Those who remained or returned to the battlefields after the War.

[Colin Affleck]

This is really a question and it is unclear exactly where in the Forum it should be placed. I chose here. What very little I have been able to glean on the subject appears below. Any more information would be greatly appreciated.

When the War ended, the armies went home, demobilized and tried to return to their civilian lives. However, not all the soldiers did so. Some few stayed behind on or near the battlefields while others returned there later. There seems no one description or explanation which covers them all. Each seems to have had their own reasons or compulsions for staying or returning. Some were demobilized civilians, some were deserters. Some had serious emotional or PTSD issues. Some were frankly mad. Some had nothing at home to keep them there. Some were racked with survivors guilt. Some could not bear to leave the dead friends they had come to love. There seems to have been only a handful of non-Europeans among them. Most appear to have been British, French and in a few cases, German.

How many there were is very unclear though as many as 3 to 4000 has been postulated. Others have said it was many more. Some worked in various capacities for the numerous war graves and cemetery construction organizations active in the area immediately after the War while others seem to have simply existed out on the old fields of battle, living on scraps they found or begged. How long they stayed there is also unclear though there were still a few reports of them as late as the mid 1920s. Did they die there? Did they eventually move away? I have no idea though I know some ended up as permanent staff at the various cemeteries.

Any information regarding these sad men gratefully received.

Colin Affleck

[chaz]

some married local girls or even women who had lost their own French husbands.

There were many that stayed on to clear the battlefields so presumably that was a reason, if they could get a wage, it would probably be a better prospect than at home. Being used to the hardships in the line, the only thing missing would be shells and bullets flying around , oh and also Sgt Mjr not shouting at them.

there has been discussions regarding trench art, there could have been artistic, metal workers, welders etc making souveniers or farming implements into industries that had become un manned with skilled workers. Along with this there would also be the psychological cases as in every way of life before and after.

[Colin Affleck]

Thank you for this Chaz

Really not a lot written about them. Very hard (read impossible) to find hard numbers, locations etc. I guess no much bothered about them at that stage of the game. Anyway, thanks again.

Regards sir.

Colin

[Marilyne]

Hi Colin, 

Welcome to the forum. 

It's most definitely a very interesting question and I'd be interested too to know if there are specific cases to be discovered?? 

Marilyne

[Colin Affleck]

Hello Marilyne

Thank you for your kind welcome. As for these sad men, I guess I will have to see what I can turn up. I am yet unaware of any specific cases. So far I have not even one solid name. Only a few vague references to there having been such men. So, the search is on.

Regards Marilyne.

Colin

[chaz]

presumably (unless deserters, then the Army police would have a job), the soldiers returned to England to be demobbed.  If there was no likelyhood of a decent job here they probably were drawn back to France. In that case, it would only be the 1911 census minus the 1921 census less the SDGW records that would give some sort of figure. Even that would not be conclusive, maybe a French Government history site may contain names or a number for new applicants for settling there

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

Yes I agree with chaz that your research needs to concentrate on French sources, as I doubt that any British sources could in any way quantify the numbers of men living an almost feral existence in another country. If there really were thousands of men over there, there must surely be a footprint somewhere, but I suspect that number is just a guess.

Start with somewhere like the museums of Ypres and enquire whether  such a cohort existed locally, in what numbers and where you might find reports or verification about them.

[stu]

Probably not really what you're looking for, but it might have some useful info in it, not a great read but still fairly entertaining !

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7063777-the-children-who-fought-hitler  

 

[Colin Affleck]

Hello Chaz, DByS and stu

Thank you for your interest and comments. Probably correct about French sources being the most likely to have anything. Sad, because my spoken French is appalling and reading French is an uphill struggle. Still, as they say, if it was easy, anyone could do it. Ill bash on (good one about the book stu) and see what I can unearth. 

Thanks again.

Colin

[Alan24]

2 hours ago, Marilyne said:

Hi Colin, 

Welcome to the forum. 

It's most definitely a very interesting question and I'd be interested too to know if there are specific cases to be discovered?? 

Marilyne

From memory...one such man who volunteered to stay on after 1919 and married a local girl was 1463 Herbert Fitton of the 1/4th West Riding Regiment.

He has a service record surviving which may be of interest.

[chaz]

Colin

have sent a pm.

as Alan says, just think about here. In the engineering company I started in back in the seventies, we had Italian, German, Hungarian and Czech pow's or soldiers that settled here. so not impossible to be the other way, Also Jewish Germans who served in WW1 for the Germans were not welcome in WW2, I would think that with all the forced labour recruiting that went on in WW2, any 25 yr old English ex soldiers may have dissapeared as 20years later the next conflict came along.

[johnboy]

Some years ago, I came across a soldiers service record which showes he had volunteered for 47 Royal Fusiliers to help clear the dead. as far as I am aware he was not attached to CWGC and was employed by the army. The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers Museum may be able to help.

[Colin Affleck]

Thanks to you all. Possibilities are beginning to appear. I now have a name and some places to look. Very helpful start to this. Cheers.

Colin

[ilkley remembers]

1 hour ago, johnboy said:

Some years ago, I came across a soldiers service record which showes he had volunteered for 47 Royal Fusiliers to help clear the dead. as far as I am aware he was not attached to CWGC and was employed by the army. The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers Museum may be able to help.

They seem to have been formed post war as late as January 1920 when adverts were placed in newspapers for men of good character and aged over 35 years to assist with exhumations and other battlefield clearence. I think that they took over this task from Labour Corps Battalions who were in the process of disbanding. The 47th were the last British Army unit to leave France the following year.

 

[Colin Affleck]

Thank you ilkley. Yet another clue.

Cheers.

Colin