Pte. H R TAVENER - 29th Canadian Inf.

[Paul Johnson]

Harold Reuben TAVENER - 425753 - Private - 29th Battalion. Canadian Infantry (British Columbia) Regiment. Missing In Action on the 17th April 1917 aged 34

Harold was the son of Reuben & Jemima Tavener of “Homeleigh”, Essex Road, Stevenage, UK. The Battalion War Diary states that it was in a support area east of Neuville St.Vaast and that there was no enemy activity. However, it records that 1 man was killed and 2 others wounded on this day, so it must be assumed that this casualty was Harold Tavener. There are no details of any particular incident.

Harold Tavener has no known grave and his name is recorded on the Vimy Memorial. It must be assumed that his body was lost in some way.

Can anyone throw any light on what happened? According to the war diary (which can be viewed for free on line - PRO Please Note) it was snowing at the time of his death and the ground was frozen.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You

PAUL JOHNSON

[Broznitsky]

Pal Mordac has the 29th Battalion unit history; I'm sure he can do a look-up for you. I fear that not much will be found; 29th along with many other CEF units were licking their wounds after their victory at Vimy and not seeing action.

I might guess that he was blown to smithereens by a wayward shell, perhaps his chums getting wounded by the same round.

Good luck; Peter in Vancouver

[jhill]

The Battalion War Diary states that it was in a support area east of Neuville St.Vaast and that there was no enemy activity. . . . According to the war diary (which can be viewed for free on line - PRO Please Note) it was snowing at the time of his death and the ground was frozen.

I'm afraid I cannot help too much, but I often find that the War Diaries of related units can provide lots of information which help fill in some gaps. In this case, you can go up to the 6th Infantry Brigade, of which the 29th Battalion was a part. The Brigade diaries include, in this case, operations orders, summaries of operations, and situation maps which can be useful. If you go up to the 2nd Division, they often have extra information (although I have not checked them in this case). Sometimes other units, such as artillery, engineer, or ambulance units can be useful. We should note that it is only because these documents are on-line that such browsing is practicable.

This famous photograph (from the National Archives Site) supposedly depicts the 29th advancing on 9 April 17. It is notorious for the additions done afterwards in the darkroom.

[Broznitsky]

Just to amplify on the darkroom trickery; the overhead shell bursts and the fallen bodies were added to make the shot more dramatic.

Peter

[mordac]

Pal Mordac has the 29th Battalion unit history; I'm sure he can do a look-up for you. I fear that not much will be found; 29th along with many other CEF units were licking their wounds after their victory at Vimy and not seeing action.

Sorry, nothing in the 29th's history mentioning Pte. Tavener.

According to their history and war diary the 29th was providing working parties in the support area April 17, 1917. Their history states they were repairing roads, were under constant shell fire and casualties were suffered daily.

Attached is the entry for that date listing one OR killed.

Garth

[Paul Johnson]

Thank you to all of you who have tried to help me.

At least I now have a little more perspective on the conditions under which Tavener was operating.

Thank you once again.

PAUL JOHNSON

[mordac]

Harold Tavener has no known grave and his name is recorded on the Vimy Memorial. It must be assumed that his body was lost in some way.

Hi Paul:

Just a few thoughts on what may have happened to Pte. Tavener. As Broz has mentioned, he might have been in the direct path of a high-explosive shell and there were no remains to bury. However, I think there's a better chance, as you suggest, his body was lost. In all probability he was buried by his comrades close to where he died then one of a number of things happened:

1. His grave was never registered by the battalion and the location was therefore lost.

2. His grave was registered, but the location was changed by shell fire or another similar event.

3. His remains were found in the battlefield clearances in the early 1920's, but couldn't be properly identified. In this case he would be buried in a CWGC cemetery as an unknown Canadian soldier.

Garth

[Paul Johnson]

Thank you again for all of your views and information. I guess we may never know exactly what happened but its worth trying to find out.

Irrespective of the fact that his body was never found, his name will always be remembered as long as this forum and the "Pals" exist. And thats what its all about.

PAUL J