Bishenden POW ?

[deanC]

Hi All
a mystery , I am researching a local Fallen soldier from our village :

Leonard Bishenden born 1899 ,Newington ,Kent died 8th September 1918 ,France
33rd machine Gun Corps no 115396 .
enlisted February 1917.
Family details /story has it , that he was taken prisoner approx. August/September 1917 .

The family was informed that he had died of a heart attack while working for the Germans near Lille ,France on 8th September 1918 , the family was informed 28th November 1918 .

He is buried a Lille southern cemetery .

can we prove that he was a POW and where and when etc .

Thanks
Dean

[christanel]

There is this site https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/File/Search
I can't see anything on Forces War Records
Here is The National Archives research guide for POW's
Christina

[deanC]

hi
Thanks for your help , yes I have checked both sites , Grandeguerre , is to say the least a very difficult site to navigate , I have been told it is also incomplete ,just my luck ! .


The NA does not list him either , so this is why I am questioning it , I certainly do not wish to cast doubts on family stories , but I will be presenting this to the school assembly ,as part of the remembrance service for this month , this is our 4th year of doing this , so I would like only to present proven facts to the children .
Dean

[Lesley Robertson]

I have found a card for him on the Red Cross "Prisoners of the First World War" archive HERE. It's arranged in groups of cards, and the menu you get if you just search on his surname gives you the first name in that group. If the grouping is the same when you search, you need the group starting "Birtwistle" (scroll up past all the Bischops) then scroll right down almost to the bottom. The important thing about the first card is the PA number (P.A. 42179). Fill that into the next search box and it should give you more info after much more scrolling down - keep watching the numbers on the top right of each paper..

It's in German, and says (since they're not a commercial company, I'll transcribe):
Gem.D.Komp.im 33.N.O.C -geb. im 19.8.98 im: Newington Kent - vorst. an 8.9.18 zu G a r d e l s gen-beerd. suf den Friedhof Lille, Block S (or B) I. 3. Linie Nr. 35-Aktr. 29073/V.

Gardels is typed with spaces, as I've shown, as are the place names in other entries.

[deanC]

Lesley , thankyou .. I have been trying for hours to search that site , your instructions were great .

Dean

[Lesley Robertson]

Yes, I had that problem the first time I used it....
I would not want to be looking for Smith, or Jones, or even Robertson,

[Jomot1]

Just in case you didn't spot it, there is more than one PoW card for Leonard Bishenden, and the second one gives the additional detail that he was captured 16 Apr 1918 at Meteren.

I've checked the war diary for the 33rd Bn MGC for April 1918, and there is a long description of operations between 12-18 April in & around Meteren, including this:

'On the early morning of the 16th the enemy made a most determined and strong attack on our positions South East of Meteren, our right remaining quiet' ..... 'The attack was accompanied by a very heavy bombardment particularly of Meteren itself. By 9am the enemy had effected a very definite lodgment in the town with Machine Guns most active from the Church.'

There is no mention of anyone being captured, but the report goes on to say that as reinforcements arrived throughout the day there was a counter-attack around 5pm with 30 German troups taken prisoner.

Link to start of report, if you have access to Ancestry (and if Im allowed to post the link):
https://www.ancestry.com/interactive...2_2417_0-00432

[deanC]

Hi Thanks for the extra info , I now have quite a bit on him and the camps were he was , thank you all again

Dean