German war cemetery Andilly
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 German war cemetery Andilly (Cimetière militaire allemand d'Andilly) |
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| Country: | France |
| Department: | Meurthe-et-Moselle |
| Place: | Andilly |
| Inauguration: | September 29, 1962 |
The German war cemetery Andilly (French: Cimetière militaire allemand d'Andilly ) is located in the French commune of Andilly in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department. It is three kilometers from the village center, around ten kilometers north of Toul and, with 33,085 buried dead, is the largest German war cemetery in France during the Second World War .
Fighting
At the beginning of September 1944, the Allied troops advanced towards Germany: from the Rhone valley to the ridge of the Vosges and into the Rhine plain. The fighting against the retreating German troops caused heavy losses on both sides.
Temporary joint war cemetery
In 1944, the American troops laid a temporary cemetery here for their own dead and those of the retreating German troops. This temporary cemetery contained 5,000 graves.
After the war, the Americans transferred their soldiers to the American war cemetery at Saint-Avold . As a result, the Andilly cemetery became the Andilly German war cemetery, with 5,000 dead at the time.
Permanent German war cemetery
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After Andilly 575 German soldiers from St. Avold and 4,891 from Epinal-Dinoze were reburied. This increased the number of those buried in Andilly to 11,000. After the Franco-German War Graves Agreement was signed in 1954, the German Federal Government ( Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge) (in French: Service d'Entretien des Sépultures Militaires Allemandes) was appointed by the German federal government in the early 1960s to look after this cemetery and to bring together the German dead from World War II commissioned in this region. Members and donors of the Volksbund contribute to the maintenance of the cemetery. From 1957 the Volksbund transferred the fallen German soldiers to Andilly, who were buried in the following areas: west of Metz and in eleven departments: Département Nièvre , Département Saône-et-Loire , Département Côte-d'Or , Département Haute-Marne , Jura , Doubs , Haute-Saône , the Vosges , Territoire de Belfort , the Meuse et Meurthe-et-Moselle . In the process, 2,000 previously unknown dead soldiers were discovered in the Vosges and reburied. With 33,085 graves, the largest German war cemetery of World War II was created in France. In the spring of 1961, the cemetery was landscaped in the form of a grove, which is surrounded by a wall with bushes and trees. It was inaugurated on September 29, 1962.
Memorial for Peace
At the entrance to the war cemetery are the words:
"Les tombes de soldats sont les grands prédicateurs de la Paix (in the original: 'War graves are the great preachers of peace')"
Participants from all over Europe constantly help with the maintenance of the cemetery in so-called work camps and thus promote international understanding.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ (en) Andilly War Cemetery at tracesofwar.com
- ↑ Internet site of the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (German War Cemetery Andilly (Meurthe-et-Moselle))
- ↑ Hubert Geller: History of Physics at the TH Aachen in the Chaos of World War II , p. 157. Helios, Aachen 2004.
- ^ German military cemetery in France. In: Wochenspiegel from July 1, 2012
Web links
- Website Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (German War Cemetery Andilly (Meurthe-et-Moselle))
- ANEG: Cimetières allemands en France. Andilly (French)
Coordinates: 48 ° 45 ′ 17 ″ N , 5 ° 54 ′ 18 ″ E