Seeking details of Guenter SCHWARZ

[Alex Smart]

Hello,
I am seeking details of the loss of Guenter SCHWARZ.

He is recorded in the CWGC as date of death 5 October, 1942.and is buried at Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery.

However it seems that he was buried firstly at Shoreham-By-Sea Cemetery.

The only Guenter SCHWARZ that I can find was in later years of WW2.

Alex

[Chris Goss]

His rank was Flieger and yes he was buried at Shoreham. I can see no loss that matches so perhaps one for Matti

[Laurent Rizzotti]

One strange thing with this man is that he is not listed by the Volksbund. So far all German dead I found buried in Channock Case war cemetery were.

There is a picture of his grave available online: https://fr.findagrave.com/memorial/1...hoto=125145836

I found nothing interesting on Volksbund, in fold3 German death cards or in Luftwaffe loss lists (checked in October or September 1942).

By the way, I searched the man buried in the same grave, Uffz Karl Johann Graf. Volksbund had him listed as dying on 2 June 1942 at sea off England, but the fold3 death card (https://www.fold3.com/image/69266159...tion-1939-1948) has only 1942 as his death date and say that his body was recovered at sea near the coast on 2 June 1942 and was buried at Shoreham-by-Sea two days later. I checked the book "The Blitz then and now, vol 3" and there is only one Uffz K Graf listed in the index: he was lost on 25 April 1942 when the Do 17Z Wnr 2507 of 12./KG 2 was shot down at sea at 2345 hrs by a Beaufighter of 219 Sqn flown by Sqn Ldr J G Topham and Flt Lt Strange. Two crew are still missing (Uffz S Kuglat and Gefr K Küster), two were recovered from the sea, Uffz K Graf and Uffz H. O. Jansen.

This later is Uffz Hans-Oskar Jansen. Volksbund shows his death date as 2 June 1942, as for Graf, but his grave in Channock Chase shows the real loss date, 25 April 1942. See https://fr.findagrave.com/memorial/1...s-oskar-jansen.

By the way this page points on another saying that the pilot was actually Uffz Heinz Kukla and that his body was found on French shore and buried in Normandy (https://fr.findagrave.com/memorial/1...iegfried-kukla).

All that to say that dates listed by CWGC and Volksbund are not always right.

Still no idea of when, where and how Günter Schwarz died.

I have also checked:
1) the Luftwaffe loss lists available here (http://www.denkmalprojekt.org/covers..._wk2_index.htm) for all available KG units, without success.
2) the Crewlisten database of the Historisches Marinesarchiv (https://historisches-marinearchiv.de.../eingabe.php); just in case a sailor washed on UK shore was taken as an airman, but again no Schwarz lost in 1942 seems to fit.

Good luck for this search

[Leendert]

If buried first at Shoreham, perhaps local history has more? See https://shorehambysea.com/shorehams-war/

Leendert

[Chris Goss]

Nothing in Shoreham records. Strange also no DoB both when he was at Shoreham and now Cannock. He was buried alongside Graf at Shoreham as well

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Originally Posted by Chris Goss

Nothing in Shoreham records. Strange also no DoB both when he was at Shoreham and now Cannock. He was buried alongside Graf at Shoreham as well

Just checked the 142 German buried at Cannock Chase with a death date listed in 1942, and all have a DoB except Schwarz, 3 buried as unknown and one misidentified as "R Kerschnet" (possibly Kadet-Ingeneer Rolf Kürschner of destroyer Z8).

It is probable that "Gunther Schwarz" was identified as such when found by the British, presumably on 5 October 1942, but was misidentified and no corresponding name was found in missing lists provided by the German.

[Chris Goss]

Strangely he doesn't get a mention in the Air Ministry list of German burials in UK

[Nick Beale]

If there was a body of a German serviceman found, shouldn't the Red Cross have communicated that to their German opposite numbers?

[Leendert]

The NA gives another possibility, unless already explored and referred to in # 5:

Reference: UD/SH/27/7

Title: Register of War Service Burials, Mill Lane and Old Shoreham Cemeteries
Description:
This volume contains original entries for German personnel interred at Mill Lane, 1940 - 1944, and English personnel interred at Old Shoreham, 1940 - 1942. Some of these burials were later moved, however, and so in 1967 the volume was entered with an up-to-date list of all service graves in each cemetery from either World War

Date: 1940-1967
Held by: West Sussex Record Office, not available at The National Archives
Language: English


Leendert

[Matti Salonen]

I have not this Guenter Schwarz connected to any aircraft loss. It could be a boating accident or similar.

Matti