Ka maumahara tonu tātou ki a rātou - We will remember them

In late November 1941, the 2^nd New Zealand Division was engaged in Operation Crusader in Libya, North Africa. The operation centred on the Western Desert, where the Allies were contending with Rommel, the Desert Fox, and his Afrika Korps. The Allies’ aim was to reclaim the strategic port city of Tobruk, and the Cyrenaica region bordering Egypt. By the time the fighting had ended, the New Zealand forces had sustained significant losses, with nearly a thousand dead, and hundreds taken prisoner. It was their 'most costly battle of the war' to date.¹

This group of men who had left the road ahead of the battle were not retreating; they were a specialised unit tasked with locating and identifying the graves of service personnel who had died in battle. Their goal was to confirm and document burial sites for commemoration, a critical but largely unrecognised contribution to honouring New Zealand’s war dead. This specialised unit, New Zealand’s Graves Registration & Enquiries Unit (GRU), played an essential role in this commemoration.

In the aftermath of a battle, the responsibility for the burial of casualties fell to the units deployed in the area, but these battlefield burials were not suitable for long-term commemoration. All units were under orders to bury their casualties as quickly as possible, but also to identify the dead. This was so that the next of kin could be notified, and it also aided with the eventual movement or concentration of war burials to the permanent cemeteries. The identities of casualties and the locations of their battlefield burials were collected and reported back to the headquarters, where they would be distributed to the appropriate GRU.

The role of the GRUs was to collect and confirm the information received about graves. When units were tallying their casualties and burying the dead in the aftermath of a battle, the details that were recorded were not always accurate. The GRUs were responsible for finding the burial locations of personnel, whether they be in a battlefield cemetery (a collection of graves dug in the battlefield by soldiers) or an isolated location and confirming the details of who was buried there. Often this involved exhuming the bodies so that they could search for identifying tags or possessions. The unit diary for 1GRU, Second Australian Imperial Force (2^nd AIF), reports numerous exhumations – sometimes daily – and provides insights into the processes of the unit.

While the GRUs were operating with lists they received from the units in the field via headquarters, they were not only working with casualties from their own forces. In the diary for 1GRU (2^nd AIF), the record states that one of the sections had ‘started check of Aust. & Imperial burials from lists supplied by O2E (2^nd AIF) and O2#. (M.E)’.³ Other diary entries confirm that the Commonwealth GRUs were responsible for a geographic region rather than the casualties of specific forces. An entry from Wally von Schramm of the New Zealand GRU says that on one day the unit was operating in the ‘Capuzzo-Salum [sic] Area, Squares 515 to 522 x 371-378’, while a few days later the grid numbers had changed to the next in sequence, suggesting a methodical coverage in the wake of the fighting. The fort of Capuzzo was some ten kilometres from Sallum, indicating that that the ten kilometre range was only a fragment of the region the GRU was assigned to cover.

Once graves were located and the casualties identified, the GRUs turned to the task of registering and marking the graves. The names of the deceased were recorded alongside the exact co-ordinates of their graves. These details would later be used to consolidate graves into permanent cemeteries, so accuracy was essential. In some cases they included descriptions of the region, diagrams, or maps.

In the case of battlefield cemeteries, where multiple graves were grouped together, the area was diagrammed as a regular cemetery would be, with the rows and plots recorded with their respective names. In these instances, the battlefield cemeteries would often become the permanent cemeteries with no further re-interments. The registration information also served as a guide for grave markings. The GRU ordered markers for each grave, and metal plaques for the names to be etched on. These grave markers took the form of crucifixes for Christian servicemen, Stars of David for Jewish servicemen, and shields for those of other faiths. The markers were made to be durable and remained until the War Graves Commission was able to arrange for the permanent markers to be placed.

Walter (Wally) Eric von Schramm was born in Auckland on the 16^th of July, 1908, and grew up in Henderson. He attended Mount Albert Grammar School and enlisted in the New Zealand Territorial Force on June 1^st, 1926, aged 18. On the 14^th of January, 1940, von Schramm transferred from the Territorial Force to the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF). In May of that year, he embarked overseas with the rank of Lieutenant and would not return for three years. During that time, he served in various roles with the 21^st Battalion, but his longest assignment was with the Graves Registration & Enquiries Unit, to which he was seconded in September 1941.

While serving overseas, Wally kept a diary in which he recorded his day-to-day life with 2NZEF.⁴ The diary entries are short and to the point, but provide a fascinating account of Wally’s experiences. Prior to his secondment, Wally was in various administrative roles in Cairo, and his entries through this period reveal an abundance of leisure time. A midsummer day in July 1941 reads ‘… laundry & Film in afternoon. Visited Mosque and climbed minaret.’ On other days, Wally spent time in the bazaars of Cairo, before visiting cafes and bars in the afternoon, and devoting his evenings to the theatre. Were it not for the reminders of the ongoing war that are interspersed with these events, Wally’s diary would be almost indistinguishable from that of someone visiting Cairo and the Middle East on holiday.

Wally’s move to the GRU in September of 1941 mirrored a change in the daily life recorded in his diary. He left Cairo and moved out into the Western Desert, the region of North Africa that crossed the border between Egypt and Libya and had seen fierce fighting between the Axis and Allied forces. From this point on, Wally’s leisure time fell, and he was in the city on military duties only — usually of an administrative nature. Most often, he was collecting supplies such as crosses and plaques for the Graves Unit, but there were also rations and munitions to be picked up. The rough terrain of the desert and the isolated locations of graves meant that the GRU’s vehicles were constantly in need of repair. Wally’s diary entries reflect this change — nights in town in the diary are often preceded by a corresponding entry about a vehicle breakdown and the need for urgent repairs.

Although the Grave Registration Unit was not a combat unit, their time in the desert coincided with the large battles being fought nearby, and the nature of their work meant that they were keenly aware of the conflict. Wally’s diary gives a perspective of this unique proximity to conflict. The entry shared at the start of this story, when they sheltered from a German raid nearby, is one example. Another came later, in October 1942, when Wally was in Alexandria and witnessed warships leaving the harbour to support an Allied land offensive. In his description of the engagement, he calls the naval contribution the ‘Greatest barrage in history of this war’. A day later, from his camp, he writes that the naval guns — which had persisted through the night— had a ‘Concussion [that was] something beyond description.’

Over three days in February 1943, the unit came across a large number of unburied bodies from the fighting at El Alamein several months prior. Wally never specifies the total amount but mentions finding many over the first few days. He also notes that they were both New Zealanders and Germans. One entry reveals the emotions of a man who had been responsible for the war dead for over a year:

‘God, what a shambles. Our lads killed last June in retreat. Huns when the Kiwis counter attacked. Jerry paid for his cheek here & our cost was heavy. The futility of it all. Oh! when will it all end? How homesick I have been of late. This job is getting me down after 18 months. Can I stick it?’

In the following entry, one pointed line stands out as Wally reaches limits of his endurance: ‘Will give this area a spell.’

It was clear that the strain was building on Wally, and likely on the rest of the Graves Unit as well. Their work was still highly taxing even though they were not in direct combat. Isolated from the main body as they searched for graves, the constant exposure to remains of soldiers wore on them. Wally writes of opening a grave to identify people and finding it impossible ‘owing to terrible state […] Mangled – burnt and petrified’, and records that another soldier became ill at the sight. This continued to wear on Wally, and when his name appeared on the list of officers to be repatriated to New Zealand in the first furlough draft, he was elated. Wally left Africa on the 15^th of June, 1943, and arrived in Wellington on the Nieuw Amsterdam on the 12^th of July. He transferred to the Reserve of Officers later that year and would re-enlist to serve with Jayforce in 1946, but his time with the Graves Registration & Enquiries Unit was at an end.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Families of those who died while serving with New Zealand Forces often contact Online Cenotaph with questions about their family member’s final resting place. We are able to answer these enquiries thanks to the work of the New Zealand Graves Registration & Enquiries Unit (NZGRU - now disestablished) and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC).

Established in 1917 as the Imperial War Graves Commission, the CWGC was originally tasked with marking and maintaining the graves of Commonwealth service personnel who died in the First World War. With the onset of the Second World War, the CWGC’s responsibilities expanded to include the resting places of those who also died in the Second World War. Today, the CWGC cares for war graves at 23,000 locations in more than 150 countries and territories and commemorates nearly 1.7 million individuals, including memorials to those with no known graves. Their website also provides directions and addresses for all of their memorials.

Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage is the New Zealand agent for the CWGC and cares for Commonwealth war graves across Aotearoa and throughout the Pacific. We spoke with Becky Masters-Ramsay, (Pou Tohu Matua, Senior Adviser War Graves and National Memorials), about her role and the Ministry's responsibilities.

'There are just under 3,500 Commonwealth War Graves in New Zealand, with that number rising on occasion when evidence confirms that the circumstances of a casualty’s death meet the eligibility criteria of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. We will then arrange for their grave to come into our care and be commemorated. Most war graves in New Zealand are from deaths that occurred within the war periods, from injury or illness caused by or exacerbated by their service in the war. Many deaths are attributed to disease, such as the 1918 influenza pandemic, while others are from accidents while on duty, such as Sapper Robert Arthur Hislop (the first New Zealand casualty of the First World War).

Once a grave has been recognised as a Commonwealth War Grave we ensure that the grave is well maintained and regularly inspected. We visit all graves under our care every three years and undertake routine maintenance whenever required. We also work closely with whānau and descendants of the deceased to ensure that our work is in line with their wishes.

In addition to our Commonwealth War Graves, Manatū Taonga is also responsible for the care of national monuments and historic and war graves from other conflicts, including the New Zealand Wars, South African War, and modern conflicts such as Vietnam and Afghanistan.'

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