Military Chat

Percy George Basil Peeke was my GT uncle seving in ww2 as a R.C.M.P.he is buried in Italy when someone is killed in action is there any info you can get regarding this.

WW2 records will still be with the MOD. You can apply for a copy at a cost of £30. As you aren't a direct descendent, they may not be willing to release a full copy. If you are in contact with someone who is, if they sign the forms they are more likely to get a complete record. It may only give his cause of death as KIA or died of wounds.

Here's the link you need to send for the records

http://www.veterans-uk.info/service_records/service_records.html

His entry from the CWGC site, which you probably already have

PEEKE, PERCY GEORGE BASIL

Rank:Corporal
Service No:4384774
Date of Death:03/09/1943
Age:34
Regiment/Service:Corps of Military Police
Grave Reference:VI. B. 42.
Cemetery:SALERNO WAR CEMETERY
Additional Information:
Husband of Evelyn Peeke, of Gilling West, Yorkshire.

Hover your curser over the "Graves Concentration Reports". His body is listed as being exhumed from Archi Civil Cemetery
(His entry on the CWGC site)
http://tinyurl.com/juq6mpt

A photo of his headstone is here
https://twgpp.org/information.php?id=2014744

You can request a 'clean' copy in exchange for a donation of £4

Further research suggests that Percy was killed on the very first day of the Allied Invasion of Italy

http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=307
On 3 Sep 1943, six days prior to the Salerno landing, British and Canadian troops landed at Reggio Calabria at the southwestern tip of Italy,.........

http://olive-drab.com/od_history_ww2_ops_battles_1943soitaly.php
At 0430 on 3 September 1943, British and Canadian troops of the Eighth Army under General Bernard Montgomery executed Operation BAYTOWN, crossing the Strait of Messina into Calabria.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_invasion_of_Italy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Baytown
The attack was made by Lieutenant-General Miles C. Dempsey's British XIII Corps, which had under command the 1st Canadian Infantry Division (Major-General Guy Simonds) and the British 5th Infantry Division (Major-General Gerard C. Bucknall). XIII Corps was part of the British Eighth Army, commanded by General Sir Bernard Montgomery. XIII Corps crossed the Straits of Messina from Sicily to Reggio di Calabria, covered by a heavy artillery barrage from Sicily. The intent was to tie down German forces in the area and gain an Allied foothold at the 'toe' of Italy. Montgomery had objected to Baytown as ineffective, but carried it out anyway.

Thank you for the info, I will look into the sites that you have highlighted.