POW without a grave

[EDWARD1]

Would the attached ICRC document PA33976 when translated explain why Ernest Fawcett 42345 9th KOYLI ( further down the list) who is listed on Soldiers Effects  "death 22.3.18 officially accepted whilst a POW "and CWGC has him listed on the Poziers Memorial. What happened to his body as a POW

Eddie

[JWK]

It's a list of "Erkennungsmarken" ("Dogtags") received by the Central Information Bureau in Berlin "ohne näheren angaben" (Without further details) from ("Etappen Inspection, a graves administration" is what I read in it?)

 

 

Edited 2 May , 2022 by JWK

[AOK4]

Hello,

The German would have buried these men, yet the graves were most probably later destroyed and lost or impossible to identify later.

The Gräber-Verwaltung was the administrative military unit keeping records of all grave locations and details of who was buried there. They were also involved in the creation of concentration cemeteries etc. Germany's lack of resources and manpower in 1918 meant that a lot of the graves in the newly conquered territories could not be properly buried or concentrated to a cemetery. I also assume that some units may have taken ID from the bodies they encountered and quickly buried them without the graves being properly documented.

Jan

[EDWARD1]

Thank you JWK and AOK4 for your input. He is one of many I am researching remembered on family headstones in the local cemetery .

[AndrewSid]

Edward,

I had a relative in the 9th so I have looked at them somewhat.

They were largely overrun from the 22nd of March during a German offensive.  The war diary notes confused fighting and by the 23rd they appear to have been down to the last unwounded 3 officers and 80 men.  I’d suspect others made it back to british lines as by the 26th a composite company was formed out of all survivors comprised of  130 men. The battalion started with at least 500 men. Casualties for the three days are just under a hundred dead. It’s likely many were captured. The majority of those killed have no known grave and are remembered on the Pozieres  memorial as per Fawcett.

The battalions experience was not uncommon for those In the front lines during the March to May period of 1918.  The 9th suffered a similar fate again in May when they were overrun during the first day of the Battle of the Aisne.

 

Andy

 

 

 

Edited 3 May , 2022 by AndrewSid