P.o.w lawrence lane

Discussion in 'Prisoners of War' started by sarahbell, Nov 17, 2017.

  1. sarahbell

    sarahbell Member

    Pls help looking for information on my grandad lawrence lane he married hilda murphy in april 1942 in Middlesbrough then left for war she was informed he was missing presumed dead i think he returned home 1945 pls any info
     
  2. Guy Hudson

    Guy Hudson Looker-upper

  3. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    Well found Guy - just to confirm

    UK, British Prisoners of War, 1939-1945
    Name: L Lane
    Rank: Private
    Army Number: 4469726
    Regiment: Durham Light Infantry
    POW Number: 81259
    Camp Type: Stalag
    Camp Number: 344
    Camp Location: Lambinowice, Poland
    Record Office: Infantry and Army Educational Corps Record Office, York
    Record Office Number: 20

    You apply for his service records from the MOD here if you need - Request records of deceased service personnel - GOV.UK

    TD
     
  4. KevinBattle

    KevinBattle Senior Member

    and Wiki has..
    First battle of Sedjenane, February–March 1943
    The town became of strategic importance during the Allied invasion of North Africa in World War II. Following the initial landings of Operation Torch, the Allied run for Tunis was halted by German paratroops (operating in the ground role) in the hills east of the town in November 1942. British troops of the 8th Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, part of 36th Brigade of British 78th Division, were ambushed as they advanced on the road through the hills on November 29, 1942 and their wrecked Universal Carriers in No man's land became a grim symbol of the ensuing stalemate to Allied troops over the following several months of the Tunisia Campaign. These dominant hills, known to the Allies, as "Green Hill", "Baldy" and "Sugarloaf" were a barrier to further Allied advances in the north through to February 1943. Alan Moorehead a war correspondednt wrote in African Trilogy (1944), "Sejenane was a wayside railway town in the wet cork forests on the way to Mateur. Whoever held Mateur held Bizerta, and whoever held Green and Bald Hills outside Sedjenane held Mateur."

    On February 26, 1943, the Germans broke the stalemate with Operation Ochsenkopf (Ox Head) offensive, a complementary blow to the Kasserine Pass offensive earlier that month. In a subsidiary operation Unternehmen Ausladung, the Axis attempted to outflank the British troops in Sedjenane and on the high ground opposite "Green Hill", with an attack on the hilly coastal strip to the north between the town and Cap Serrat, which was only lightly held by poorly-equipped French troops of the Corps Franc d'Afrique.

    The German advance, led by Colonel Rudolf Witzig's Parachute Engineer Battalion, was held by a series of counter-attacks by the 16th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, of 139th Brigade of British 46th Division, and two troops of No. 1 Commando on February 27, 1943, supported by the 70th Field and 5th Medium Regiments, Royal Artillery. 16 DLI mounted a further, disastrous counter-attack at dawn on March 2, 1943 in which it suffered severe casualties. That afternoon, the Germans also successfully advanced from the east towards Sedjenane and broke through the ranks of the 5th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters, also of 139th Brigade. According to Associated Press war correspondent Don Whitehead, an Italian infantry battalion (from the 10th Bersaglieri Regiment) supported by 30 tanks counterattacked in the British sector on 3 March, but lost half its strength killed to machine-gun fire.

    The 6th Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment, of 138th Brigade of 46th Division, several Churchill tanks of the North Irish Horse, of 25th Army Tank Brigade, plus elements of No. 1 Commando and 16 DLI were involved in the defence of the town, which finally fell to the Germans and Italians on March 4.

    It's likely that was when Grand dad was captured, and reported in the week ending 10 March....
    You'll find his name here (from the link to 16 DLI above) on this page under his PoW number http://stalag4d.atspace.co.uk/page243.html
     
  5. amberdog45

    amberdog45 Senior Member

    vitellino and Tricky Dicky like this.
  6. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    So we should have the service records that could be uploaded - ?? that would tell us a lot.

    TD
     
  7. vitellino

    vitellino Senior Member

    Hello SarahBell,

    4469726 Lawrence Lane DLI was held in Italy in Campo PG 82 at Laterina in Tuscany before being sent to Lamsdorf. I have checked and he wasn't in the first batch, sent in July 1943, so would have been sent after the Italian Armistice of 8 September of that same year:

    Lawrence Lane DLI PG 82.jpg
    You can find out a lot about this camp on my website powcamp82laterina.weebly.com.

    Regards,

    Vitellino
     
  8. amberdog45

    amberdog45 Senior Member

    If service number 4469726 is correct, looking at other service numbers close to it using Ron G's technique, there was a guy that died, number 4469715 and he's commemorated under the Leicestershire Regiment at CWGC. Need to get that service record to ensure you research the right guy.

    Casualty
     
    Last edited: Nov 17, 2017
    CL1 likes this.
  9. vitellino

    vitellino Senior Member

    Here is L. Lane 4469726 in 344 Lamsdorf (WO 392/1 Prisoners of War held in German Occupied Territories 1944):

    upload_2017-11-17_21-27-16.png

    But, as has been said several times, his records are needed so that Sarahbell can be sure that this person is her grandfather,

    Vitellino
     
  10. sarahbell

    sarahbell Member

    Thank you all so much I have got a lot to work with there will keep you all posted x
     
  11. amberdog45

    amberdog45 Senior Member

    Hiya Sarah, truthfully without his official service record you've got nothing to work on.

    None of the above guarantees we have the right guy and you need only look at the Common Wealth Grave site to see how many guys had the same name.

    Honestly, your wasting your time and possibly money pursuing anything else. We've seen it go wrong here many times, pursuing the wrong man. Learn from our mistakes. Cheers - Maria
     
  12. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    Sarah

    In Feb 2017 you said
    "Thank you I'm gonna send for his records.............................."

    Did this ever happen?? - if so, can you upload a scan of them so we can help answer your questions - if not then as suggested it really is the only place to start your research. You will need a copy of his death certificate to go with the forms.


    TD
     
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  13. KevinBattle

    KevinBattle Senior Member

    Without his Service Record and no reference to your previous enquiry, you had far more info that you could have included in your opening post.
    Have you applied since February for his records?
    Once you have them, we can help unravel what they mean and provide much more info, otherwise we're just chasing will o' the wisps on scraps.
     
  14. Guy Hudson

    Guy Hudson Looker-upper

    I have just received confirmation from Durham County Record Office that the soldier is Lawrence Lane, Sarah's grandfather :

    4469726 LANE Lawrence Pte.
    16th Battalion Durham Light Infantry, listed as missing 10th March 1943.
    Campo PG 82 Laterina
    Pow 81259 Stalag 344 Lamsdorf.
     
    Last edited: Nov 20, 2017
  15. amberdog45

    amberdog45 Senior Member

    Well done Guy. Does that mean he was enlisted directly into the DLI or possibly transferred to them later at some point like my father, given Lawrence's service number? Wish I knew more about the block number allocations for each regiment.
     
  16. Guy Hudson

    Guy Hudson Looker-upper

    Lawrence's service number is a Durham Light Infantry number. His record was in the DLI enlistment book D/DLI 15/1/36 covering 1941 to 1942
     
    amberdog45 likes this.
  17. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    amberdog45 and Owen like this.
  18. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    From 16 DLI's war diary. March 1943.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  19. harkness

    harkness Well-Known Member

  20. sarahbell

    sarahbell Member

    Guy canth say enough thank yous xx
     

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