Calais Canadian CWGC Cemetery, Leubringhen

There are 704 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 30 of them unidentified. There are also six Czech and 19 Polish war graves.

 

The entrance way to the cemetery.

This is a WW2 cemetery and was designed by Philip Hepworth. The British architect was born in 1890. He was appointed the Principal Architect for North West Europe by the Imperial War Graves Commission during the Second World War. His works are found in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany including Bayeux Memorial (1955) and Dunkirk Memorial (1957).

Although this is a Canadian Cemetery, all CWGC cemeteries hold many nations dead, here there are British, Polish and Czechoslovakian soldiers & airmen. official numbers are 704 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 30 of them unidentified. There are also six Czech and 19 Polish war graves.

Captain BASTOW, ALAN Service Number 145907 Died 16/10/1944 Aged 30 Royal Artillery attached. (M.I.10) Intelligence Corps (British). Son of John Henry and Ruth Mary Bastow; husband of Beryl Bastow, of Hoole, Cheshire, England. M.A. (Leeds). Military Intelligence, section 10, was a department of the British Directorate of Military Intelligence, part of the War Office. It was responsible for weapons and technical analysis during World War II. MI 10 officers followed the army (or in some cases went before them) and gathered intelligence on the enemies weaponry. He died in October 1944 and may have been looking into all the heavy artillery around the Calais area.

Pilot Officer (Air Bomber) GREENE, PHILIP SANSON Service Number J/87726 Died 16/06/1944 Aged 22 405 Sqn. Royal Canadian Air Force. Son of the Revd. Heber Hannington Kerr Greene and Jean Emily Esther Greene, of Albert Bay, British Columbia. Flying Officer (Navigator) GAMSBY, AUSTIN GORDON Service Number J/23114 Died 16/06/1944 Aged 30 405 Sqn. Royal Canadian Air Force Son of Edgar and Jemima Gamsby, of Winnipeg, Manitoba. 18 April 1943-26 May 1945 Gransdon Lodge was the home of 405Sqn. In April 1943 the squadron became part of the Pathfinder Force. I am presuming that they were Mosquito crew and died together. That is why the stones are so close together. 1 Mosquito was lost from the 15/16 June 1944Gelsenkirchen raid. A German record of a night fighter units states, 16 June 1944 Robert Spreckels ASt./JG 11, 600m 11:24 KA-12 (S Hadsund/Denmark). Jagdgeschwader 11 (JG 11) were flying Bf109G-14/14AS at the time.

Starszy Dragon ZAKRZEWSKI, A Service Number 16 Died 05/09/1944 Aged 29 1.Pol.Dyw.Panc. Polish Army. (1st Polish Armoured Division). Dragon was the rank Dragoon. The Polish Armour passed through this area after the 3rd August 1944.

Porucik PUZEJ, ZDENEK Service Number F.1885 Died 01/12/1944 1 Obrnena Brigada Czechoslovakian Army. Porucik - Second lieutenant. Possibly died in the siege of Dunkirk. 1st Czechoslovak Independent Armoured Brigade Group.

This side is mostly Canadians.

The route of the Canadian, Polish (yellow) and Czech (red) troops followed.

The War Ends.