Savy British Cemetery

[laughton]

Continuing the process of looking for those lost during Operation Michael. I had not heard of this cemetery but it is in the area of Saint-Quentin.

 

Shared MediaFire ZIP Files:

• Savy British Cemetery
  • GRRF 2047766-2047849
  • COG-BR 2625179-2625346

The CWGC gives us the history, to which I will add the trench map coordinates of the concentration cemeteries and major battlefield burial sites, followed by potential cases:

Quote

Savy was taken by the 32nd Division on the 1st April 1917, after hard fighting, and Savy Wood on the 2nd. On the 21st March 1918 Savy and Roupy were successfully defended by the 30th Division, but the line was withdrawn after nightfall. The village and the wood were retaken on the 17th September 1918 by the 34th French Division, fighting on the right of the British IX Corps. Savy British Cemetery was made in 1919, and the graves from the battlefields and from the following small cemeteries in the neighbourhood were concentrated into it:-

 

• DALLON GERMAN CEMETERY 66c.A.3.d.5.0, North-West of the village of Dallon, contained the graves of 21 British soldiers who fell in March 1918.
• INNISKILLINGS CEMETERY, DALLON 62b.S.26.b.5.2, on the South side of a small wood, North of the St. Quentin-Savy road. Here the 2nd Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, in April 1917, buried 17 of their number, three other British soldiers and one French Interpreter.
   
• LANCASHIRE CEMETERY, Savy Wood 62b.S.20.b.2.5, on the East side of SAVY WOOD, made by the 16th Lancashire Fusiliers in April 1917, and contained the graves of 27 men of the 15th and 16th Lancashire Fusiliers and nine other British soldiers.
   
• ST. QUENTIN-ROUPY ROAD GERMAN CEMETERY see note below, at L'Epine-de-Dallon, which contained the graves of 232 British soldiers who fell in March 1918.
   
• SAVY COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION 62c.X.29.b.9.1, made in April 1917, contained 14 British graves.
   
• SAVY MILITARY CEMETERY 62c.X.29.d.7.0, close to Savy Church. It was made in April and May 1917 by the 97th Brigade and other units, and it contained 39 British graves.
   
• SAVY WOOD NORTH CEMETERY 62b.S.14.c.1.1, at the North-West corner of Savy Wood, by the railway line. It was made by the 32nd Division in April and May 1917, and it contained 44 British graves.
   

There are now over 850, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, more than half are unidentified. Memorials are erected in the cemetery to 68 soldiers (chiefly of the 19th King's Liverpools and the 17th Manchesters), buried by the Germans in their cemetery on the St. Quentin-Roupy road, whose graves were destroyed by shell fire.

These were on the COG-BR documents but not on the CWGC list above: this might be because the list above mentions ST. QUENTIN-ROUPY ROAD GERMAN CEMETERY at L'Epine-de-Dallon?

• L'Epine de Dallon Military Cemetery 66c.A.3.d.5.8 - quite a few sheets, odd it was not on the list
   
• L'Epine de Dallon Military Cemetery Extension 66c.A.3.b.9.1

Edited 1 January , 2020 by laughton
updating information as gathered

[laughton]

Candidates from the Savy British Cemetery:

• COG-BR 2625187 - Serjeant of the King's Royal Rifle Corps
  • some known in the cemetery from November 1917 (11th Bn) and March-April 1918 (9th & 12th Bn) (CWGC Link)
  • 12 on Pozieres and 8 on Cambrai (CWGC Link)
  • only Edgson on Pozieres for 9th Bn but another three for the 12th Bn, so without the battalion there is no hope
• COG-BR 2625211 - Royal Air Force with German cross. What is interesting about that entry is that there is a notation that he was recovered from a square that "had already been given as cleared" (see note at bottom of COG-BR)
• COG-BR 2625215 - a Captain, Second Lieutenant and Serjeant all recovered from 66d.F.11.a.4.3, which is 500 yards northeast of Roupy
  • others in that same area are Yorks and Kings and Lowe 30th MGC killed on 21 March 1918 (Operation Michael)
  • correction - the Second Lieutenant was found at 66c.A.25.d.5.4 which is the area for the 107th Brigade, 36th (Ulster) Division
  • that makes the Second Lieutenant a candidate for one of the Royal Irish Rifles Officers from the 1st, 2nd or 15th Battalions
• COG-BR 2625219 - Q,M.S. 3 stripes and Crown, buried with a number of Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, including Logue 15696, 1st Bn 22 March 1918
  • there is only one (1) Company Quartermaster Serjeant missing on 22 March 1918 and he too is 1st Battalion John Doherty #5758
  • problem is that there is no absolute proof he was a RIF man and seven (7) others also missing in that period - were they in the area?
• COG-BR 2625225 - Serjeant of the "King's"
• COG-BR 2625237 - Serjeant of the Bedford Regiment - 3 stripes and an L.G.?
• COG-BR 2625244 - what I am looking for Royal Irish Rifle Officers (two on this page)
  • near Contascourt and this fellow is at 66c.A.27.a.2.7 with a number of others from 2nd Battalion, including Garton #47641 (also Barham #1690 McTier #528)
  • so 107th Brigade 36th (Ulster) Division, which could be 1st, 2nd or 15th Bn
  • lots of R.I.R. men scattered throughout the COG-BR documents from this same location - a burial ground?
  • if 2nd Battalion could be Lieutenant Dobbin and Marriott-Watson, nope - also McFerran attached to 2nd from 5th
  • also four from 1st Bn and three from 15th (including De Wind V.C.), so without rank and an affiliation this goes nowhere
  • there is another one from COG-BR 2625215 that was just corrected, as he was not found in the same location as the Captain
  • the summary table has been moved to the next post
• COG-BR 2625256 - Captain at 62c.X.26.a.4.8 which is Etreillers - just west of Savy, with a number of others so must be a cemetery for Beford's and King's
• a number of Lance Corporals and Corporals to be searched later - Serjeants as well
• COG-BR 2652311 - Company Serjeant Major, The King's (Liverpool) Regiment
  • none on the Pozieres Memorial for any battalion at any time
  • 12 on the Thiepval Memorial, including one for November 1917?
  • two on the Arras Memorial for March 1918
• COG-BR 2625340 - Officer of the Machine Gun Corps

 

finished that stage

Edited 2 January , 2020 by laughton
updating list as searching

[laughton]

This is now the Summary Table for the Royal Irish Rifles Officers, three (3) of which are noted in the post above. There appears to be a clear separation in those that would be found in Sector 66c.A versus 66c.B. We know that Captain Baillie has been found (this topic) so it may be possible to narrow down this list.

 

surname	forename	death	rank	battalion	brigade	location
BAILLIE	HUGH MONTGOMERY	21/03/1918	Captain	16th Bn.	Div Troops	66c.B. (found)
MAGOOKIN	WILLIAM DOUGLAS	21/03/1918	Second Lieutenant	12th Bn.	108th	66c.B.
DE WIND ** V.C.	EDMUND	21/03/1918	Second Lieutenant	15th Bn.	107th	66c.A
ENDEAN	FRANK EDGAR	24/03/1918	Second Lieutenant	15th Bn.	107th	66c.A
ROSS	WILLIAM SAMUEL BAIRD	21/03/1918	Second Lieutenant	15th Bn.	107th	66c.A
PAUL	DAVID	21/03/1918	Second Lieutenant	16th Bn.	Div Troops	66c.B.
McGILTON	JAMES	23/03/1918	Second Lieutenant	21st Entrenching Bn.
LYONS	ROBERT VICTOR	24/03/1918	Second Lieutenant	23rd Entrenching Bn.
DOBBIN	WILLIAM LEONARD PRICE	21/03/1918	Lieutenant	2nd Bn.	107th	66c.A
MARRIOTT-WATSON	RICHARD BRERETON	24/03/1918	Lieutenant	2nd Bn.	107th	66c.A
KERR	JAMES	21/03/1918	Lieutenant	3rd Bn. attd. 1st Bn.	107th	66c.A
O'KANE	PAUL	21/03/1918	Lieutenant	4th Bn. attd. 1st Bn.	107th	66c.A
THOMPSON	JOHN CRAWFORD	21/03/1918	Second Lieutenant	5th Bn. attd. 1st Bn.	107th	66c.A
McFERRAN	MAURICE ANDERDON	21/03/1918	Second Lieutenant	5th Bn. attd. 2nd Bn.	107th	66c.A
BROWN	JOHN	21/03/1918	Captain	8th Bn. attd. 1st Bn.	107th	66c.A

 

Note:

 

DE WIND ** V.C. would be nice to locate! He is Michael Case #3 in the topic here: Operation Michael March 1918: Where are they?

 

 

Edited 2 January , 2020 by laughton
added note for De Wind

[Alan24]

On 01/01/2020 at 11:31, laughton said:

 I had not heard of this cemetery but it is in the area of Saint-Quentin.

 

Beautiful place. We were there in 2018. My GGF is down the road at Holnon. 

There's quite a lot of Manchesters here from April 1917.

[Alan24]

I would recommend this book too for a good overview of the actions there in 1917 & 1918. I used it to prepare for our trip and it was very useful.

 

Regards

 

Alan.

[dickaren]

On ‎01‎/‎01‎/‎2020 at 11:44, laughton said:

Candidates from the Savy British Cemetery:

• COG-BR 2625187 - Serjeant of the King's Royal Rifle Corps
  • some known in the cemetery from November 1917 (11th Bn) and March-April 1918 (9th & 12th Bn) (CWGC Link)
  • 12 on Pozieres and 8 on Cambrai (CWGC Link)
  • only Edgson on Pozieres for 9th Bn but another three for the 12th Bn, so without the battalion there is no hope
• COG-BR 2625211 - Royal Air Force with German cross. What is interesting about that entry is that there is a notation that he was recovered from a square that "had already been given as cleared" (see note at bottom of COG-BR)
• COG-BR 2625215 - a Captain, Second Lieutenant and Serjeant all recovered from 66d.F.11.a.4.3, which is 500 yards northeast of Roupy
  • others in that same area are Yorks and Kings and Lowe 30th MGC killed on 21 March 1918 (Operation Michael)
  • correction - the Second Lieutenant was found at 66c.A.25.d.5.4 which is the area for the 107th Brigade, 36th (Ulster) Division
  • that makes the Second Lieutenant a candidate for one of the Royal Irish Rifles Officers from the 1st, 2nd or 15th Battalions
• COG-BR 2625219 - Q,M.S. 3 stripes and Crown, buried with a number of Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, including Logue 15696, 1st Bn 22 March 1918
  • there is only one (1) Company Quartermaster Serjeant missing on 22 March 1918 and he too is 1st Battalion John Doherty #5758
  • problem is that there is no absolute proof he was a RIF man and seven (7) others also missing in that period - were they in the area?
• COG-BR 2625225 - Serjeant of the "King's"
• COG-BR 2625237 - Serjeant of the Bedford Regiment - 3 stripes and an L.G.?
• COG-BR 2625244 - what I am looking for Royal Irish Rifle Officers (two on this page)
  • near Contascourt and this fellow is at 66c.A.27.a.2.7 with a number of others from 2nd Battalion, including Garton #47641 (also Barham #1690 McTier #528)
  • so 107th Brigade 36th (Ulster) Division, which could be 1st, 2nd or 15th Bn
  • lots of R.I.R. men scattered throughout the COG-BR documents from this same location - a burial ground?
  • if 2nd Battalion could be Lieutenant Dobbin and Marriott-Watson, nope - also McFerran attached to 2nd from 5th
  • also four from 1st Bn and three from 15th (including De Wind V.C.), so without rank and an affiliation this goes nowhere
  • there is another one from COG-BR 2625215 that was just corrected, as he was not found in the same location as the Captain
  • the summary table has been moved to the next post
• COG-BR 2625256 - Captain at 62c.X.26.a.4.8 which is Etreillers - just west of Savy, with a number of others so must be a cemetery for Beford's and King's
• a number of Lance Corporals and Corporals to be searched later - Serjeants as well
• COG-BR 2652311 - Company Serjeant Major, The King's (Liverpool) Regiment
  • none on the Pozieres Memorial for any battalion at any time
  • 12 on the Thiepval Memorial, including one for November 1917?
  • two on the Arras Memorial for March 1918
• COG-BR 2625340 - Officer of the Machine Gun Corps

 

finished that stage

Another UBO-2nd Lt on COG-BR 2625235 found at 66d F22 b 4.8 NW of Grand Seracourt S of Roupy.

Richard