours ago, GreyC said:

Here is the entry of A. Ditges in the regimental history of IR57, here listed as deceased at Camp Stols and with name misspelled.

GreyC

 

zzz.png.88ddcce08c5b233e57ae22af7835ee02.png

 

Stols is a misspelling of Stobs, Raasey was a  sub-camp of Stobs.

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Although it isn't referenced on his card, August Ditges' burial is recorded on A46018.

 

The others Marilyne, are proving more elusive. I can find which Registration District they died in (apart from Langbein), but cannot find them on the exhumation orders issued by the Home Office to the VDK.

 

Phil

 

Edit: All four were originally buried in Aldershot Military Cemetery

Edited by Phil Evans
Additional info added
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45 minutes ago, charlie2 said:

 

Stols is a misspelling of Stobs, Raasey was a  sub-camp of Stobs.

Thanks Charlie and Phil!

@ Marilyne: No problem. Difficult to know.

GreyC

Edited by GreyC
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