TRANSLATION OF POW FORM

[David Ingleby]

One of the soldiers I am researching appears to have been a POW of the Germans. He is Pte. Frank Henry Hefford of the 2nd/4th Leciestershire Regt., whose date of death is given as 14 May 1918. He is buried in Cabaret Rouge Cemetery having been moved from Arleux German Cemetery.

 

The only document in the ICRC records (under Hefford J H) is a list of soldiers under the heading:

 

"Nachstehend sufgarfuhrte Soldbücher gegen v.S.l (Zentralstelle f. Nachlassachen) ohne nähere Angaben ein. 24.7.18. Wo Erkennungsmarken vorhanden, besondres vermeckt.  Akte.25111/?

 

Against his entry in the list are the words - 'Krankentransport Abt, einer Armee.

 

I am assuming he was one of the men left behind as the Allied forces retired in the Spring 1918 offensive and was later buried by the Germans. The 2nd/4th seem to have been involved in fighting at St Quentin, Bapaume and Bailleul in March/April 1918, and I am hoping there is something in that form that may help me to tie down where he fell.

 

I have no idea want the German wording above means at all. Can anyone kindly provide a translation, please??!!

 

Many thanks

 

David

[Acknown]

I've had a go (you have transcribed it a little incorrectly in some cases), but someone who actually speaks German is required. 

'The soldier books [identity documents] listed below enter v.S.l [?] (central office for estate matters) without further details, 24.7.18. Where dog tags are present, especially noted. File 25111 /?'

'Zentralle nachweiseburo' is 'Central verification office'.

'Bezeichnung der anstellesstelle' is 'Name of the transfer office'.

'Krankentransport' is 'Ambulance'.

'Feldlazarette' is 'field hospital'.

Acknown

[GreyC]

Hi,

it means that the paybook your soldier had with him was transferred to this central bureau by an unspecified ambulance unit in order to forward it to the British together with a notification of his fate.

GreyC

[David Ingleby]

That's fantastic - thanks to you both.

 

I have since discovered he made an ordinary will (not a soldier's will) which was proved in 1923. He left over £1000! His father had died in 1915 and was relatively well off. The probate record states he died in the Arleux Prisoner of War Sick Department - would this be some sort of field lazarette??

Edited 30 June , 2020 by David Ingleby

[GreyC]

Hi,

you write he died as a POW in a POW camp. So he will have died in a hospital associated with a POW Camp. Feldlazarette/fieldhospitals were the first hospitals to accomodate the wounded approximately 20-25km behind the frontlines. So I doubt that they had POW camps that close to the front. He will most probably have died in a Kriegslazarett, a larger facility well behind the front in safer and more quiet surroundings at the back area.

GreyC

Edited 30 June , 2020 by GreyC

[David Ingleby]

My belief is that he was wounded in the fighting and left behind as the Allied troops withdrew. I don't think he was actually a POW in a POW camp as such, and I apologise if I gave that impression.

 

If he was found by the Germans and was treated for his injuries by them, but then died, that explains why he ended up in a German Cemetery. His died at what is described in probate records as a "Prisoner of War Sick Department" - this may be a way of describing a field hospital, or a larger establishment as you describe. Arleux was close to the fighting area so could be a Feldlazarette???

[charlie2]

I suspect he died in transit.
A Krankentransport Abteilung was responsible for clearing casualties out of the operational area to the echelon area and/or homeland using ambulance trains and motorized and horsedrawn ambulances.

As GreyC has already mentioned the field hospitals were approx 25 Kms behind the lines, which is about the distance between Bapaume/St Quentin and Arleux.
I would further suggest he was being transported to one in Arleux and was dead on arrival. If he had died at a hospital it would be reasonable to expect that the hospital would have dealt with the disposal of his soldiers book.
There is a short description (in German) of their tasks and establishment starting on page 316  https://books.google.de/books?id=uUAOAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA338&lpg=PA338&dq=armee+krankentransport+abteilung&source=bl&ots=iUor2zfErV&sig=ACfU3U1PO3_mzVpkEhOSZRxVnhryDT26Tw&hl=de&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjrqaOp-6vqAhUKCewKHSUkA20Q6AEwB3oECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=armee krankentransport abteilung&f=false

Charlie

[MaxD]

Charlie has it.  The preamble to the list provided by the central information office is saying that the enclosed pay books came from the central office for "belongings left behind" (Nachlassachen) without any additional details or being marked in any way.  The last part of the sentence is the important bit as the specifics of where it came from is given as the Krankentransport transport of "an Army" (unspecified) so his book has been found on some transport.  Note that in other cases it just says Feldlazerett or Kriegslazarett without again specifying which one.  It follows that where he was taken prisoner or exactly where he died is not recorded anywhere here.  It would though be reasonable to assume it was somewhere near to Arleux

 

Max

 

[David Ingleby]

Thank you Max and Charlie for your thoughts. I have a much clearer idea now of what happened.