Becklingen War Cemetery
The Becklingen War Cemetery is a war cemetery that was built and maintained under the direction of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission . This military cemetery is located near the village of Wietzendorf in the Bockel district north of Becklingen directly on the B 3 .
history
The Commonwealth Soldiers Cemetery was laid out in 1951, the chosen location on a slight slope allows a view of the Lüneburg Heath . This location was chosen because the landscape was reminiscent of the Timeloberg on the outskirts of Wendisch Evern , where a German delegation led by General Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg was commissioned by the last Reich President Karl Dönitz on May 4, 1945, in the presence of British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery , who signed the deed of partial surrender for the troops in Northern Germany , Denmark , Holland and Norway .
Occupancy
On this central cemetery in the Lüneburg Heath, several smaller cemeteries and individual graves, in which the fallen and prisoners of war of the Second World War were buried, were brought together from a radius of approx. 80 km . Most of the victims came from the last two months before the end of the war. 2086 British, 140 Canadians, 79 Australians, 38 New Zealanders, 2 South Africans, 1 Greek, 19 Poles, 5 Russians, 2 Yugoslavs and 29 people of unknown nationality found their final resting place in this military cemetery.
layout
Like almost all war cemeteries of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the design is subject to uniform regulations. The architectural design comes from the British architect Philip Dalton Hepworth . Accordingly, these sites consist of two central elements as well as a hall of honor, the rows of tombstones and simple planting.
Central structures
The large sacrificial cross with the crusader sword and the altar stone are aligned on an axis and connected by a wide area of grass. The altar stone with the inscription "Their Name Liveth For Evermore" was erected on a specially created round bed. On both sides of the St. Patrick's Cross there are two low building parts, in one of which the cemetery register , which is open to the public, is kept.
Tombstones
The gravestones are set up on the right and left sides of the grassy areas that run straight from the altar to the high cross. They are made of white sandstone and contain, read from top to bottom, the inscriptions about the unit , name and rank , religious affiliation (if known) and a reminder verse of the relatives (if desired).
Green spaces
The gravestones are at ground level and framed with small beds , the entire cemetery area is planted with lawn, with a few individual trees loosening up the landscape. The layout and planting with shrubs and trees is symmetrically designed and shows only a few flowers.
Information board
There is a plaque at the entrance to the Becklinger military cemetery. Here is a description of how Lieutenant James Griffith, who was buried on the site, died in April 1945:
“James Griffith was the son of German emigrants. He was born in 1919. His parents were Dr. Willi Glaser and Maria Therese Glaser. Although he changed his name to Griffith, his comrades continued to refer to him as "The German". Because of his linguistic knowledge, he led top scout teams. While advancing through the Essel forest on the Aller, he was shot by a sniper and buried by his comrades.
In 1953 he was reburied in Becklingen. “I had a brief conversation with James Griffith, who suddenly appeared - he was one of the men on our“ German ”platoon and had led the scouting party who had to swim across the river and take out the guards on the enemy side of the river. I asked him how he was getting on. He said the German guards were on alert and he was about to sneak up on one of them when the bridge blew up and the other events occurred in quick succession. I told Griffith to follow and join us. He wore sneakers but went to get a pair of boots from a German corpse. These Germans are practical guys, and Griffith was no exception to the rule. Before us, the situation began to get “hotter”. James Griffith, the German, was the first victim. I called to Officer Joe Lawrence to tell James to go into his foxhole. “It's light now,” I said, “and there are a lot of snipers in the area.” But James laughed and turned to Joe and said, “It's all right. I'm bulletproof! "Two minutes later he was killed by a sniper who was in one of the trees."
Then, at dusk, we buried James Griffith. This German - who had allied himself with us for our good cause - had been popular with everyone and we were very sad to have lost him. We laid James in his grave at the same time the tank artillery battalion fired the last time - it was a real soldiers' funeral.
From the chronicle of the 1st Brigade Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberführersorge "On the trail of soldiers' fates" "
literature
- The Second World War, Images - Data - Documents , C. Bertelsmann Verlag GmbH, Munich 1983, ISBN 3-570-01403-7 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Monument topography of the Federal Republic of Germany. Architectural monuments in Lower Saxony. Publications of the Institute for Monument Preservation / Lower Saxony State Administration Office / District Soltau-Fallingbostel, Volume 25, edited by Etta Pantel, editor: Christiane Segers-Glocke, publisher: Niemeyer, CW, 2001, ISBN 3-8271-8260-3 , page 383
Coordinates: 52 ° 53 ′ 23 " N , 9 ° 54 ′ 58" E