CWCG Suda, Crete

During a pleasant (if somewhat unexpected) visit to Crete a while ago, I managed to squeeze in a trip to the War Cemetery in Souda Bay.

I will very probably return to Souda later this summer. Aware that another member made a photo offer last year, I suppose the need is well covered, but I judged it worth the effort to pose the question about any more photo requests.

This is a large, well-kept cemetery in a beautiful location.

 

There are 1527 graves, over half (862) British , but also a large Nea Zealand section (446) as well as an Australian (197.)

Some examples:







View attachment 51085

View attachment 51086



An entire aircrew from NZ

View attachment 51088

Others were buried close to each other from reasons one can only guess.

 

This grave seems to be over a German soldier



Civilians are buried here, too



A common rank on a Navy vessel ?




Many graves contain unidentified bodies:




View attachment 51093

 

View attachment 51204

This grave seems to be over a German soldier



Name: TROJER, JOHANN
Initials: J
Nationality: German
Rank: Civilian
Regiment: German Civilian
Date of Death: between 03/09/1939 and 31/12/1947
Casualty Type: Foreign National
Grave/Memorial Reference: Plot 11 Row E Grave 18.
Cemetery: SUDA BAY WAR CEMETERY

 

Hi Stormbird,

There are quite a few Royal Artillery there that interest me, but one unit in particular. They have 13 headstones.

I can produce a list for you of the 13 men.

Regards - Rob

 

I took a photo of Major (Lt Col) Plimmer NZAMC Doctor grave some years ago while on holiday, I read about him going forward to surrender his Field hospital under the cover of a white & Red cross flag to the attacking germans and he was gunned down by them, I unfortunately have lost the photo.

 

Thanks for showing the photos Stormy. Very sad to see headstones together of an entire NZ aircrew, but nice to see someone has put NZ RSA poppies on their graves.
WG

 

Hi Stormbird,

There are quite a few Royal Artillery there that interest me, but one unit in particular. They have 13 headstones.

I can produce a list for you of the 13 men.

Regards - Rob

Go ahead, send me the list. I will be able to find them on a graveyard plan. Do you wish all RA headstones photographed ?

 

I took a photo of Major (Lt Col) Plimmer NZAMC Doctor grave some years ago while on holiday, I read about him going forward to surrender his Field hospital under the cover of a white & Red cross flag to the attacking germans and he was gunned down by them, I unfortunately have lost the photo.

I will be happy to obtain a new photo for you.

 

Thanks for showing the photos Stormy. Very sad to see headstones together of an entire NZ aircrew, but nice to see someone has put NZ RSA poppies on their graves.
WG

Actually, all the NZ headstones I could spot had NZ poppies on them.

 

Actually, all the NZ headstones I could spot had NZ poppies on them.

Probably due to this:

Flax Cross on Every NZ War Grave - Great War Forum

 

Stormbird

I have five of my chaps buried in Suda Bay. Would it be okay to drop you a PM with the details?
They are SAS/SBS casualties, I would also be interested in any Unknown SAS/SBS etc casualties if there are any.

Thanks for the offer as well

Regards

Andy

 

.........
There are quite a few Royal Artillery there that interest me, but one unit in particular. They have 13 headstones.
.....

Would any of the ones you are interested in possibly be among these I've already got ?

 

Hi Stormbird,

There are quite a few Royal Artillery there that interest me, but one unit in particular. They have 13 headstones.

I can produce a list for you of the 13 men.

Regards - Rob

Here you go:

Barnett

Edge

Graham

View attachment 54786 Gray

Heckels

View attachment 54788 Hucks

View attachment 54789 Hymers

Moran

Murray

View attachment 54792 Parker

View attachment 54793 Perrett

Robertson

View attachment 54795 Scotthorne

 

I took a photo of Major (Lt Col) Plimmer NZAMC Doctor grave some years ago while on holiday, I read about him going forward to surrender his Field hospital under the cover of a white & Red cross flag to the attacking germans and he was gunned down by them, I unfortunately have lost the photo.

This is for you, and now you won't need to worry about losing the photo again:

Plimmer

 

Stormbird

I have five of my chaps buried in Suda Bay. Would it be okay to drop you a PM with the details?
They are SAS/SBS casualties, I would also be interested in any Unknown SAS/SBS etc casualties if there are any.

Thanks for the offer as well

Regards

Andy

These are the five SAS/SBS on your list:

Clynes

Cornthwaite

View attachment 54799 Crosbie

View attachment 54800 Lamonbie

Morris (to the right)

I didn't find any Unknown SAS nor SBS. None were listed in the directory and none were found on the headstones either. (Yes I did check all 1527 of them, and made my slave re-check to ensure I hadn't missed any.)

There might of course be someone hidden under one of these:

Unknown Soldier

But if they were known to be SAS or SBS I would have expected to find the crest on the headstone, like this one from the Seaforth Highlanders:

View attachment 54808 Unknown Seaforth Highlanders

 

Stormy

Many thanks for the Excellent Northumberland Hussar headstone photos.

Cheers - Rob

 

Stormy
Thank you so much for those- another cemetery off the list - very much appreciated

Regards

Andy

 

Hi Stormbird,

There are quite a few Royal Artillery there that interest me.....

Since I never received any specified list on these, I collected photos of all 39 Royal Artillery headstones. Pretty sure I didn't miss any.

A soldier

A soldier

View attachment 54854 A soldier

Bennett

View attachment 54856 Berry

Chandler

View attachment 54858 Coleman

View attachment 54859 Cornish

View attachment 54860 Corrin

Cory

View attachment 54862 Costan

Frankland

View attachment 54864 Garner

View attachment 54865 Hamer

Horton

View attachment 54867 Hughes

View attachment 54868 Humphrey

View attachment 54869 Javill

Johnston

Knaggs (to the left)

View attachment 54872 Leaver

View attachment 54873 Leproy-Owen

View attachment 54874 Loader

Mackenzie

To be Continued

 

Great stuff Stormy - well done.