Seeking info on Sgt. Fenwick Watson COX, MNBDO 2

Hi,

My uncle, Sgt Fenwick Watson Cox, service number PO/X 1553, and a member of MNBDO 2, died on 13/03/1943, at sea.

For 72 years my mother (his sister) never knew how or where he died. All she knew was that he was killed at sea. Nothing else. Over the years I used to google his name from time to time but nothing popped up apart from a CWGC entry showing that his name was on the Portsmouth war memorial.

In June 2015, I googled again, and bingo! I learnt that Fen was a gunner on a merchant ship called Marcella, carrying munitions, which was one of 46 ships in convoy OS-44 going from Liverpool to Freetown and Capetown.

At around 0430hrs on 13 March 1943, 190 miles off Cape Finisterre, the convoy came under attack from U-boat pack 'Robbe'. MV Marcella was torpedoed by U107, whose captain was Harald Gelhaus. There were no survivors on the Marcella. Capt Gelhaus survived the war and died in Germany in 1997.

My mother is now 92. She was very close to Fen and she was only 19 when he was killed. At last we have found out the circumstances of his death, and she has 'closure'. But we would be very interested to have any further information which might be held on him, or recommendations on how to find out more.

As regards his number, I assume PO means Portsmouth. What does X mean? is there any significance in the relatively low number 1553?

Finally, and just something to bear in mind, as is now widely known and as featuring in the films The imitation Game, and Enigma, in 1941 the British had cracked the Germans' U-boat Enigma codes, known as Shark. This enabled some redirection of convoys away from U-Boat packs and so undoubtedly saved many lives. But on 10 March 1943 the Germans changed the codes for Shark. Bletchley Park worked to crack the new code, and they did so on 19 March 1943. Sadly the Marcella was attacked during that brief 10 day period when we were out of Shark. Had that not been the case who knows, perhaps the Marcella would have made it through to Freetown and beyond, and my uncle would have survived.

Anyway, thanks for reading this, fingers crossed I can find out more about my uncle's service in the RMs.

Roger

Hi Roger

Have you found this website which lists the ships on Convoy OS 44 - http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/oskms/index.html?os044.htm~osmain

If you click on the name of the Marcella in the Vessels lost from the Convoy they have a Roll of Honour but state that they are missing some of the gunners. I am sure they would like to add your uncle's name to their list.

Have you or any of your family applied to the Royal Navy for a copy of your Uncle's actual Service Record? You can do so but it will cost £30. How to do so can be found below. If the nearest next of kin applies a full copy will be sent, otherwise a typed transcript with limited detail only will be provided.

http://forum.commandoveterans.org/cdoForum/posts/list/179.page

The RM service numbers are explained in this entry at the Royal Museums Museum website:

http://www.w.royalmarinesmuseum.co.uk/item/researching-family-and-royal-marine-history/identifying-rm-service-numbers

Hope this is of some help.

Just to add that in the first website about the Marcella, they refer to DEMS gunners. More can be read about them here :

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/archive/sheet/71

Roger PT wrote:

As regards his number, I assume PO means Portsmouth. What does X mean? is there any significance in the relatively low number 1553?

The prefix letters CH, PLY and PO indicate the division to which a rank belonged and, in your uncle's case, you are correct to assume the 'PO' stands for Portsmouth Division.
In October 1925, the letter 'X' was added to the prefixes to indicate men enlisted in the Royal Marines, under the revised rates of pay, and a new sequence of numbers, beginning at 1, was started in each Division's register.
[By the time this practice was superseded in the Chatham (CH), Plymouth (PLY) and Portsmouth (PO) registers in 1948, these sequences had reached four figures.]
The prefixes 'CH/X', 'PLY/X', 'PO/X' followed by numbers of six figures in the 100000 series, indicate ranks entered for Short Service during World War II.

Nick

Hi Pete,

Thanks for the info and links. I'd already checked out the convoyweb site, and it was their upload last year which first got me on the trail. But I've sent an email tonight to ask that they include Fen's details on the crew list, also to enquire if it's possible to have his name put on the Tower Hill memorial although as he is on the Portsmouth memorial I'm not sure whether that's going to be possible.

Thanks too for the enquiry link, I'll send off the docs to get his service records.

Nick, thank you too for info on the service number.

I guess I've now got as far as I'm going to with this enquiry, which is really important for my mother after so many years of just not knowing.

it's also rather an odd sensation to know the identity of the person who was responsible for my uncle's death. Of course war is war, and that one was total war, a fight to the death, no quarter given, but I used to live and work in Germany, speak the language, and if I'd known about Capt Gelhaus before 1997 I would have sought him out to see if he would be willing to give me his recollections of the attack.

Finally, I digress here, but when I went to teach in Germany in 1973, the school headmaster told me he'd just been interviewed by London Weekend Television for a new programme in UK called The World at War. He appears in the first two episodes. Werner Pusch. He was a charming man, spoke excellent English. He told me he had been a student at Oxford in the 30s, had an English girlfriend, then went back to Germany, and had attended a Nazi rally with Hitler! Anyway he tells the whole story in the programme. After the war he was a German MP. It was only very recently, again, that I found out he was a member of the Waffen SS in WW2. No idea what precisely he did in the Waffen SS, but that came as quite a shock. It was total war, as I said, and for sure he and Capt Gelhaus would have had no choice but to fight to the death under that regime. How fortunate I have been to live my life in peace (thus far).

Thanks again gents,

Roger

Roger,

Obviously you have seen the list of people associated with the MV Marcella where your uncle is listed as a DEMS Gunner - I don't know if you have looked into what DEMS stands for and what role your uncle would have played but matbe this will be of interest -

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/archive/sheet/71

nick

Hi Roger. I'm glad I found this post as it has helped my family history research. Fen Cox was my Dad's cousin and I think named after his uncle Fenwick Watson who was killed at the battle of Loos. I had found some of the info re Fenwick's death on the internet but this gives a bit more flavour.

best wishes

Norman

Hello Norman, thanks for getting in touch and my fault for not replying for 4 years! That?s how long it?s been since I accessed this website. Anyway, nice of you to get in touch. I guess Fenwick Watson was my maternal great uncle? My mum Lyn is 95 and living in Hull. I found this interesting link which you too may have already seen, giving a timeline of where the 14th DLI was operating at the time of Fenwick?s death at the Battle of Loos.
Best wishes,
Roger
https://wartimememoriesproject.com/greatwar/allied/battalion.php?pid=519

HI Roger,

Good to hear from you. Thanks for the information. The Watsons and related families saw quite a bit of tragedy in both World wars. Great uncle Walter Watson won the Military Medal at the battle of the Somme and my Dads'a cousin Jimmy Evans was killed when HMS Barham was sunk. I have a photo of my Great grandparents outside their house at the Cements, Annfield Plain which includes a young Bob Cox. My dad was born in that house.

Best wishes

Norman

Hi Norman, thanks for the reply - much faster than mine was to yours! My email is [email protected]
Do get in touch.
Best wishes
Roger