Whereabouts of Bullecourt burials

[tootrock]

The 8th Devonshire Regiment fought at the battle of Bullecourt on 9th May 1917, sustaining 49 deaths (including my great uncle). All 49 of these deaths are commemorated on the Arras Memorial to the Missing - not a single one with a known grave.

Is it really likely that none of these men were ever found, or could they have been buried somewhere and the details subsequently lost?

Any ideas?

Martin

[tootrock]

Has anyone got any suggestions?

Martin

[andrew pugh]

Hi Martin.

Try and find out the name of the present day cemeteries closest to the action at that period in time. They may have originally been concentration cemeteries. The i would pay a visit to see if there are any casualties from the 8th Devonshire Regiment buried within, and have a count up. Once you have identified the names of the cemeteries ask the C W G C if you could have copies of those cemeteries. Ask for the cemetery lists which record the named graves and the unknown casualties. I have some of these cemetery lists that I use for my research and have been very helpful to me. You must emphasise you want the cemetery lists which record both the unknowns and the known casualties.

Kind Regards

Andy

[WilliamRev]

My thoughts were: perhaps the 8th Devons all died near, in or beyond the German trenches, and they were buried by the Germans, and the graves were unmarked. My second thought was that perhaps some bodies of the Devons were recovered and buried by the Allies, but that the records of where they were buried were lost later on in the war, so could not be exhumed and put in a concentration cemetery after the war.

[Thanks for your post which reminds us of the huge numbers of British troops who fought at Bullecourt, as well as the Australian ones we all know about.]

William

[PRC]

On 22/02/2023 at 11:27, tootrock said:

The 8th Devonshire Regiment fought at the battle of Bullecourt on 9th May 1917, sustaining 49 deaths (including my great uncle). All 49 of these deaths are commemorated on the Arras Memorial to the Missing - not a single one with a known grave.

Have you tried checking the International Committee of the Red Cross website for them?

The ICRC did gets lists through from the German Central Office of the id tags that had been received from the field and for whom there were no further details.

In the ones I've seen they are normally headed up "Totenliste"  (Death List) and refers to Erkenmungemarken, or a likely abbreviation.

If nothing else that would tell you they were likely to have been buried by the Germans, probably hastily, although sometimes there are references to a German Sanitary Squad so probably then battlefield clearance.

Apologies in advance if that draws a blank.

Cheers,
Peter

[WhiteStarLine]

5 hours ago, andrew pugh said:

Try and find out the name of the present day cemeteries closest to the action at that period in time. They may have originally been concentration cemeteries.

Some good suggestions from Andy. Peter & William.  Most of the first part is already in TrenchMapper and available to all free of charge.  The image immediately below shows the White Cross Atlas cemeteries from the 1920s and (surprisingly) none were shown in the immediate vicinity of Bullecourt.  Click on the second image to see 5 CWGC cemeteries / memorials, overlaid on the so-called Body-Density map from the area and 3 or 4 concentration sites.  All of the Body Density and White Cross Atlas series are in TrenchMapper and you want to right click on a map and select Map Id Jump.  Put in m_5_000764 and you can zoom in yourself.

[TEW]

There are men of the 8th & 9th Devons who died on the 10th & 11th May buried in Achiet le Grand CC Ex. These would probably be those wounded on the 9th who DOW at a CCS.

The cemetery has a complex history with concentrations from many smaller cemeteries as well as 'battlefield clearance'. There are 200 unidentified burials.

Possible your 49 missing fit into different categories. DOW at Achiet and marker subsequently lost etc.

I've not looked at battalion dispositions or objectives for that day but if other battalions from the same brigade were involved have you searched for them IE. 2nd Border Regt., 2nd Gordon Highlanders?

TEW

 

.

[tootrock]

Thanks for your input - there is quite a lot there to consider.

From the War Diary it would seem that the casualties were all effectively in no-man's-land, before reaching the German front line. After the battalion withdrew, Bullecourt was eventually captured by other troops, and the ground where the men fell was never in German hands, so any burials were presumably by the Allies. Details of the battles of Bullecourt seem to be sketchy - I have just sent off for a copy of "The Blood Tub", about the battles, which may throw further light.

Meanwhile I will look further at your suggestions, and see if anything comes to light.

Kind regards,

Martin

 

[TEW]

I just looked at some of the other units involved that day and see that Arras Memorial comes up repeatedly for 20th Brigade men. I looked at some of the officers recorded as killed on 6th or 8th May 1917 and see they were buried at:

2nd Lt. Holdsworth
H.A.C. Cemetery, Ecoust-St. Mein. This has nearly 1200 unidentified. Cemetery was used for post armistice battle field clearance and for concentrations from smaller cemeteries including (extract from CWGC History) MORY-ECOUST ROAD CEMETERIES No.1 AND No.2, ECOUST-ST. MEIN, both very near the road. They were made in March, April and May 1917, and they contained the graves of 63 soldiers from the United Kingdom (almost all 8th and 9th Devons and R.F.A.).

Capt. Renton
Mory Abbey Military Cemetery, Mory. 101 unidentified. The GRRF for Renton also has a 9th Devons man and an officer from 20/MGC, the latter died 9/5/17.

Neither seem to have any medical unit connection so should not include any DOW.

Burials of 20th Bde. men who died either side of 9/5/1917 seem to have been concentrated into HAC Cemetery from cemeteries around Ecoust. As HAC has ~1200 unidentified that's probably where the 49 were originally buried, markers lost and became unknowns when concentrated.

57c.c.8.d.1.4
51b.u.27.c.5.8
51b.u.26.d.4.6

TEW