14350165 Pte George MARTIN, 2nd Bn. North Staffordshire Regiment: 7/4/1944

Brilliant guys!

Thanks again for the info

I notice from the list 805/60 missing statement further up, Hewitt's no is 3461018 ( Pte J.V. Hewitt) , on the POW list its 14565304 (Pte R.J. Hewitt)

Perhaps 2 different Hewitt's? Both seem to have survives the war?

 

Ah, good spot. Lazy on my side.

I’ll have to check my wounded/missing/Pow lists to see what happened to our Hewitt. He may have surfaced unscathed a few days later but from the report that sounds unlikely.

 

Hi Gary

have started a new thread for Private J. V. Hewitt

 

Hi Alan, I've just confirmed - 3461018 J.V. Hewitt was wounded and taken prisoner of war on 7th April.

 

Brilliant, Cheers Gary. Take it George Martin's body was taken by Germans, or perhaps never found?

JV Hewitt would have witnessed Martin's death and hence where info came from?

 

Hi Alan,

your probably not aware that its not wise to start a new thread?

It can confuse other forum members.. One of the Mods will probably merge the two. No probs. Just stay on this thread. Its going well.

Regards,
Stu.

 

Hi Alan,

His body could have been buried by the Germans and lost. It could also have been recovered by a GRU but remained unidentified.

Usually the tracing team wrote to PoWs after they were released from German captivity asking if they had any details on missing men - the North Staffs file has a number of these from May 1945 trying to track down the still missing from the disaster on the 7th/8th February.

However, in Martin's case there is no such communication with Hewitt in the file (who as you say may have had an answer) only this from March 1945 officially stating he was presumed killed in action. Hewitt was recorded as no longer being a PoW in June1945 so I doubt this information came from him.



Regards,
Gary.