Pte Henry Bowen at the Battle of Aubers Ridge

[AlanCurragh]

Hopefully someone can help with something that's puzzling me. I'm researching Private Henry Bowen, of the 21st London Regiment (1st Surrey Rifles) who died on 9th May 1915 in the area around Aubers Ridge, along with 6 of his regiment comrades. His name is recorded on the memorial at Le Touret.

I've got hold of a copy of the War Record of the regiment, which states -

The Battalion, although not actually taking part in the attack of May 9th, was ordered to hold the trenches on the right of the positions selected for the offensive, and to be ready to co-operate in any way considered necessary. Battalion Head-quarters was therefore moved forward to "Indian Village", where it was in close touch with the two companies in the line, and also within easy reach of the support and reserve companies. At 6am on Sunday morning the attack was launched, and heavy fire opened on our front; throughout that day and the next, heavy fighting was in progress on our left, our own works were badly damaged by shell-fire and we suffered many casualties.

However, his Service Record mentions his place of death as being Annequin, which is a village a good three or four miles south of Indian Village. As his body was not recovered, can anyone suggest what this might imply? I would have thought the War Record suggests a shell blast, which would presumably have been at the front. Would Annequin be used as a generic description for the area?

Many thanks

[Chris_Baker]

Annequin is too far from Indian Village Festubert to be used as a generic term for the area. For a start you have Givenchy, Pont Fixe, the La Bassee Canal, Cuinchy etc in between.

Could he have been with battalion transport, I wonder? Fetching stuff for the battalion? Even then Annequin seems a bit off track.

[Ali Hollington]

Could he have been wounded and evacuated to and died at Annequin?

Have you looked at the war diaries/records of the adjacent units, just wondering if it was possible a detachment could have been made?

Ali

[PhilB]

Annequin North seems to have been a well used place for troops out of the line. Is it possible that it`s where the reserve company was on 9/5/15? In that case, it could be where the roll call was taken and he was "officially" noted as lost. Phil B

[AlanCurragh]

Thanks for your help, Chris, Ali and Phil. I suppose there are many reasons for a soldier having no known grave, either because his body was lost in the heat of battle, or maybe lost in a subsequent action. In addition, it's interesting to think that the recorded place of death may not literally be where he died. I'll keep researching....