British Airmen - Torreken Farm Cemetery No.1
Updated: Oct 2
Torreken Farm Cemetery (there is now only one) was begun by the 5th Dorset Regiment in June 1917 and used as a front line cemetery until April 1918. The cemetery is approximately 100m from the road and through a garden and a field, the field is fenced off with a sign ‘Beware of the Bull.’ Wytschaete (now Wijtschate) was taken by the Germans early in November 1914. It was recovered by Commonwealth forces during the Battle of Messines on 7 June 1917, but fell into German hands once more on 16 April 1918. The village was recovered for the last time on 28 September. See Wytschaete Military Cemetery for more. There are two British airmen buried here.
Royal Flying Corps
2nd Lieutenant Paul John Rodocanachi. Pilot 53 Squadron RFC. Killed in action 27 July 1917, age 17. Grave C.6. Son of Nettie Hulme King (formerly Rodocanachi), of Park Farm, Holbrook, Horsham, Sussex, and the late John Matthew Rodocanachi. His father died in Calcutta in 1912 and the family had cotton business interests in both Liverpool and Calcutta. Paul was born in Calcutta and was educated in England at Rugby School and was a member of the cadets. The CWGC give his age as 17 however, this is incorrect as he enlisted in the Royal Naval Air Service age 18 in March 1917. He was 19 when he was killed. After just 16 weeks in the service he joined 53 Squadron RFC on 5 July 1917 operating RE8s from Bailleul with their sector of operations between Armentieres and Messines. 2nd Lieutenant Norman Lindley Watt. Observer. 1st King Edward’s Horse attached 53 Squadron RFC. Killed in action 27 July 1917, age Grave C.5. He was born in Belfast and a Rhodes Scholar having gone to Maritzburg College and then Natal University College before studying at Oxford University. He enlisted as 644 Private in 1914 and went to France on 22 April 1915 and joined ‘C’ Squadron He was gazetted Second Lieutenant on 27 July 1915 and transferred to the RFC. They were flying in an RE8 (A4303) on an artillery ranging flight over the Messines Ridge when they were shot down by Leutnant Ernst Hess of Jasta 28. Rodocanachi was killed in the action and the plane was landed by a wounded Watt, he later died of his wounds. The plane was wrecked on landing. They were buried by the chaplain on 13th Battalion Rifle Brigade who were occupying the line at Torreken Farm.
Leutnant Ernst Hess - credited with 17 confirmed and four unconfirmed aerial victories. Hess was one of a few World War I pilots involved in aviation prewar, as he gained his civil pilot's license on 26 September 1913. He was already enrolled in Die Fliegertruppen (The Flying Troops) of the Imperial German Army when World War I began. He qualified for his military pilot's license on 21 November 1914, and was one of Germany's first fighter pilots. He would score his first aerial victory in tandem with Oswald Boelcke on 5 January 1916. He went on to record a dozen victories between July to September 1917 while flying an Albatros D.Va with Jasta 28. On 19 September 1917, he was promoted to command of Jasta 19. He had just been appointed to command of a fighter group being formed by Germany's First Army when he was shot down east of Frenes by Adjutant De Kergolay of Escadrille N.96 in a Nieuport on 23 December 1917. This was his first victory. Hess was awarded the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class in October 1917 and the Knight’s Cross with Swords of the Hohenzollern House Order on 5 December 1917. He is buried in Wiesbaden.
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