Lt Johann Fokuhl 19/1/40

[alanatabz]

Lt Johann Fokuhl was shot down with 3 others on the 19th Jan 1940 in an HE111 , Does anybody know where he is buried?

Uffz Fritz Schneider Uffz Heinz Hartwig are at Cannock Chase

Uffz. Otto Schäfer’s body was never found.

[Chris Goss]

No known grave & I believe he was a LtzS

[alanatabz]

Thanks Chris, it is suggested two were found on Rattray Head beach on 31st Jan 40, and Fokuhl on 2nd Feb 1940.

Thanks for pointing out the LtzS

[Peter Cornwell]

There is considerable confusion in the official reporting of these casualties (see attached). Despite the initial RAF Intelligence report to the contrary, it seems that FOKUHL and SCHAEFER were never found.

1.(F)/Aufkl.Gr.Ob.d.L. Heinkel He111H-2 (5542). Shot down by Red Section of No.603 Squadron (F/L H.A.J. MacDonald, P/O J.G.E. Haig, and P/O G.K. Gilroy) during high-level photo-reconnaissance sortie to the Firth of Forth and the Clyde and crashed in sea 60 miles east of Aberdeen 1.15 p.m. FF Uffz Fritz Schneider and BM Uffz Heinz Hartwig both killed, BO Lt Johann Fokuhl and BS Uffz Otto Schäfer both missing. Aircraft T5+UH 100% write-off.
Originally attacked at over 20,000 feet by Sergeant J. R. Caister of No.603 Squadron whose guns froze at that height. Two bodies, originally reported as those of Fritz Schneider and Johann Fokuhl, were washed up at Rattray Head on January 31. However, their identities were subsequently resolved as Heinz Hartwig and Fritz Schneider who were buried together in Grave 1506 of Buckburn Cemetery, Aberdeen, on February 3.

[RT]

Hello Peter,

Where hv you found the Wn, if plane crashed at See ??

Rémi

[ARADO001]

In VdK I found a Johann Fokuhl lost on 19/1/40 and buried at Cannock Chase but no grave details or rank given, only Funker. So probably his body must have washed up somewhere at some date. Uffz. Schäfer is remembered in the Gedenkbuch at Kiel-Laboe, Germany.

Patrick

[Peter Cornwell]

Rémi,

Nachtrag 19.1.40 in QMG Returns of 21.1.40 dated 23.1.40. But it is not very clear I admit.

Patrick,

Thanks. VdK details are correct for FOKUHL apart from his rank which I have as Leutnant der Reserve. However, he is not listed in the Namenbuch Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof Cannock Chase (1967). So confusion begats more confusion it seems.

[Chris Goss]

...and Lt dR not Lt zS!

[alanatabz]

So, as I understand it.

The two bodies washed up were originally thought to be Schneider and Fokuhl

It turned out to be Hartwig and Schneider, There were document and buried at Grove cemetery in Bucksburn, Aberdeen then relocated to Cannock Chase later on.

Fokuhl and Schäfer were never found. However, there seems to be a reference to Fokuhl's? body being washed up several days after the other two. Yet he may or may not be at Cannock Chase in an unlisted Grave?

[Peter Cornwell]

Originally Posted by alanatabz

... there seems to be a reference to Fokuhl's? body being washed up several days after the other two. Yet he may or may not be at Cannock Chase in an unlisted Grave?

What reference ? Two bodies washed ashore 31 January 1940 & both buried at Buckburn, Aberdeen, on 3 February. FOKUHL and SCHAEFER remain missing.