Can anyone help with this cemetery?

[Michael Johnson]

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This is a photo of my cousin Adjt. Antonin Gautier's grave. It is not recorded in the Sepultures de Guerre database. There is a family tradition that the family was given a safe conduct to visit the grave, as it was behind German lines.

Can anyone tell from the style of grave markers whether this is in fact a German cemetery? Unfortunately the names are not clear enough to read. But they are very different from the ones below, which are definitely French.

[attachmentid=29545]

[Tony]

Michael,

I have found this which is possibly from the French site you've already checked. I've also attached a photo of a German war time grave.

I hope this may be of some help.

Tony

[Michael Johnson]

Sepultures de Guerre responded to my request very promptly, but they have no record of any grave within their charge.

They point out that this is usually the case where the family re-interred the body in the family plot.

Which of course is a lesson in overcoming mindset. For a Commonwealth researcher we tend to start with two assumptions:

a. All war dead are in war cemeteries, on war memorials, or have a government headstone if in a private cemetery (although I know of cases in Canada where this is not the case).

b. War dead are buried where they died.

The French obviously did not have rules similar to Commonwealth War Graves. Repatriating a grave simply meant at most a few hours drive.

And if Antonin was buried in a German cemetery, you can see why he was moved.

I'm following up with the mairies of Chaponost and Oullins.