Long March POW Casualty 1945: John Antony Ronald Coulthard, Stalag XXA, Thorn

Discussion in 'Prisoners of War' started by dbf, May 9, 2010.

  1. BarbaraWT

    BarbaraWT Member

     

    Attached Files:

  2. Steve Foster

    Steve Foster Senior Member

    Further to Barbara's recent post, I found a suprisingly large amount of material in file WO 309/58 about Mackensen's war crimes and in two documents, direct reference to Antony's death. Below is Staff Sergeant Aitken's affadavit of his experience on the long march. It contains a two page annexe listing the 30 names of his comrades from his column who died on the March. He is absolutely clear that Mackensen and his men were culpable.

    S Sgt Aitken 1 (2).jpg

    S Sgt Aitken 1.jpg

    View attachment 70384

    View attachment 70385

    S Sgt Aitken 3.jpg

    View attachment 70387

    Barbara and I both agree that S/Sgt Aitken showed great leadership and bravery in his role as the Senior British NCO in charge of the column. He always squared up to Mackensen after acts of atrocity and continually argued for more food and medical attention. He also kept a diary of every death, recording where/when/why etc and liaised with the mayor of each village to ensure the deaths were recorded after burial. I am sure his bravery went unrecognised.

    Antony was the thirtieth POW to die from his column and is the last name on the list at the Annexe. He was the last to die on 24 March 45. It states that he died in kaltenhof and as S/Sgt Aitken ensured that each Burgermeister had a record of the burial, it gives Barbara and I a start in finding his grave.

    As Barbara mentioned, Aitken's performance at Mackensen's trial was so strong that Mackensen changed his plea to guilty half way through.

    Steve
     
  3. BarbaraWT

    BarbaraWT Member

    The way the trial is reported makes me feel like I am a witness to what happened as well.
    Strange effect!
    B
     
  4. Steve Foster

    Steve Foster Senior Member

    Quote: Irish Guardsman Burnell's liberation report dated 19 Apr 45: "...but the final blow in my eyes was a cold bath in the open carried out by a Medical Orderly acting on orders from a German Warrant Officer in charge of the column. Hptm Mackensen, No 1 Co Landschutz Bn 714 was the Officer responsible for the column."

    Attached below are various papers referring to the war crimes trial of Hpt Mackensen and his cohorts. The people accused are at the top of the first thumbnail. Although Guardsman Burnell did not name the Warrant Officer who made Antony swim in the Elbe, Oberfeldwebel Winters is on the charge sheet and was in the same unit as Mackensen. I believe Oberfeldwebel is the equivalent rank to Warrant Officer, so it was probably him.

    Thumbnail 3 shows the politics between the various military legal departments after the war. The Group Captain was really playing the recipient along, not mentioning that Mackensen had already been executed until the last paragraph!

    Steve

    Hpt Mackensen 2.jpg

    Hpt Mackensen 3.jpg

    Hpt Mackensen 7.jpg

    View attachment 70422

    Hpt Mackensen 1.jpg

    View attachment 70424

    Hpt Mackensen 10.jpg

    Steve
     
    dbf and BarbaraWT like this.
  5. jonheyworth

    jonheyworth Senior Member

    can't make out the names well, be curous to know how many have no known grave as well
     
  6. Oggie2620

    Oggie2620 Senior Member

    Its about RAF Bomber crews but for information you might like to read Oliver Clutton-Brocks book Footprints on the sands of time.
    Dee
     
  7. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    More commendable research Steve.
    I've looked up a few names but haven't time right now to complete. Unfortunately I could not identify the second name on the list.

    6347218 7th Bn., Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment [Private] 26 BALDWIN, [PHILIP ANDREW] 18 Feb 1945 DUNKIRK MEMORIAL CWGC - Casualty Details

    25849 ? ? ? ? ? 18 Feb 1945 ? ?

    16632 7616581 Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Armourer [Craftsman] 26 TORRANCE, [JOHN CAMPBELL] 19 Feb 1945 DUNKIRK MEMORIAL CWGC - Casualty Details

    19192 T/140471 5 Amb. Car Coy., Royal Army Service Corps Driver 26 JAGGER, [MARSDEN] 19 Feb 1945 DUNKIRK MEMORIAL CWGC - Casualty Details

    5150 3963752 "Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment) 8th Bn." Rifleman [Private] 26 CROCKER 21 Feb 1945 BERLIN 1939- 1945 WAR CEMETERY CWGC - Casualty Details

    19122 2752517 "Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) 1st Bn." L/Corporal 37 HUNTER, [FREDERICK THOMSON] 22 Feb 1945 BERLIN 1939-1945 WAR CEMETERY CWGC - Casualty Details

    25294 4801963 "Lincolnshire Regiment 4th Bn." - [Private] 26 POCKLINGTON, [KENNETH WILLIAM] 24 Feb 1945 BERLIN 1939-1945 WAR CEMETERY CWGC - Casualty Details

    26380 4803935 "Lincolnshire Regiment 4th Bn." - [Private] 26 MANN, [ARNOLD LOUIS] 1 Mar 1945 BERLIN 1939- 1945 WAR CEMETERY CWGC - Casualty Details

    14844 1865236 "Royal Engineers 26 Field Coy." Sapper 36 ALCOCK, [FRANK STANLEY] 2 Mar 1945 BERLIN 1939-1945 WAR CEMETERY CWGC - Casualty Details



    Closer to Tony's date of death

    FIGG, PERCY ERIC GEORGE
    Rank: Private
    Service No: 6094047
    Date of Death: 18/03/1945
    Age: 27
    Regiment/Service: The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey), 2/7th Bn.
    Grave Reference: 11. E. 18.
    Cemetery: BERLIN 1939-1945 WAR CEMETERY
    CWGC - Casualty Details



    WALKER, ERNEST
    Rank:Private
    Service No: 4688333
    Date of Death: 20/03/1945
    Age: 35
    Regiment/Service: Durham Light Infantry, 10th Bn.
    Panel Reference: Column 123.
    Memorial: DUNKIRK MEMORIAL
    CWGC - Casualty Details


    I noted that Berlin seems to be the favoured concentration cemetery for the men whose details I found
    CWGC - Cemetery Details
    Historical Information
    The site of Berlin 1939-45 War Cemetery was selected by the British Occupation Authorities and Commission officials jointly in 1945, soon after hostilities ceased.

    Graves were brought to the cemetery from the Berlin area and from eastern Germany*. The great majority of those buried here, approximately 80 per cent of the total, were airmen who were lost in the air raids over Berlin and the towns in eastern Germany. The remainder were men who died as prisoners of war, some of them in the forced march into Germany from camps in Poland, in front of the advancing Russians.

    The cemetery contains 3,595 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 397 of them unidentified.
     
  8. Steve Foster

    Steve Foster Senior Member

    View attachment Long March Nominal List.docx

    Thanks for trying to decipher the names and burial places on S/Sgt Aitken's list Diane. I went through the same exercise using the CWGC data base with some success. Where I couldn't read the name or burial place, I put in the date of death and by a process of elimination found the correct name.
    Out of the 29 people who died in what was to become the Russian Zone, 23 were obviously found by the searcher teams and moved to the Berlin cemetery. 6 still lie in their original graves and Antony Coulthard, the only person to die in the British sector west of the Elbe, still remains where he was buried.

    I have put all of my findings in a Word document attached. It aligns exactly with Aitken's list but I have filled in the names, ranks, Regiments/Corps and correct spelling of burial places. Of interest, the 23 who were moved to Berlin are all in consecutive plots, so I may visit the cemetery when Barbara and I meet in May to find Antony's grave.

    The seven who have not been found by the CWGC are:
    Pte P A Baldwin, QOR West Kents; Pte A Cheshire, Middlesex Regt; Craftsman J C Torrance, REME; Driver M Jagger, RASC; Pte G H Thomson, Green Howards; Pte E Walker DLI; and L/Cpl JAR Coulthard, Int Corps. I have printed their names in bold in the left column. They are all memorialised on the Dunkirk memorial.

    Baldwin, Cheshire, Torrance and Jagger were all buried in the very tiny village of Retzow in what was deep East Germany. I had to put google earth on full magnification for the name to come up and I could identify a church in the village so there will be a cemetery. I am pretty sure they will still be there but whether their graves will be marked I am not sure.
    Pte Thomson was buried in Wittenburg, which is a medium sized town. I am having trouble identifying the town in which Pte Walker was buried, the type is very hard to read on Aitken's list but it seems to be Walberhager or Walbenhager. I can't find any variants of that name on maps or google earth, can anybody read it??

    L/Cpl Coulthard died in Kaltenhof and Barbara and I are pretty sure he was buried in Langendorf cemetery, the next village south; that is where our travels will take us in May.

    I will send my typed out document and S/Sgt Aitken's original Document to the CWGC to let them know 7 of the boys are still out there. This may be the first time that they have known where they were buried, hopefuly they will take some action. If they do, all of the research wil have been worth it.
    The Aitken document is the first official document that Barbara and I have found with Antony Coulthard's name on it - quite a break through. I wonder if the CWGC knew of it's existance in 1946 and how much effort they put into finding graves when the wall came down in 1989?

    Regards

    Steve
     
  9. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    Hi Steve,
    I can't be sure even now, that those commemorated on a memorial have not got official graves, albeit listed as 'Unknowns', rather than 'not been found'.

    It would be worth checking to see if there are such graves in the rows around the ones known from the list to be in Berlin 39-45 War Cemetery. As you well know CWGC do not list those plots for the Unidentified burials, and it takes someone with the time to walk the rows and see if any of the headstones marked "Known Unto God" might have some extra information, by way of Unit, date or rank. It might just still be possible that Tony's remains were located but that they were not identified as his, and like those Private Figg et al, removed to Berlin and concentrated there as Unidentified. It might also be possible that one unidentified burial has Tony's rank / date of death / unit. While inconclusive I think it is worth investigating this possibility.

    I do wish you both luck with the trip and very much hope that this all leads to a very satisfactory conclusion at some point. I am sure both you and Barbara feel find it so very sad and frustrating that this information about Tony's experiences and last days has been collated but unfortunately nothing as yet about where he might now rest.

    Regards to you both,
    Diane
     
  10. Steve Foster

    Steve Foster Senior Member

    Thanks Diane, a helpful suggestion. As we will be passing Berlin between Kaltenhof and Stalag XXa will almost certainly visit the cemetery and look at the unidentified graves.

    Regards

    Steve
     
  11. BarbaraWT

    BarbaraWT Member

    Hi Steve,


    ..."It would be worth checking to see if there are such graves in the rows around the ones known from the list to be in Berlin 39-45 War Cemetery. As you well know CWGC do not list those plots for the Unidentified burials, and it takes someone with the time to walk the rows and see if any of the headstones marked "Known Unto God" might have some extra information, by way of Unit, date or rank. It might just still be possible that Tony's remains were located but that they were not identified as his, and like those Private Figg et al, removed to Berlin and concentrated there as Unidentified. It might also be possible that one unidentified burial has Tony's rank / date of death / unit. While inconclusive I think it is worth investigating this possibility."...

    Regards to you both,
    Diane

    That's a good idea, thanks very much. It looks like we should be walking round plots with 10 and 11 at the front. Interestingly, the CWGC say that Antony's burial location was recorded as Domitz (East German Zone). But the government notice of death sent to my grandparents says Kaltenhof was the burial place. If they did dig up the 6 graves in the Kaltenhof/Langendorf location (Western Zone) as related by the Pastor recently, Antony would be buried in Berlin.

    I don't suppose they would have taken any finger prints, dental or DNA records of unknown soldiers before reburying them? I am guessing it's no surprise that Antony had no identification left on him after that horrendous ordeal marching through the snow for weeks on end, suffering with dysentry, starvation and TB?

    Regards
    Barbara
     
  12. Steve Foster

    Steve Foster Senior Member

    Further to my post number 109 on 2 Feb, I have copied below the details of those who died from S/Sgt Aitken's affidavit. The first 23 are those who were presumably found by the Searcher Teams and subsequently exhumed from their graves in East Germany and moved to the CWGC Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery. Read in 5 columns as: Name Number Rank Regiment/Corps Plot number:

    Crocker WR 3963752 Pte Sherwood Foresters 10.L.6
    Hunter FT 2752517 L/Cpl Black Watch 11.B.7
    Pocklington 4801963 Pte Lincolns 10.H.1
    Mann AL 4803935 Pte Lincolns 11.B.8
    Alcock FS 1865236 Sapper REs 10.F.4
    Colgate HA 4276 Pte N Z I 11.C.14
    Mills W 3058420 Pte Seaforths 11.C.13
    Burrows CF 5112203 Pte Warwicks 11.C.2
    Webber E 4186794 Pte Cheshires 11.C.11
    Keith F 7607908 Cftsmn REME 11.C.9
    Lilley 7619209 Pte E Surreys 11.C.10
    Whittaker 3383089 Pte KORR Lancs 11.C.8
    Jennings S 6912477 Pte Rifle Brigade 11.C.7
    Alexander EH 6090106 Pte West Surreys 11.C.7
    Murray AD 2881507 Pte Gordon Highlanders 11.C.5
    Kitchen C 3321069 Pte Highland LI 11.C.4
    Donkin H 4541148 Pte West Yorks 11.C.1
    Bone E C 1452883 Bombdr RA 11.E.21
    Laidlaw T/87994 Driver RASC 11.E.20
    Day RR 5184270 Pte Gloucesters 11.C.3
    Drysdale A 3244009 Pte Seaforths 11.C.2
    Coombs DJ 6846467 Pte Middlesex 11.E.19
    Figg 6094047 4688333 Q West Surreys 11.E.18

    The following seven are all memorialised on the Dunkirk War memorial indicating that their graves were not found after the war. This is not necessarily the case as there are 397 unidentified graves in the Berlin Cemetery; they may have been found and transferred but could not be identified. I have written to the CWGC asking if the searcher teams ever found the graves of the following soldiers. Read in 6 columns as: Name, Number, Rank, Regt/Corps, Place of burial and Dunkirk Memorial Column no:

    Baldwin PA 6347218 Pte QOR West Kents Retzow 113
    Cheshire A 6207962 Pte Middlesex Retzow 117
    Torrance JC 7616581 Cftsmn REME Retzow 147
    Jagger M T/140471 Driver RASC Retzow 137
    Thomson G H 4392030 Pte Green Howards Wittenburg 50
    Walker E 4688333 Pte DLI Walbehagen 123
    Coulthard JAR 5386215 L/Cpl Int Corps Kaltenhof 155

    I hope this is of help to relatives who may be searching by name on the internet. All this information is due to the good works of S/Sgt Aitken, the Senior NCO of the column who kept a diary, fought continually for better conditions for his men and squared up to Hptm Mackensen on numerous occasions. In my view he displayed great bravery and leadership.

    Steve
     
  13. Steve Foster

    Steve Foster Senior Member

    I have been in touch with a Lady called Hania who conducts tours of the old forts that comprise Stalag XXA. She sent me a Google Earth map of the Fort 13 area as it is today, marked up with the key places such as Fort 13, Camp 13A the Stalag HQ building etc. I have compared that with a hand written sketch that dad drew after the war and it aligns exactly.

    He and Antony Coulthard hopped out of the back of the HQ building and then went along to the stable on the left where they had all of their civilian clothes, food and passes hidden. They then had to make their way past the German RSM's married quarters until they came to the next stables where they changed, jumped out of the top window and through a pre-cut hole in the wire. They then had to brass it out on the walk to the station at Thorn in between two Brit working parties, once of which was Antony's! Two maps attached.

    Escape route.jpg

    We look forward to retracing their route when we visit in May

    Steve
     
  14. BarbaraWT

    BarbaraWT Member

    That's amazing!
    Barbara
     
  15. Steve Foster

    Steve Foster Senior Member

    I have found some pages of a letter written by dad about the escape from Stalag XXA that he and Antony Coulthard undertook. The first page is missing and the last pages which cover their recapture on the swiss border. An RAF Squadron Leader who was about to be court martialled took their place on the intended day and made it all of the way back to Britain. Dad and Antony went a few days later. Quite a read, first 5 pages attached.

    Steve
    View attachment Escape 1.tif

    View attachment Escape 2.tif

    View attachment 71889

    View attachment Escape 4.tif

    View attachment Escape 5.tif
     
  16. Steve Foster

    Steve Foster Senior Member

  17. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    Wonderful, love the way the pieces are coming together - with your hard work of course.

    I have been in touch with a Lady called Hania who conducts tours of the old forts that comprise Stalag XXA. She sent me a Google Earth map of the Fort 13 area as it is today, marked up with the key places such as Fort 13, Camp 13A the Stalag HQ building etc. I have compared that with a hand written sketch that dad drew after the war and it aligns exactly.

    He and Antony Coulthard hopped out of the back of the HQ building and then went along to the stable on the left where they had all of their civilian clothes, food and passes hidden. They then had to make their way past the German RSM's married quarters until they came to the next stables where they changed, jumped out of the top window and through a pre-cut hole in the wire. They then had to brass it out on the walk to the station at Thorn in between two Brit working parties, once of which was Antony's! Two maps attached.

    View attachment 74309

    We look forward to retracing their route when we visit in May

    Steve
     
  18. Steve Foster

    Steve Foster Senior Member

    I have converted the scans of dad's letter to jpeg documents so they will attach as thumbnails. As pointed out previously the first page and the end pages covering their recapture at the Swiss border are missing.
    First 3 pages attached, rest to follow.
    Steve

    [ Escape 1.jpg

    Escape 3.jpg

    Escape 4.jpg ]
     
  19. Steve Foster

    Steve Foster Senior Member

    Next four pages

    Steve

    Escape 4.jpg

    Escape 5.jpg

    Escape 6.jpg

    Escape 7.jpg
     
  20. Steve Foster

    Steve Foster Senior Member

    Last four pages. Will try and find the missing pages from the letter.

    Steve


    Escape 8.jpg

    Escape 9.jpg

    Escape 10.jpg

    Escape 11.jpg
     

Share This Page