Cathel Sutherland Melville kia 6th April 1945

Thanks DBF for this excellent Welsh Guards information which certainly shows the difficult conditions under which our troops were fighting.

One quest which you, or someone else, can maybe help me with is the meaning of O.S. after Cathel Sutherland Melville's name on the temporary grave cross? Also were the temporary graves very close to where they feel or were they in organised cemeteries well behind there advancing line?

Thanks

Allan

 

Of course! His initials. Thought it might be a stupid question when I asked it.
I have written to CWGC and must now await their reply. I have also contacted Glasgow records but will now take advice given earlier and contact Scots Guards directly.
Thanks.

 

This thread is excellent proof - if it were needed - of what this forum is all about, fascinating stuff and thanks to Allan for the original post.

Do be prepared to insist with the CWGC - they are somewhat patchy in their responses to burial information. In my experience it may be a different tack to find temporary burial information in Germany from that in France, where the local populace often buried casualties, so information can be gleaned from communities and town halls. I imagine the troops tended to bury their own in Germany and therefore there may be records in burial/graves concentration unit diaries? Good luck.

 

Thanks for this and hopefully more useful information will come to light.
It has taken me three contacts with CWGC to get the site of Cathel Sutherland Melville's temporary grave. At first I was told they had no further information other that on the may search part of the CWGC site. By by re-asking I find that they had a record of burial at Baccum close to where he was killed.

 

I have no idea why the CWGC insist on this standard reply - I was put off on my first ever enquiry about a relative killed in France in 1940. "We have no further information regarding intial burial or subsequent reburial....' It took me years to find out - from French sources - that he had been temporarily buried by local people, then reburied in the local cemetery. This information was relayed by the Red Cross to the War Office Casualty Branch and yet the CWGC denied having any knowledge - why do we have to ask and re-ask? Are they trying to put enquiries off because they don't have the resources. I asked these questions at the time and now I find they are digitising such records http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/57565-cwgc-second-world-war-casualty-archives-to-be-shared/?hl=cwgc . It's not the problem of resources I'm complaining about, it's the totally random seeming responses.

 

I have now received war record for my uncle uncle Cathel Sutherland Melville. He was on Home service from when I joined the Scots Guards in 1940 until posted to NW Europe on 29th January 1945. He was KIA on 6th April 1945 at Baccum near Lingen.
He had a few transfers when Britain. he was twice transferred to T Bn which I believe is Training Battalion. In between those transfers he was tranferred to Hn Bn and I would be interested to know what this means. After this he was transferred to Gds Armd Tn Wing. which I think is something like Guards Armed or Armoured Training Wing. I would like to know what and where and what this might be.

Also what do the following mean:
P/L/Cpl
U/L/Cpl
U.A.Cpl
P.A.Cpl

His Industry group is given as Z E and his occupational classification is 430 03. His location is given as 21 A. G.

Help would be much appreciated.

Allan

 

Transferred to a Holding Battalion

 

Thanks once again for your help. That all makes sense to me as there was an unsubstantiated family story that he was killed while travelling in a 'jeep' and a mine was mentioned.

Much appreciated.

Allan