What happened to a soldier who died?
Almost a million British soldiers died in the Great War.
Some died alone, killed by a chance shell, grenade or bullet; many died
together as they attacked or defended against attack. Thousands of men
died of wounds they had suffered, at the medical facilities along the
casualty evacuation chain. Many died of illnesses or accidents. This is
all well-known and well documented: but what actually happened to them
after they died?
From the photographic archive of the Imperial War
Museum, with permission: The bodies of men killed in fighting near
Guillemont Farm lie with their grave markers awaiting burial, 3 October
1918. IWM negative E(AUS)4945. Note the stacked stretchers
Men who were killed in the fighting area
The varying nature of men’s deaths in the front line and
the specific conditions at the time of their death meant that their
ultimate fates differed widely. For example:
– some men would have been identifiable and probably buried close to the front line.
This would have included, for example, men killed by a sniper or shell
explosion whilst holding a trench or on a road close behind the lines;
men dug out of a collapsed mine, trench, sap or dug-out; and men dying
of wounds having begun their evacuation, but whilst still in their
Battalion or Brigade area. These men would be identified by comrades,
NCOs or officers.
– some men would have been less easily identifiable, but
probably buried in cemeteries or burial plots still quite close to the
firing line. This might typically have included those men who had
attacked and been killed or died of their wounds, but whose bodies could
not be brought in because the place they were lying was under fire.
Eventually when the fighting moved away, their bodies would be buried if
possible. In this category too would be men who died in a successful
advance, whose bodies would be cleared by units other than their own.
Identification would be through pay books, tags, and other physical
means by men who did not know the individuals.
– some men would be unidentifiable, if the damage to
them was such that they ceased to exist as a body or where any form of
identification had been lost. Fragments of men, once found, would be buried if possible.
– many men were simply not found, although post-war battlefield clearance (see below) reduced the total of missing.
Many thousands of small burial plots were created on or
very close behind the battlefields. They were often damaged by
shellfire, and in 1918 many were over-run first by the advancing enemy
and later by the Allies pushing eastwards again. Plots were destroyed as
the ground was shelled, and the locations of many graves that had been
registered and known about were made uncertain.
See our article on “reading” a cemetery, for the type and
layout of the cemetery and the wording on a man’s gravestone reveals
much about his death and burial.
Men who died on the casualty evacuation chain
See our article on how casualties were evacuated and treated
Cemeteries were created at most of the places where
the Casualty Clearing Stations and the less mobile Base Hospitals were
located. These cemeteries were rather more orderly in terms of layout,
tended to be rather larger due to the concentration of death, and some
had the benefit of attention to the grass and flowers around the graves.
In most cases, the man was identified and usually his burial was
attended by a Chaplain. Some of the these cemeteries suffered from
shellfire or other damage, particularly as those laid out in 1914-1917
were overrun by the enemy and then the counter-attacking Allies in 1918.
How the next of kin were informed
Once the man was confirmed dead, the next of kin were
informed of the terrible news. Officers next of kin were informed by
telegram:
From the service record of 2/Lt J. Hobbs, held at the National Archives. Crown Copyright.
Next of kin of men of the “other ranks” were informed by receipt of this Army Form B104-82:
With thanks to David O’Mara for this image and the one below
In the battlefield conditions of the Great War, it was not
always possible to be sure if he was dead. Men were often simply not
there are were officuially recorded as “missing”:
Official enquiries would be made via neutral channels to
see if the man was in enemy hands as a prisoner of war, or that the
enemy had definite knowledge that he was dead. After six months had
elapsed with no news from this enquiry, the next of kin would be
contacted to see if they had received any further information from
friends or comrades. If not, the man’s death would be presumed to have
taken place on the last day he was known to be alive.
The Graves Registration Committee
In the earliest days of the war there was no organisation
responsible for the marking, recording and registration of soldiers
graves other than the man’s own unit. In October 1914, a Mobile
Ambulance Unit provided by the British Red Cross and headed by Fabian
Ware (it had previously been operating as a medical unit with the French
Army) began to undertake these duties on a voluntary basis. Soon
enough, the unit found that the need for graves registration so large,
and the growth of army medical units so rapid, that is was able to
concentrate solely on this task. Prior to 11 November 1918, graves
registration was the responsibility of the army in the field. The
following information is extracted from the Adjutant Generals
Instructions to the BEF:
The establishment of permanent graves was afforded by
the French Government by law on 29th December 1915. France provided land
that would be maintained in perpetuity for British war dead. The
Director of Graves Registration and Enquires (DRG&E), as
representative of the Adjutant General, had sole and global
responsibility to work with the French Government for the establishment
of these cemeteries. The office of the Director of Graves Registration
and Enquires was located in Winchester House, St James, London. Below
this office each Field Army had a Deputy Assistant DRG&E. Grave
registration in the field fell squarely on the shoulders of the unit
Chaplains. They were responsible for filling out the proper form (AF
W3314) that included the information about the grave, and forwarding to
both the DADGR&E and the DAGGHQ 3rd Echelon. Information submitted
included map references using the 1/40000 or 1/20000 trench maps,
or detail descriptions of localities on the back of the form, in
addition to the usually expected basics such as the man’s name, unit
etc. He was also responsible for the marking of the graves. However,
many dead were interred into already authorised cemeteries. In this case
special instructions were issued as each authorized cemetery was
usually under the care of a Graves Registration Unit. The actual
interment of graves was up to the unit. The term “unit” could mean many
things; internment by the unit of the actual casualty, internment by
Casualty Clearing Stations, Field Ambulances, General Hospitals, Graves
Registration Units etc. Grave registration units were non-permanent
units, that is some lucky unit was detailed to perform that task and it
could be any one. Basically graves registration was the responsibility
of the unit responsible for the casualty or the unit finding the
casualty.
From the photographic archive of the Imperial War
Museum, with permission: WAACs tending the graves of fallen British
soldiers in a cemetery at Abbeville, 9 February 1918. Photograph by
Second Lieutenant D McLellan. IWM negative Q8467.
How next of kin were informed of place of burial
The work of the Graves Registration Units allowed a system
to be set up whereby the next of kin could be informed of the place of
burial of the soldier.
Army Form B104-121, kindly provided by David O’Mara.
Post-war clearance of the battlefields
After the war, certain parts of the battlefields were taped
out into grids and searched at least six times. This activity went on
well into the 1920’s, on a large scale. The search parties (Exhumation
Companies) did not dig over all of the land marked out by the grid.
Instead, they looked for clues that indicated that a body or bodies
could be buried there. For example: rifles or stakes protruding from the
ground bearing helmets or equipment; partial remains and equipment that
had come to the surface; small bones and pieces of equipment brought to
surface near to rat-holes; discolouration of grass, soil or water.
(Grass was a more vivid colour were bodies were buried and water turned a
greenish-black). Once a grid had been searched and possible bodies
marked then the gruesome task of exhumation began. Remains once
discovered were put onto cresol soaked canvas for a careful
identification. If any uniform remained, pockets were searched and
badges and buttons identified. If a Scottish soldier was found, the
tartan was recorded. Next they looked for identification discs and
personal effects: watches sometimes had useful had inscriptions, for
example. Sometimes knives, forks and spoons that had been placed down
the puttees carried the man’s name, initials or number. Webbing was
checked because that also often had soldiers names and numbers
stencilled on. If the remains were deemed to be an officer (Bedford cord
breeches and privately bought army boots being a good indication) and
the skull or jawbone was intact then a dental record of the teeth,
fillings, false ones etc was also made in an effort to confirm the
identification of the man. The remains would then be taken to one of the
cemeteries that was open for burial. Thus many of the small wartime
burial plots were expanded with the post-war additions; indeed many
bodies were exhumed from small cemeteries and concentrated into larger
ones. Those remains that could not be identified were buried as an
unknown soldier.
With thanks to Terry Carter for the information in this section.
Human remains are still being found on the battlefields to this day.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The war time Graves Registration Units eventually developed
into the Imperial War Graves Commission and henmce to today’s
Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Funded in proportion of their dead
by Great Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, India and other
states, it carries out the care and maintenance of the cemeteries and
memorials of not only WW1 but all subsequent conflicts. Most visitors to
the battlefields never cease to be impressed by the standard to which
they are kept, and long may it remain this way.
Immaculate, as they always are thanks to CWGC, this is
Guillemont Road Cemetery, not far from the village of that name on the
Somme battlefield. Author’s collection.
The War Graves Photographic Project is collecting photographs of every headstone.
The missing who have no known grave
Those soldiers who were missing and presumed dead are
listed on the major memorials in the theatres of war; in this way every
man is commemorated even if no trace was ever found of his physical
remains.
But not all men were recorded, for a relatively small
proportion were simply missed by the administrative processes of the
time. An excellent project is underway to determine who they were and to
carry out the necessary processes of proof in order to have their names
commemorated at last: the “In From the Cold” Project.
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