Fusilier Robert Robinson, 6975944, 2nd Bn Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers

During one of our Sunday afternoon field trips, my wife and I ended up exploring the neighbourhood of Leisele. This picturesque, inconspicuous Flemish village is located approximately two miles south of Houthem, next to Hondschoote, smack on the border with France - in the middle of nowhere…

During the fighting retreat of late May 1940, the N947 (Steenvoorde-Hondschoote-Ghyvelde-Bray Dunes) was mainly used by French troops in order to reach the coast. A lot of wartime pictures posted on the forum show masses of abandoned French MT littering this road, especially nearby ‘La Cartonnerie’, where the N947 crosses the ‘Canal de la Basse Colme’ (aka ‘Bergenvaart’ on the Belgian side of the border). As most of the BEF took the N8 (Ypres-Furnes), on the Belgian side of the border, I did not expect to find any trace of the BEF in Leisele.

I don’t know if it was ‘meant to be’ or purely coincidental but, while exploring the village, my wife noticed an inconspicuous CWGC-plaque near the local church cemetery. Triggered by curiousity, we set off to explore the churchyard. Initially, we found nothing, but persevered. Eventually, we found the grave of a single fallen British soldier: Fusilier Robert Robinson, 6975944, 2nd Bn Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, KIA on May 29th 1940, aged 27.



Though I visited a lot of war graves over the years, I must admit this one made quite an impact. The grave is located on a far corner-edge of the churchyard, alongside the hedge, which is why we initially missed it. The grave also doesn’t stand out in an otherwise exclusively civilian cemetery. Contrary to most British military war graves, resting together, this one felt especially isolated, alone, almost crying out not to be forgotten. Some flowers on the grave with the Belgian tricolor were a comforting sight though, discreet evidence as to the remembrance of Fusilier Robinson by the local population (probably as part of the Armistice commemorations).

By creating this thread, I would like to strongly incite anyone visiting the region to make a quick detour to Leisele and pay a visit to Fusilier Robinson’s grave. I would also be grateful if anyone could enlighten me as to the circumstances that led to this soldiers death.

KR,
Christian

 

Christian,

He appears in two others threads here. One records he came (West) County Tyrone, Northern Ireland and the other lists him only.

CWGC entry shows:

Unable to readily trace current family members.

The local newspaper is: Fermanagh and South Tyrone | News | The Impartial Reporter should you wish to ask them.

There is one main thread to review: 2 Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers with the BEF 1939 to 1940 See Post 30 for a possible explanation.

There is a pointer to another thread and what appears to be a War Diary 25-29/5/1940 in Post 6 by Skimmod. See: 2nd R. Innisk Fus.

Drew5233 in a 2010 post stated:

In another post he stated he had their War Diary for 1939-1940.
From: 6980447 John Gerald MELAUGH, 2nd Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, A company

There was a regimental book THE ROYAL INNISKILLING FUSILIERS IN THE THE SECOND WORLD WAR By Sir Frank Fox. Published by Gale & Polden.

Skimmod may have a copy and jamesmurrow certainly has a copy (he copied some 1939 pgs for another member). I will send both a PM to see if they can help, plus Rich Payne.

An online search with: "2 Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers" + "1940" site:ww2talk.com id'd too many threads to quickly review now.

 

2nd Inniskillings, as part of 5 Div's 13 Brigade had been fighting on the Ypres-Comines Canal since 26th May and on the 28th are recorded as defending along the St. Eloi road at Oosttaverne, in front of Brigade HQ at Wijtschate. They withdrew on the night of 28th/29th May; The direction of withdrawal seems to have been Poperinge but I can't find any further information regarding the subsequent route.

 

The casualty list from Ancestry, Christian, but it doesn’t throw any light on the exact events surrounding his death, of course.

 

I just finished reading the 'Skins' war diary extracts, in an attempt to elucidate the exact circumstances of Robert's death.

First of all, before proceeding further, I would like to express my thanks to the person who was so kind as to send me a PM and subsequently provided me this document.

The content of war diary was very insightful. It provided me with the route the battalion took on May 29th: from Wytschaete and Vierstraat (south-west of Ypres) via Poperinghe to Polinkhove and Loobrugge. From there on, during the night of May 29th/30th, they continued to Hoogstade, via Isenberghe, Houtem, Moeres to end up one mile south-west of Adinkerke (roughly where the Cabour-museum is now located).

The only incident mentioned during this journey that could have caused Robert's death took place in the early afternoon of May 29th. Apparently German aircraft were flying overhead and at some point it was decided to move on into the the fields. This makes good sense as all the nearby roads were congested with miscellaneous traffic. I guess the Skins hoped that the Germans would not take notice of off-road traffic. "Unfortunately, a shell landed right in the middle of a section standing round a truck, there were unfortunately some nasty casualties as a result of this." Since this entry specifically mentions 'a shell' (and not 'a bomb'), this would suggest to me enemy artillery fire. It would also be coherent with 'nasty casualties'... There is no mention of further incidents which may have caused casualties.

When adding up all these elements, I came to the conclusion that Robert had probably been severely wounded during the course of this incident and subsequently died of his wounds, en route, somewhere between Isenberghe and Houthem (i.e. Leisele). I would also surmise he was probably buried in a temporary field grave along the road (TBC).

Strangely enough, there is a large British military cemetery, just about 1,6 miles away from Leisele, across the French border, at Hondschoote, where 40 BEF soldiers are buried - all of them KIA in the same area. So why was Robert buried apart form all the others? I find it hard to imagine it may have been because his body may have been recovered in Belgium and not in France. Perhaps the archives in Alveringhem may provide clarifications.



Just to be thorough, I also consulted the German KTBs: the first German unit in the vicinity of Leisele (i.e. IR.234) arrived there the following day around 10h00 (not sure if local or German time though).

KR,
Christian

 

Great post.
Thank you for highlighting this Soldier from 'The Skins'
Andy.

 

I just came across a new resource on the forum: Barclay, C. N. History of the Sherwood Foresters (Nott.s & Derbys. Rgt.) 1919 - 1957 (1959)

As it happens, according to this account, the Sherwood Foresters' 2nd Battalion took the same route as the Skins and at approximately the same time.



Leisele is not specifically mentioned, but is located between Isenberghe and Houthem.

 

I'm afraid that , at least for the moment, my research has left me none the wiser as to the circumstances of Robert's death.
However, thanks to an helpful forum member's contribution (bedankt Luc ), I was nonetheless able to find the IWGC Registration Report Form (dated 20 Dec 1954) where the Robert's grave is mentioned.