[Marcel Hogenhuis]

Hello Alex,

Thank you for your thoughts and I must admit I haven't thought about escaped POW's. But: if we assume that POW's don't move around the countryside in their RAF flying gear, they would have obtained civil clothes from the underground escape lines. So, if they cannot easily be identified as RAF members, how could they be buried as unknown RAF airmen and never been identified post war?

Your second explanation is perhaps a better one and I try to look at all RAF losses in the previous weeks before 1-1-1945.

Could you help me out with your remark about Sittard War Cemetary? On the CWGC website I find 234 dead on this cemetary and the description reads this:

Historical Information
The burials in the cemetery, apart from a few dating from November 1944, are almost all from the months of January and February 1945. The men buried here belong mostly to the Scottish regiments of the 52nd (Lowland) Division, engaged in the battle in this vicinity from 18th to 24th January 1945, which had as its object the clearing of a salient west of the River Roer which was still held by the Germans.

I did download the spreadsheet with casualties but this list does not the unknown or do you have other information?

Again many thanks for your reply! Best regards, Marcel