Missing Intelligence Corps men

Anyone have some info about them:

• Benson F. Private 13053511. Intelligence Corps 29-10-1944
• Meyer P.J.J. Private 13053592. Intelligence Corps 10-3-1945
• Warndorfer A.J. Serjeant 13041720. Intelligence Corps 12-1-1945
• Weisz P. Serjeant 13053350. Intelligence Corps 1-4-1945

 

London Gazette 18th April 1946
War Office, 18th April, 1946

The KING has been graciously pleased to approve
the publication of the names of the undermentioned
as having posthumously been granted King's Commendations
for brave conduct —
No 13053511 Sergeant (local) Frederick BENSON,
Intelligence Corps
No 13053592 Sergeant (local) Peter John MORTON.
Intelligence Corps
No 13041720 Corporal August Jacques
WARNDORFER, Intelligence Corps
No 13053350 Sergeant (local) Peter WEISZ, Intelligence
Corps


August Jacques Warndorfer SOE parent unit Intelligence Corps
born Austria resided Inverness German Jewish refugee

Frederick Benson real name Fritz Becker SOE parent unit Intelligence Corps

Peter Weisz (Weiss) SOE parent unit Intelligence Corps
born Austria resided Liverpool son of Paul and Regina Weiss,Kilburn,Middlesex
German Jewish refugee

Peter John Morton real name Meyer parent unit Intelligence Corps (not on SF Roll)


Source
Special Forces - Roll Of Honour



Verrieres

 

Thanks so it seems that the 3 above were all SOE any info where they got killed?

 

All of them, plus Sgt Norman Willert (real name Norbert Wegner) were either German or Austrian refugees who came to the UK just before WW2. They joined the Pioneer Corps but at different dates transferred to the Intelligence Corps and volunteered for 'special duties'.

(Non-British members of HM Forces were allowed to change their names if they volunteered for service overseas; this was to protect their original identification and nationality, and also prevent any relatives being identified, in case of capture).

Four of the five are believed to have undertaken missions in Germany or Austria. The fifth (Cpl Warndorfer) was to jump into Austria for a mission there but was dropped by error in Slovakia where he was later and then executed at Mauthausen Concentration Camp (in Austria) following torture. The fates of the other four is unclear but they all perished, either during their operations or during imprisonment after capture. They were not serving with SOE.

The Int Corps is, of course, enormously proud of all five who made the ultimate sacrifice. They are commemorated on Panel 10 of the CWGC Groesbeek Memorial, in The Netherlands (albeit there are some errors with names and ranks) and also on the Intelligence Corps’ Memorial Wall at Chicksands, which was dedicated in September 2021.

 

Willert/Wegner also features on the following School RoH:
Roll of Honour - Glamorgan - Cyfarthfa Castle School
with the additional interesting, if unattributed, detail:

“He was killed at Arnhem on 1st September 1944 whilst serving with Special Operations Executive (SOE) who had parachuted into Arnhem before the 1st Airborne Division had landed on 17 September. His name was Norbert Wenger, who fled Austria in 1936 because of persecution of Jews and had his name changed to Norman Willert to hide his identity if captured. His name is on the Groesbech Memorial near Arnhem.”

which one of our subject matter experts may be able to add to. Linking to the school site, perhaps he is amongst the boys of 1938.

A copy of a postcard sent by him from (an internment camp?) in Canada in 1940, together with a very possible photo in uniform (capbadge not visible) is at:
Postcard sent from Norbert Wegner to Rita Phelps of Merthyr on 2 August 1940 | Casgliad y Werin Cymr
It would seem he was later assessed as a ‘Category 12’ on 3 April 1941 and released in the UK, having sailed on the S.S. George, which evidently departed Canada on 5 March 1941.

In addition, there is also a 2013 article on page 7 at:
https://ajr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/2011-July.pdf
which may be of interest as it includes a 1940 photo of Fritz Becker at a Kindertransport hostel.

It is also noted that the Service Numbers listed above all commence 130...... In his thesis at:
http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/12964/1/403319.pdf
the author reflects on p205 how the (signature) issue of a block of Numbers all commencing 131 (after previous use of 1380) for such Jewish/alien servicemen might be exploited by the Germans and on p206 notes how those volunteering for SOE work created ‘meticulous’ new identities. A section on Cover was included in the SOE Syllabus.

 

Picking up on the extract from Norman Willert's school's Roll of Honour that he "was killed at Arnhem.....whilst serving with SOE etc." I have communicated with the author and I believe the mention of 'Arnhem' was speculation based on the fact that he (and four others from the Intelligence Corps) are commemorated at Groesbeek in the Netherlands.
Norbert came to the UK in December 1938 and was placed in the Dovercourt Holiday Camp near Harwich on 5 January 1939 so I don't think he was among the boys of 1938. I'm not sure when he started school at Cyfarthfa Castle Grammar School but it must have been sometime after Jan 1939. He was arrested as an “undesirable alien” in July 1940, aged 17 years, while playing football on the Pandy Field inside Cyfarthfa Park. Following a tribunal, he was shipped, with others, to ‘Camp Q’ at Montieth, 700 km north of Ontario, Canada - that's where he was when he wrote the postcard referred to.
Having seen parts of his (incomplete) Intelligence Corps service file, Sgt Willert was not serving with SOE when he died. On 1 September 1944 he was dropped into Austria. In June 1945 the Intelligence Corps Depot was informed by the Records Office that Sergeant Willert had been posted ‘Missing in Western Europe’ and on 5 December 1945 he was declared ‘Presumed Killed in Action’ between 1 Sep and 2 Sep 1944. I speculate that he died as a result of his parachute jump or was killed by a third party after landing.

 

Well done you. Intrigued by ‘third party’, mindful of Alfgar Hesketh Prichard.

 

From the little I know of his mission, it was unlikely that the ‘third party’ would have been a partisan with ambivalent views of western allied assistance etc; if not killed by his jump, it is probable that he was killed by hostile civilian(s) or security forces, or perhaps detailed by the former and handed over to the latter. I am trying to check relevant records in Austria.