Came across this while looking for something else today. Wonder what the circumstances of death were? Name: SHREEVE, LEOPOLD GEORGE Initials: L G Nationality: United Kingdom Rank: Civilian Regiment/Service: Civilian War Dead Age: 56 Date of Death: 19/05/1940 Additional information: of Vendresse, Aisne. Husband of Anne Eliza Shreeve. in car between Soupir and Vailly-sur-Aisne. Buried in Vailly-sur-Aisne Communal Cemetery, France. I.W.G.C. Gardener, Caretaker. Casualty Type: Civilian War Dead Reporting Authority: FRANCE
He served in the Great War with the Royal Fusiliers and Labour Corps. Wonder if he was one of the LC men to stay behind and clear the battlefields?
Would he have needed to be killed by enemy action as CWGC staff in France to be noted or would a motor accident have sufficed ? My Dad's Uncle Walter was 35th Battalion Royal Fusiliers, a labour Battalion which was converted to Labour Corps towards the end of WW1. His numbers both by R.Fus and Labour Corps are not that far away.
Yes, could have just been an accident, but one wonders given what was happening at the time, or is it a few days too early? Car straffed by a plane?
I would hazzard a guess that the man would have been a casualty from the blitzkreig which was initiated on 10 May 1940.The British and French were unable to control the skies and the death is typical of those in motorised transport who were easy pickings from Luftwaffe strafing operations,something that German forces were at the receiving end from the RAF and USAAF from June 1944. It seems to fit in with Luftwaffe attacks on the RAF AASF airfields in the area at this time.
Would he have needed to be killed by enemy action as CWGC staff in France to be noted or would a motor accident have sufficed ? He would need to have died by enemy action to be a Civilian War Dead commemoration.
Can't find him (or others for that date) by my search engine, but he's in my database (another bug :mellow
Did the Germans in the main respect the military cemeteries in occupied Europe or were there incidence of vandalism?
