VERITABLE 1945: the Canadian finale (Moyland Wood & Goch-Calcar road)

I missed typing a date in my first message. His original death date was FEB 26th after being discovered (SEE GRAVES FORM). Then they changed the DEATH DATE to FEB 19th (SEE GRAVES FORM).
May I ask how is it possible to have a soldier listed as MIA, and then only discover his body a week later? He was obviously killed on the initial launch day (FEB 19) and likely trying to cross the open field from the church to the Gach Calcar road. Was the mud so bad that the body was not seen for a week? This part confuses me; having never served. I have yet to find any DETAILED STORY about RHLI COY B on that DAY, except for the company commander's Duncan Kennedy's farmhouse medal winning detalis near the end of FEB 19th.

Murray

 

Murman - I can only guess at this. His body may have been in a less conspicuous place, which is why it was only discovered later. Or it's also possible that he fell in no man's land and therefore his body couldn't be recovered. Note that the area east of the Goch-Calcar road remained in the front line until Op Blockbuster started on February 26th. This also applied to the area on the left flank, the area east of Moyland Wood and the Calcar Heights was still held by the enemy. In the latter case he may have made it across the main Goch-Calcar and even as far as the farmbuildings across the road from the old Dairy Factory ('Molkerei').

 

I've found the 4th Brigade's message traffic in their war diary for 19-21 February. Would either of you be interested in it? It certainly conveys the chaos of the battle, but it's possibly more information than one needs other than it being chaotic with multiple counter-attacks, particularly on 'B' Company's position.

I don't actually know who was tasked with looking for the dead - rear line troops or members of the battalion? For the first few days the focus must have been on fighting the battle.

 

Hi Murman,
Please don't see the gap in the records as a failing.
To back up Stopli and Chris: the man responsible for recording, missing, dead and wounded was usually the adjutant, a young captain around 20yrs old, who was responsible for tracking 800-odd men and reliant on reports from company commanders who were under fire, very busy and often casualties themselves. Then the casualty state of companies would have to be taken by hand - usually by someone sent forwards into fire to find a number for the war diary. The result of all this is that the records of how many men were missing and then returned (found to be dead, wounded, captured or deserted) are flaky and rarely mention individuals by name. Even the meticulously researched CWGC dates of death can be inaccurate by a few days because combat is so chaotic.
I find it a comfort to see data gaps as a reflection of that chaos, and therefore a mark of the debt we owe to the men who walked into it.
Sorry to get soppy there - back to making war graphs.