Date of birth:

March 3rd, 1923 (Hilsea-Portsmouth/Hampshire, England)

Date of death:

April 2nd, 1945 (Druten/Gelderland, the Netherlands)

Buried on:

Commonwealth War Graves Roman Catholic Churchyard Puiflijk
Grave: 4.

Service number:

3607011

Nationality:

British

Arthur Richard (Thony) Saunders was born on March 3rd, 1923, in Hilsea, Portsmouth, United Kingdom. He was son of William James and Beatrice Saunders and had at least three more brothers and three sisters. There is little information available at TracesOfWar about his years before World War II. However, in 1939 he was registered in Portsmouth as aspirant carpenter. When exactly Thony joined the military is unclear. In early 1943 he had a rough time in his life, because his father died in Januari and his two brothers Fred and John, both serving in the Hampshire Regiment, were reported missing in North Africa in Februari. It is reported that in April 1943, Thony was serving in the 49th (West Riding) Regiment, Reconnaissance Corps, Royal Armoured Corps.

This regiment was part of the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division, that was attached to 30 Corps in June 1944. Most of the division landed on 13 June in Normandy and would then be involved in several battles in Northern France and Belgium. The 49th (West Riding) Regiment was on the left flank of the Allied advance and from late June until September, 1944, active near Le Havre before pushing via Abbeville to Brussels. In late September a part of the regiment went via Heerenhout northwest towards Roosendaal and Willemstad that was reached in late October. The rest of the regiment went north via Turnhout and Poppel (Belgian side of the border with the Netherlands, south of Tilburg). In November 1944, the regiment (complete again), moved via Venlo towards Mill, which was reached in early December. Then units of the regiment were dispatched to the land of Maas and Waal, especially in the villages Druten, Leeuwen and Wamel, until April 1945.

Thony was reportedly based in Boven-Leeuwen, in the former agricultural school in the Waterstraat, until end of March, 1945, a week before Easter. He then moved to the farmstead ‘Edenoord’ at the western end of the Heersweg in Druten. One of the high trees in the yard of the farmstead was used as a lookout point to observe the Germans north of the river Waal. The Germans regularly sent combat patrols and retaliation raids across the river into the land of Maas and Waal. As also happened on the night of 1 on 2 April, 1945. German and some Dutch SS-soldiers, raided the British soldiers at the farmstead ‘Edenoord’. During the following firefight several grenades exploded that set the farmhouse and several stables on fire. The whole farmstead went up in flames, allegedly including six British tanks and carriers. Thony was in the living room of the farmhouse and, reportedly, couldn’t get away. He was the only British casualty and died on 2 April, 1945, only 22 years old. Corporal Arthur Richard Saunders was and still is buried at the Roman Catholic Graveyard in Puiflijk, municipality of Druten, the Netherlands; in grave no. 4. (A wrong age is mistakenly mentioned on his grave stone).

Corporal Saunders is also commemorated in Guildhall Square, Portsea, Portsmouth, Devon, England. Like all killed officers and soldiers of the 49th (West Riding) Regiment, he is also remembered in Wakefield Cathedral, the North Choir Aisle, Northgate in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. Thony is also remembered, like all his fallen comrades of the 49 West Riding Division who died in Northwest Europe in the years of 1944-1945, in Fontenay-le-Pesnel, Normandy, France.

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• Photo 1: Archief Herdenkingscomite 4 mei Puiflijk
• Photo 2: Sjack van der Voort
• - Corporal Arthur Richard Saunders | War Casualty Details 2647916 | CWGC
  - 49th (West Riding) Regt Reconnaissance Corps Roll of Honour | WW2Talk
  - dagboek1
  - Een boom met een bijzonder verhaal - Demaasenwaler.nl
  - Archief Herdenkingscomité 4 mei Puiflijk
  - Arthur Richard Saunders | Oorlogsgravenstichting
  - 49th (West Riding) Recce Regiment in the Second World War 1939-1945 - The Wartime Memories Project -
  - 49 (WEST RIDING) RECONNAISSANCE REGIMENT Royal Armoured Corps - Summary of Operations June 1944 to May 1945 - Naval & Military Press
  - 49th West Riding Infantry Division battle order - 1944 - Battle of Normandy
  - http://www.Ancestry.com
  - Hampshire Telegraph April 1943

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