Hi All, Peculiar but interesting request. Who and what cleared the dead and debris after and during say WW2 Out of curiosity I have tried to find out what happened to the dead of both sides after the 'D' day landings.
For the Americans it was the Quartermaster Graves Registration Companies, but not sure for the Commonwealth - RAMC?
According to " Soldier Dead " ..... the recovery of bodies in WW2 was in two stages ..... the first was removal of the dead from where they had fallen by the combat troops - they were taken to collection points then the Graves Registration troops took over ... the combat units were responsible for policing their own area The Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgraberfursorge (VDK) association were in charge of about two million German graves from the two world wars in 830 cemeteries throughout Europe Amazon.com: Soldier Dead: How We Recover, Identify, Bury, and Honor Our Military Fallen: Michael Sledge: Books Annie
Just as a add on ... I imagine it was the same for the Commonwealth soldiers ... with the CWGC being in charge of the second stage ! Annie
It seems to be the following sequence, as far as a I can work out (for Commonwealth troops): 1) Battlefield burial during or straight after death by colleagues, enemy, or my medical units 2) "Grave Registration Units" enter area and examine graves to take down details, and carry out the administrative duties involved 3) "Grave Concentration Units" who came along much later, maybe months and years after, to formalise burial 4) Care of wargraves formally undertaken by CWGC, or by respective Allied governments
Usually the battle dead were buried close to where they fell in temporary graves by the pioneer company of each particular regiment, in British army during ww2 that is.
