5251643 lancelot,henry rose. 5th battalion

[mack]

lancelot isnt listed as a POW in the 39/45 lists

hes died on 8th may 1941 and originally buried at suhofen and later reburied in poznan garrison cemetery,i cant find a place called suhofen,the map ref for his burial was 052/B01 which is the same map reference for the town of leszno,he must have been a POW,how else could he have ended up here,anyone have any ideas
is it safe to say he was a POW

mack

[charlie]

Mack
I think it is quite safe to record he was a PoW. I can‘t find Suhofen either, the trouble with place names in that area is that they changed their names a few times depending whether they were in Germany or Poland. I have a contact in Gostyn which isn‘t that far away from Lissa, if it is of interest I will ask if he can throw any light on Suhofen.

Charlie

[mack]

thanks charlie
hopefully your pal could help,it may narrow down the camp if he can find out where this place was

mack

[charlie]

Hi Mack
No luck so far. I haven‘t heard yet from my contact but I also asked the question on a German forum and despite all sorts of lists and maps being provided, no one as yet has been able to find Suhofen. There was a PoW camp (Oflag XXI) in or near Grune which is a mile or two NNE of Lissa. The attached map is corrected to 1942 with the German names added to the Polish ones.

I think it would be an idea to find the map to which the map references relate and seek conformation from the CWGC that Suhofen isn‘t a typo or transcription error.

I also received a link to an archeological group in nearby Poznan who have an interest in war graves, I‘ll contact them if all else fails.

Charlie

[charlie]

Mack I have corrected my last post. As a point of interest the Unknowns on the same concentration report were exhumed from Lingenwald which is another place that can‘t be found on a map - strange.

Charlie

[mack]

Mack I have corrected my last post. As a point of interest the Unknowns on the same concentration report were exhumed from Lingenwald which is another place that can‘t be found on a map - strange.

Charlie

the mystery deepens mate

mack

[charlie]

Mack,
Nothing in the Polish archives either. Are you sure the map reference relates to Lissa/Leszno? There was another Lissa - deutsche Lissa - which is now part of Breslau (Wroclaw). All that was near Breslau is a satellite camp of the concentration camp Gross Rosen. Even so there is no Suhofen to be found.

Charlie

[mack]

hiya charlie
pte 4975470 j.w frost died at lissa,the map ref was 052/B01 the same map ref as suhofen

mack

[charlie]

Hi Mack
Yes, I‘d seen Pte Frost. What I am trying to get at is are we looking at the right Lissa by looking at Leszno?

Charlie

[Bob.NB]

Guys,
Just a thought - if "Suhofen" is a typo could it actually be "Neuhofen" it sounds vaguely similar?
Under WW2Talk:

http://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/hi-looking-for-info-on-my-great-uncle-henry-francis-hudson-1st-bn-rwk-pow-malbork.74102/

there is a stream on Pte Henry Francis Hudson RWK Regiment who was taken PoW in 1940 and was then reported as being at Stalag XXB at Marienberg, Poland. In the stream of responses there is an account of him as having been shot for not obeying orders from a German soldier including the following: "He was the leader of a small work camp (kommando 58 [formerly 159]) on a farm in Neuhofen near Marienwerder. There were 10 of them living in the cellar of the farm. The results from the archives has a main witness statement and several affidavits from other british soldiers who were all in bed at the time."
I understand that there were soldiers from the Manchester Regiment in this camp at the time having been captured during the retreat to Dunkirk.
Could this be where Rose was held?
Just a thought.
Bob B

[charlie]

Thanks Bob
Neuhöfen is now Nowe Dwór near Kwidzyn and is about 100 miles north of Leszno. Its a bit far away to have the same grid reference but the possibility can‘t be ruled out. I tend to agree that there is a typo somewhere either in the name or the map reference.
Charlie

[charlie]

I‘ve sent an email to the CWGC enquiring whether they have any further information as to where Suhofen is/was. I also asked for the map series used and conformation that Lissa/Leszno is the right Lissa.

Charlie

[charlie]

Mack
I got a reply from the CWGC today, Pte Rose was originally buried in the Seehofen Evangelical Cemetery.  Seehofen is now called Niepruszewo and is about 22 Kms west of Posen. The village was only called Seehofen between 1939 & 1945. I‘m guessing he was in a working party there.

Charlie

[mack]

thats fantastic charlie,thanks for going to all that trouble

mack

[charlie]

No trouble at all