Sue
Did not ignore your suggestion. Spent half a day at TNA photographing the whole of the year of the diaries and then when I got home Found they were all on line !! Sad fact of life ( or death) that wounded and dead officers always mentioned by name, but ORs only numbers.
regards Ed
Results 11 to 17 of 17
Thread: Weekly list of casualties
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03-09-2014, 1:38 PM #11
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03-09-2014, 1:52 PM #12
It's possible that he died of wounds, but now lies under one of the un-named stones. During the actual war, many men who died at aid stations were buried in small graveyards close to the aid stations. After the war, they were all collected in and laid to rest in the organised CWGC sites we know today. Between the two events, a lot happened, and grave markers were sometimes lost. If someone didn't have anything informative (this was the time before dog tags) in his pockets, or elsewhere on his body, the only option was a marked, but not named grave and a space on the memorial.
If you look at the CWGC descriptions of thier cemeteries, they tell you where the bodies were collected from.
The alternative is that someone who knew him saw him fall and reported him as wounded and missing, but he wasn't found until later.
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03-09-2014, 3:13 PM #13
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Thank you for your suggestions and I can see the possibility of what you say, however that would still not explain the long time between the official death date and reported missing entry. And of course dog tags did exist in WW!, they had been on official issue in the army from 1901.
regards Ed
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03-09-2014, 4:30 PM #14
If they were routinely used, we wouldn't have so many unknown soldiers.
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03-09-2014, 4:37 PM #15
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I think the most shocking fact of all is nearly half of all casualties for WWI (on the western front at least) have no known grave at all, even if body parts were found.
With the majority being killed by artillery it's understandable I suppose?
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03-09-2014, 10:06 PM #16pippycatGuest
Ed
Did you read the Queens 2nd Batt war diaries?
I thought the information listed under "Z.3" went some way to explaining a reason for the discrepancy in dates of missing and wounded soldiers between 24 and 27 October.
I've included the link, should others wish to have a read - the Z3 item is last, so easier to scroll to bottom of page and work upwards!
https://www.queensroyalsurreys.org.uk..._1917_10.shtml
The one War Casualty list came from The Genealogist.
Rebecca
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04-09-2014, 8:50 AM #17
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I have seen the diary entries you mentioned, both at TNA and on line, and the narrative is used pretty well verbatim in the Official History of the Queens. I understand about the difficulty of deciding who was missing and who was dead from the point of view of the Regiment at the time and for a period afterwards. But it doesnt explain to my mind the long delay in publishing in the list. October to January is a long time in any organisation.
regards Ed
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