Whilst doing other reserach i came across info regarding 4457252 John Wilfred Cook, 9th Bn DLI, was captured in the Western Desert by the Germans in June 1942, handed over to the Italians who held him as a PoW in Camp 82, Laterina, nr Arezzo. He was then taken by the Germans again, after Italy capitulated, and put into Stalag 344, Lamsdorf. He then appears on record as 'Killed in Action" on 20th April 1945 and buried in Durnbach War Cemetery. On the Graves Concentration Report form he is shown as having been buried in a German Civilian Cemetery at Grasslfing and was later interred in Durnbach which is situated 28 kms South east of Munich near to Bad Tolz in September 1947. He is recorded as Died but this is crossed out and replaced by KIA / PW which i assume is Killed in action Prisoner of War , is this correct ? If it is it looks as if the KIA code was used for a variety of deaths other than of wounds and natural causes.
Hi Steiner, Here is some detail on John Wilfred Cook - there's a photo of him at TNA. WO 416/75/261 Description: Name: John [W] Cook. Date of Birth: 09/07/1919. Place of Birth: Haswell. Service: British Army. Rank: Private. Regiment/Unit/Squadron: [The Durham Light Infantry]. Service Number: 4457252. Date of Capture: 01 July 1942. Theatre of Capture: Africa. Camp Name/Number: Stalag VIIIB Lamsdorf. PoW number: 34693. Date of Death: [unspecified]. Number of Photographs: 1. Number of Fingerprints: 1. Number of X-rays: 0. Number of Cards: 1. Regards Bruneval
Hi Steiner, Just looked at the CWGC site for Durnbach and there are quite a lot of soldiers who have been listed as KIA/PW before and after John Cook. 'The great majority of those buried here are airmen shot down over Bavaria, Wurtemberg, Austria, Hessen and Thuringia, brought from their scattered graves by the Army Graves Service. The remainder are men who were killed while escaping from prisoner of war camps in the same areas, or who died towards the end of the War on forced marches from the camps to more remote areas.'
Yes i saw that but was wondering if the KIA/PW actually refers to Escapers who were shot and those who died on the Forced Marches were recorded as Died . I wonder If he ended up going from Lamsdorf in Silesia to Southern Bavaria on one of the Death Marches .
Theres a thread on here somewhere which deals with an incident on the 19th April 1945 when Typhoons mistakenly strafed a PoW Column these [dead] were all listed in the same fashion KIA/PW The March (1945) - Wikipedia Kyle