Hello In the cemetery of Hottot les Bagues, south west of Caen and 36 KM SW of Drop Zone V, there are two English paratrooper graves of the 9 Bn died on 06.06.44 - Pvt COPP, BRIAN NOBLE 14421641 http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2338658/COPP,%20BRIAN%20NOBLE http://www.paradata.org.uk/people/brian-n-copp - Sgt HALL, RONALD REX 6030996 Both 9th Bn Parachute Regiment http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2338837/HALL,%20RONALD%20REX Do you know why the two paratroopers were buried 36 km from their drop zone? Regards benjamin
Ben, very interesting subjet : with the help of Brithm, here are some data: the 2 mentionned casualties were part of the following stick: Aircraft KG 322 Squadron: 512 Pilot: F/Lieut CLARKE CN: 352 allocation : 9th Para the stick members were: 14653778 Pte L W DURNEY, KIA 06/06/1944, Ranville WC IA C 17, initially buried @ Gonneville En Auge 163763 L/Cpl HORGAN Pte JUDGE 14409786 Pte A NICHOLLS,KIA, Ranville WC Coll. grave VA H 05-08 , initially buried @ Gonneville En Auge 163763 Captain ROBINSON 6216032 Pte WISE, KIA,06/06/1944, Bayeux Mémorial P.18 C.02 6012502 Pte P J SHARPLES, KIA 06/06/1944, Ranville WC VA F 07,initially buried @ Gonneville En auge 163763 Pte MEIR, 14421641 Pte COPP, KIA, 06/06/1944, Hottot Les Bagues WC III A 1 Pte LOVE Cpl DOWLING 14400600 Pte DUNK, KIA 07/06/1944, Ranville WC IA H 3, initially buried @ Le Mesnil 139728 60300996 Sgt HALL, 06/06/1944, Hottot Les Bagues WC III A 2 Pte ROBERTSON Pte HUMPHREY Pte BURNS Pte BELCHER Sgt HARPER knowing the initial places of burials of most casualties (Gonneville En auge, Le Mesnil), they very likely dropped on DZ V or near to it. I would assume Sgt HALL and Pte COPP died near Gonneville En Auge, and were later reburied at Hottot Les Bagues W.C. This would need to be confirmed by the CWGC (sorry I only studied Ranville War cemetery) I know of casulaties who were reburied in "unlogical" cemeteries compared with others nearby casualties Example Gunner John MACHIN, initially buried at Villers Sur Mer who was later reburied at Banneville La Campagne WC. The other 14 casualties initially buried at Villers Sur Mer were reburied at Ranville War Cemetery. I think when the CWGC members organised the different War Cemeteries, they tried to have nice patterns, complete rows of graves.... It may explain the strange locations of some graves buried far from their actions. If they is a specialist of the CWGC on line, we could have better explaination than mine. I hope this helps a bit. Ludo
Hi, I don't know if this is relevant but former member `Verrieres` told me about an audio recording at the IWM by a 6th DLI sergeant Joseph Weir who recalled on the 14th June 1944 during the battles for Lingevres and Verrieres whilst crawling through the cornfields he came across the bodies of two paratroopers killed on June 6th 1944 still unburied by a crossroads..coincidence? Kyle
Is it possible that these two were doing a recce for a possible further mass landing of paratroops in the Hottot area? Sure I read somewhere that a third DZ had been planned but wasn't followed through. Could have been keeping some Ruperts company? Pure speculation of course.
This map supposedly shows where Chalk Number 352 dropped its stick of paratroops East of Varaville. This does not necessarily mean they dropped there. Second map shows where they were dropped to where they were buried.
Photograph of Brian Copp from the Manchester Evening News 2nd August, 1944 who was still registered as missing.
