saint venant 1940-------farm boulet

[ivor43]

hi all.
John. I must admit it had slipped my mind about D Co. But i not sure that they fit.
The DoD differ one between 25-27 another 28th the 3rd 29th. But i am not sure how it works.
we know that on 23rd 2/5 W.Y. sent a Co to Calonne where they were holding off the German unit, i suspect the same unit that D Co ran into. but would wounded be left in a Civy Hospital in a place under attack.
The German Field Aid Post was not operational until the British pulled out on 26th?. But i suppose it would depend on the severity of the wounds, of course they may have died in the Civy Hospital and been nothing to do with the Aid Post. i'm not sure about this. With the Service numbers would it be possible to link them to a particular Co. That could possibly help. All the record says is 1Btn.


ivor

[Baconwallah]

The DoD differ one between 25-27 another 28th the 3rd 29th. But i am not sure how it works.

Some probably died of wounds on the following days.

but would wounded be left in a Civy Hospital in a place under attack.

Where else could they leave them, under the circumstances. Calonne was not attacked until the 27th or 28th.

With the Service numbers would it be possible to link them to a particular Co. That could possibly help.

I wish!

John

[ivor43]

mornin John.
I was trying to fit some known casualties into the picture to reinforce the ''reasonable cause'' argument so it probably was not that important,it would have been nice ,Oh well,,never mind.
Oh and the last part was definitely written with much more hope than expectation.

cheers

ivor

[Verrieres]

Further from my post regarding Syd Walt also killed/Died on the 29th May 1940 Sgt Major Mclane remembered in an interview that ...Pte Walt was one of two men seriously wounded just prior to the `Everyman for himself` order.Sgt McLane recalled he was wounded in the lower body and streams of blood were visable on his Khaki uniform to Sgt McLane it was obvious he was finished and despite his pleas the poor lad was ignored and had to wait until the stretcher bearers came along with RSM Metcalfe....Pte Walt was in Sgt McLanes platoon at the time but was not a regular member having been sent from elsewhere to shore up the platoon.
Shortly afterwards the order Everyman for himself was given in which the survivors had to run the gauntlet of German fire across an open field.Bearing this in mind I doubt Pte Walt ,now with the stretcher bearers would have made the dash so I am assuming he was found by the Germans and died later?

Best


Jim

Hello ,
You all have been very busy indeed and now you have me thinking tell me what you think of this
During my research into the field grave lists a lot of people will have wondered why bother as Anthony is unknown so will not feature.The aim of the research has been to secure the buriel place of another 2 DLI casualty who died of wounds on the same day as mentioned Syd Walt died on May 29th he does not feature in any of the known field graves.Would it be fair to assume he has died in a hospital? Following his death he has been taken to the cemetery direct? If the German War Graves Commision has a record of Syd Walt would they have a record of other unknown soldiers buried the same day you see there are no missing unknowns from the Royal Berks or Royal Welch for the 29th May 1940. Whilst I have to check the Royal Artillery Unit present could this be a way forward?

Best

Jim

[Baconwallah]

A very plausible scenario, Jim, for Syd as well as for Anthony.

John

[ivor43]

Evening all.
as we know that both HQ's were in and close by the St Venant Cemetery. what would be the possibility that they could have been buried directly in the cemetery and therefore not in a field grave.
just a thought.


ivor

[Baconwallah]

It's certainly a possibility, Ivor. There are currently 40 unidentified bodies buried there, but does that number include men buried in the cemetery at the time of the fighting? We'll probably never know, unless the MoD and CWGC open their books.

John

[ivor43]

John.
We may, possibly, be able to get a clue from an other incident.
the 7 RWF lads that died on 23rd, at St Floris, were these buried direct in the cemetery. If they are not included in Jim's field graves records then it would suggest that they were not subject to the 41/42 clearances. they were already there. another thought that might support this is,as far as i am aware these are the only burials in St Floris, so it might be assumed that all field burials where taken to St Venant for processing and re burial, except for those already in cemetery's.
with regard to the 40 unknowns in St Venant, it might be interesting to know if Jim's list also has 40 if not then the difference must have already been there.
interesting.


ivor

[Baconwallah]

A cemetery being available, it was no doubt used with gratitude. But this being true for 1st RWF burying their own does not necessarily make it true for the Germans burying enemies.

Jim´s field grave records, as far as I know, comprise the Bas-Hamel page (from the Rodgers book) and the Robecq mass grave list (from me). They do not represent the complete listing of all field graves in the area, so it is impossible to draw conclusions from them.

John

[ivor43]

Hi Guys.
Maybe i am being too optimistic again but, surely the field grave lists are just that,lists of persons buried at a specific location.and would correspond to the files prepared at the autopsies.
I would have expected the location of the grave to be reflected in the Title of the file,eg:-
St Venant/Location of Grave(map Ref)/Body No in grave/ Name or unknown.
anything less would not really make much sense.
does a list of the 41/42 clearance files exist, if so can it be accessed.
I realise that 41/42 may not have found All graves and i suspect that some have never been found, but it seems to appear that the people we are interested in could have been in place from May 1940 or should have been identified in 41/42.


ivor