Graves Registration/Concentration Unit reports

or more than 20 years, I'm searching to find information on the 8 WW2 graves buried in the Arras Faubourg d'Amiens Cemetery in Arras.
I was thinking the unknown graves was the graves of an american airman believed to be buried in the cemetery. I have compiled many of the archives on these graves and succeed to find information and photo on most of the 8 men buried here.

Today, I would like to know how to locate a report of june/july 1946 (of 37 Graves Registration Unit or of Captain S.A. MILLER of the 83 graves Concentration Unit) regarding these 8 graves and how this plot was constitued at this time. Perhaps this report can help to understand when this plot was created, what graves were added or exhumed. This document can help to give answers about this unknown grave.

Hope your help in this case to remember their sacrifice

Laurent WIART

 

hello Laurent

have you contacted the below to see if they can point you in the right direction
American Battle Monuments Commission

regards
Clive

 

hello Laurent

have you contacted the below to see if they can point you in the right direction
American Battle Monuments Commission

regards
Clive
I have the IPDF of the American airman but need the Graves Unit report to confirm my research

 

Hi Laurent,

I can give you a steer in the right direction but you will need to work on what I give you to find the right GRU and GCU.

I recently have spent some time researching the final resting place of L/Cpl Coulthard who died and was buried in Lower Saxony, Germany during the Long March from Poland. I started with the war diaries of the GRU and GCUs operating in Germany.

For instance, it is a complete coincidence but the diary I was interested in for that part of Germany was 82 GCU. In the National Archives catalogue this is file number WO 171/10999 which happens to be the last (and highest number unit) for North West Europe. Number 83 GCU can't be far away in the catalogue, but they changed the system of searching on line recently and I couldn't find the two unit war diaries you are looking for. Once you find your way round it, it won't be far away from WO 171/10999.

Once you find the diaries for 37 GRU and 83 GCU in the catalogue, you will then, I think, have to go the NAs and read the diaries for the date you want. The diaries are all entered on Army Forms C 2118 and depending on the mood/writing ability/or time available of the Officer Commanding, they vary from detailed to bland. Examples of two are attached below.

The honest answer for my research is that the diaries did not give me the detail I needed and someone advised me that the forms I needed were the Graves Concentration Report Forms. These were filled in by each Officer i/c of the Concentration Units and detailed by individual remains, the name of the CWGC cemetery the bodies were moved to and from which civilian cemetery. Each line represents the details of one body and gives Regiment, Army Number, Name, Rank and date of Death and where moved from/to.

I spent hours looking for these at the National Archives only to find they are all held by the Commonwealth War Graves Commision and are treated as sensitive information for obvious reasons. They will never be allowed in the public domain.

I then contacted the CWGC Historian and asked if he had details of concentrations from Quickborn cemetery and he replied yes. After much persuasion, he said he would send me the form I wanted with the rest of the entries blocked out. A copy of the original form I was sent is the third attachment below. From that form I managed to identify one of the two graves I was looking for and he would only let me see it as both the bodies were "Unknowns". From that form I managed to unravel my particular piece of research.

To summarise:
a. Find the two unit diaries at Kew and read them from end to end, you may be lucky.
b. Try ringing the CWGC historian with as much detail as you have and he may send you a copy of the Concentration Report Form for the cemetery in Arras.

The CWGC historian is Mr Tim Brown and his details are:
CWGC, 2 Marlow Rd, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 7DX. Tel: 01628634221

He is a very helpful chap but is bound by the rules of confidentiality.

I hope that helps, if you need any more help send me a PM and we can go from there.

Steve

 

Thanks for your help.

Will try to contact CWGC and obtain information.

 

Did anyone could help me locating 83 GCU unit archives and 37 GRU ? did not find them in National Archives catalog

Laurent

 

Laurent:


Reference: WO 171/11005


Description: 37 Graves Registration Unit


Date:1946 Jan.- June


I can't find 83 Graves Concentration Unit though - are you sure of the number?

Brian

 

What was the outcome of this, did Laurent ever find information/reports relating to 83 Graves Concentration Unit at the national archives or CWGC?

The reason I am asking is I am trying to locate information/reports from 84 Graves Concentration Unit and the online catalogue for National Archives only seems to go up to 82!

Is anyone able to provide a NA reference number for 84?

Thanks Adam

 

Adam,

Alas Laurent lasted posted on this thread in May 2013, he was last logged in in September 2019. You could try using a PM to him, assuming he is still using the email he registered with.

 

I have emailed Laurent but got no response.
I also emailed the National Archives and got the following response:

Dear Mr Petipher,


Thank you for contacting The National Archives of the United Kingdom.



I have conducted a search of our collections and you will see here under our records of war diaries specifically for Northwest Europe in WO 171, that we hold a range of diaries for grave concentration and grave registration units (particularly for 1946), though don’t appear to hold one specifically for the 84th. It may be that the diary was not transferred to the Ministry of Defence, and so not sent to The National Archives.


As the unit would eventually have come under the British Army of the Rhine, it is also possible that its work is mentioned in the quarterly historical reports found in WO 267.


It may also be worth contacting the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Archive to see if they hold any records in their collection as, I believe, that the work of these units may have come under its jurisdiction.


The limitations on our resources mean we are unable to offer free research but I hope the above advice allows you to carry out this research yourself.


Yours sincerely,


Dr Will Butler



Dr William Butler | Head, Military Records
W: nationalarchives.gov.uk
The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU



Reference number:

TNA1642178930U74
Records and research enquiry
Summary of enquiry

• Full name: Adam Petipher
• Email: adampetipher@hotmail.com
• Country: Uk
• Enquiry: Hello I am trying to find out if you hold information on the 84th graves concentration unit. These units were active after world war 2 and their job was to exhume and identify soldiers who died in the field before they were transported to military cemeteries.