KIA

heffomike54

Hi folks, just a quick question for you guys. I have always been interested in Military history & I was thinking the other day what happens to the bodies of soldiers killed in action. By this, I mean for example in word war 2, on D-day where the allies were attacking the beaches, what happened to the German dead? Did the allies just bury the bodies & take the dog tags?

While thinking about this, I then started to think about modern conflicts such as Iraq. If someone attacks US troops & is killed, would family members come to claim the body? If they do would they leave themselves open to extra attention from US troops & for this reason, not claim the bodies? Similarly, I can imagine that after ww2, it would be a logistical nightmare to get bodies back to the familes.

Thanks

Manic Moran

heffomike54 wrote: »

Hi folks, just a quick question for you guys. I have always been interested in Military history & I was thinking the other day what happens to the bodies of soldiers killed in action. By this, I mean for example in word war 2, on D-day where the allies were attacking the beaches, what happened to the German dead? Did the allies just bury the bodies & take the dog tags?

Generally speaking, transporting war dead was not feasible due to the time it would take. They'd be rotting en route. This is why there are so many war cemetaries scattered throughout Europe.

While thinking about this, I then started to think about modern conflicts such as Iraq. If someone attacks US troops & is killed, would family members come to claim the body? If they do would they leave themselves open to extra attention from US troops & for this reason, not claim the bodies? Similarly, I can imagine that after ww2, it would be a logistical nightmare to get bodies back to the familes.

Generally speaking, we police up the bodies and leave them either with local authorities, a hospital or a mosque. We tend to not just leave them in the street, unless we have some good cause to do so.

NTM

oncevotedff

heffomike54 wrote: »

....Hi folks, just a quick question for you guys. I have always been interested in Military history & I was thinking the other day what happens to the bodies of soldiers killed in action. By this, I mean for example in word war 2, on D-day where the allies were attacking the beaches, what happened to the German dead? Did the allies just bury the bodies & take the dog tags?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Cambe_German_war_cemetery

Lab_Mouse

Slightly off topic but there is a german war memorial up in glenncree centre in wicklow.Mainly lufftwaffe and kriegsmarine soldiers.Could never understand why they were never repatriated.