Frank Phillips POW details

[grantowi]

Has anyone got any information on where Frank Phillips was held and died while a POW ?

Sergeant in the RMLI, PLY/8707, he was taken in 1914 during the defence of Antwerp

He died of heart "weakness" on 24/02/1915, so 2 months ish after being taken

He had been in since 1897 and had served in the Boxer rebellion in 1900

Many thanks

[Allan1892]

CWGC site says buried in the Berlin South Western Cemetery but the Soldier's Died in the Great War database says buried in 'The Old Cemetery' Klein-Wittenberg -- must have been a POW camp near to the cemetery??

Edited 17 June by Allan1892

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

34 minutes ago, grantowi said:

He died of heart "weakness" on 24/02/1915, so 2 months ish after being taken

A bit more than 2 months surely?

4 months?

[AOK4]

Hello,

British POW graves in Germany were at some point concentrated into a few large cemeteries, Berlin being one of those concentration cemeteries. Phillips was originally buried in Klein Wittenberg (part of Wittemberg) indeed. He may have died in that area in a hospital, so not necessarily in a POW camp.

Jan

[charlie2]

He died in the Wittenberg Hospital, see PA 1950 https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/File/Details/1944903/3/2/

Charlie

[AOK4]

There was a large POW camp in Klein-Wittenberg with a Lazarett (according to the German wikipedia). It is quite probable that your relative died in the hospital of the camp and then was buried in the local cemetery.

Jan

[PRC]

From the CWGC webpage for the Berlin South-Western Cemetery.

History information

In 1922-23 it was decided that the graves of Commonwealth servicemen who had died all over Germany should be brought together into four permanent cemeteries. Berlin South-Western was one of those chosen and in 1924-25, graves were brought into the cemetery from 146 burial grounds in eastern Germany. There are now 1,176 First World War servicemen buried or commemorated in the Commonwealth plot at Berlin South-Western Cemetery. The total includes special memorials to a number of casualties buried in other cemeteries in Germany whose graves could not be found. The following cemeteries are among those from which graves were brought to Berlin South-Western Cemetery:-

KLEIN WITTENBERG OLD CEMETERY, 3 kilometres West of Wittenberg, in the Prussian province of Saxony, contained the graves of 23 soldiers, one Marine and eight civilians from the United Kingdom and one soldier from India, all of whom died in 1915; the NEW (or PRISONERS OF WAR) CEMETERY, those of 71 soldiers and three civilians from the United Kingdom, two soldiers from Canada and one from Australia, who died in 1915, 1917 and 1918; and WITTENBERG OLD SMALL CEMETERY those of two soldiers from the United Kingdom who died in 1914 and 1915. The first and third of these cemeteries are associated with the outbreak of typhus at the Wittenberg camp in December 1914.
https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/90900/berlin-south-western-cemetery/

Cheers,
Peter

[mancpal]

The pow graves at Gustrow were concentrated to Hamburg post war, the former camp being utilised as an airfield.

Simon

[grantowi]

Many thanks to all for the information, it fills in another square in my information

Grant