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

[Verrieres]

Sorry Ivor ,
I never put the statements up as relevant to the search for Anthony Corkhill The statements are from the War Crimes Files of 1946 They deal with the four cases which were investigated They deal with the actions relating to the Fall of St Venant not any particular day or time frame as I said in my other post
"This is of course all background information on the events at ST VENANT and there`s no direct link to Anthony Corkhill or his disappearance that we have found yet. I think this information falls under the heading of `Bad Character Evidence`

There are no WAR CRIMES relating to the DLI and RWF there was never officially an investigation into any so no evidence,no statements..nothing. I have posted these simply for information and for anyone who is interested to read the German account. They entered St Venant long before 2nd DIV arrived and left again on their arrival. If their were specific trials involving incidents against the 2DLI and RWF I do not think this search would ever have started because the references would have been there for us to find what we looked at was the possibility of an overlooked or ignored incident that is not in the files ALL trials were documented this is the ONLY one to have made it to an official investigation. In regards to Units,these are the only units which fought in St Venant Germania their Engineer Company (acting independently) and 3rd Panzer.If anyone else was there they were not there as a UNIT. Individuals I do not know but these were the Units they are not in dispute by either side. Sorry if I confused the issue I`ll return and post only items of a relevant nature directly concerning Anthony Corkhill.
Sorry again

Jim

[ivor43]

morning Jim.
First. there is Nothing to be sorry about. i probably didn't express myself very well.
I understand why you put them on and i appreciate you having done this.it is interesting info. But, as a cop i took many statements, witness , under caution,defendants etc, i am really at a loss as to why statements of this nature would be placed on a 'war Crimes' at all. their evidential value is about nil. if this was part of an attempt to incriminate Demilhuber it is a failure, none of these men witnessed anything. These seem to have been 'front line' unit men which i think would have been too busy looking after themselves to see what was going on Behind them. which is where these these atrocities were committed.
One witness states that '' Der Fuhrer'' was also in the area, were any of them south of the canal.
It would appear from their statements that none of these men ever went further east than St Venant bridge, at least when south of the canal, also none of these men appear to have been in the fight with RWF/DLI. so if this was to do with the fall of St Venant it was the fall on 22nd prior to the arrival of RWF/DLI on 24/25th. peculiar.
is there anything on file about the fight after the arrival of RWF/DLI. i know you said that there were no crimes reported against RWF/DLI. So does this mean that the ''Investigation'' stopped on or about 23rd. curious.
Jim, as far as i am concerned you can post whatever background info you have, because somewhere in this info May be the key to unlock this mystery


ivor

[Verrieres]

Hello Ivor,

No I was confusing people and leading them away from the main topic,the files deal with incidents up to the 28th May 1940 but these were `selected` cases. Reading my own posts I realise that it is unlikely if not impossible that there`s a file dealing with a War Crime relating to Anthony Corkhill it would be nice if it was so easy.
The way I look at it is before this started the only information Tony and his family had was Pte A Corkhill died `somewhere in France in 1940` that was the sum of the knowledge and whilst Tony looked for more I had stumbled on more on a parallel path so to speak with Ian Goddard who told me about his dads anguish at not knowing what befell his friend.Ian was in possession of an enquiry made by Anthony`s dad and RSM Goddards reply regarding the events of May 27th 1940. It was at this point that the two lines of enquiry came together and Tony was brought up to speed with events up until this date (27/05/1940) The next step was to find the next two days between his surrender and his death,what we need is a similar piece of luck because as Anthony Corkhills death inform message said `in view of information received and the lapse of time in which no further information has been received` blah blah `..presumed to have died from wounds on May 29th 1940`. Information received which MUST have related to May 29th 1940 not the 27th when the RSM seen him?

Here`s a scenario (hate these but) ;-

Army Clerk.." Sir there`s correspondence received from RSM Goddard regarding Pte Corkhill."

Officer in Charge of records.." Yes I saw that unfortunately it relates to the 27th which predates the information we have already have on him on the 29th...."

What did the original information say? Who was it from? They knew he was wounded but as this was the 29th May who else reported it if not RSM Goddard? That is what we need!

Hopefully that makes a little more sense than my clumsy attempt to stimulate more interest as the War Crimes trials appear to have no bearing on the ultimate goal of finding Pte A Corkhills last movements and ultimately his resting place? Hopefully this makes sense

Jim

[Verrieres]

Just to let people know the CWGC have released their records online I have had a quick look and some of the grave concentrations look to be in Regimental batches ? The lad next to Syd Walt is a Cpl but theres another three nearby ? Will this help I don't know the Unknowns have their date of death simply stated as MAY 1940.Anthonys records consist of nothing more than is already online.

Jim


Noticed the released notes are from 1954 in relation to St Venant. From the final list there has been at least two soldiers identified from originally being `unknown` Krabbe and Rodgers. No graves concentration information what so ever, I wonder why? It does exist M Faivre and the Mayor had copies and so do we .No mention of the exhumation`s and reburials of 1946? If this is all of their `archives` I`ll eat my hat! Censored, non controversial general office paper files nothing more.

[Verrieres]

Hello Everyone ,
Three months passed and sadly no further news. The MoD neither answered my initial Freedom of Information Request or my follow up enquiries into the MoD lack of response. Today there has been another request submitted but through the website ;-
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/

Will it prompt a successful conclusion ,we live in hope,what it does guarantee is a response which is more than I have had to date.:)

Jim

Nil desperandum Auspice Deo ("When God is on our side there is no cause for despair." or "Do not despair, have faith in God" or "Don’t despair, in God we trust")

[Baconwallah]

I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you, Jim.

John

[Verrieres]

From: CIO-FOI (MULTIUSER)
Ministry of Defence

30 November 2015 Dear Sir,

Your request has been logged under our reference 2015/***** and the target date for response is 22 Dec 2015

Yours sincerely

Information Rights team

Ministry of Defence

First response.

Jim

[Baconwallah]

Let's hope it will not be the last one, Jim. We've been there before.

Keeping fingers and toes crossed.

John

[Verrieres]

Update time

As expected it was `we do not have it` actually it wasn't this is what it said;-

The information you have requested is not held by the Ministry of Defence. However,
Under Section 16 of the Act (Advice and Assistance) you may find it helpful to note that we
are unable to find a reference to any document titled “Q80”

Have I been asking for the wrong document? or Have I got to ask for its specific reference number? (Even though they possibly know what I`m asking for?) Then I receive this on my website from someone calling themselves `truth-hunter`

Sir,
The document referred to as a Q80 Form in respect of Pte Corkhill may have the official title of
MI9 /INT / Q /80
The /80 being a handwritten reference to the standard form

Good luck

Whatever it is ,I have tried a fresh enquiry giving the reference quoted ( I`m sure this file reference was passed previously??) Anyhow nothing lost in trying (again).

Jim

[Baconwallah]

Worth another try, Jim. Nio doubt they'll find another subterfuge, though, But I wish you luck.

John