Reichswald Forest War Cemetery

Entrance area

Commemorative plaque with the list of fallen soldiers

Sacrificial cross and altar stone

Rows of tombstones

Moorish style tower

The British Ehrenfriedhof im Reichswald ( English : Reichswald Forest War Cemetery 1939-1945) is the largest war cemetery in the Commonwealth in Germany. It was created in the Klever Reichswald (North Rhine-Westphalia). There are 7,672 graves on it.

history

Shortly after the Second World War , the “ Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC)” designated the area of today's cemetery as the collection point for more than a thousand graves in Germany. The architectural design was by Philip Dalton Hepworth and the reburial work began soon. German prisoners of war who were under Canadian supervision did a substantial part of this work . In 1948 the Oberkreisdirektor von Kleve announced that all Allied soldiers who had perished in the district had been properly transferred to the new war cemetery.

tomb

The largest British military cemetery in terms of area of the 15 collective cemeteries in Germany was created at the Reichswald, with a total of 7,654 graves. On the right-hand side of the entrance, nearly 4,000 crew members of fighter jets , 706 of them Canadians, are buried. On the left are other soldiers who were killed in the air war between 1940 and 1944 . In addition, many men are buried who died in the final battles in the Rhineland, the Rhine crossing and the battle in the Reichswald from February 8 to 13, 1945.

layout

The fact that all British cemeteries are more or less similar to one another is due to the rules and certain structural features laid down by the CWGC as early as 1917.

It was stipulated that two central structures should be built in every British cemetery of honor. On the one hand there is the cross of sacrifice with a bronze crusader sword on top. On the other hand, there is a rectangular altar stone (“Stone of Remembrance”) with the inscription “Your name lives forever” (“Their Name Liveth For Evermore”). According to these criteria, all grave fields are leveled and laid out with head bed strips.

Tombstones

A strictly prescribed instruction was also followed in the design of the tombstones . They are to be erected as stone steles on which one emblem represents the denomination and another emblem emphasizes the military unit. In addition to the names and dates of the deceased, an inscription selected by the relatives can be placed at the foot of the tombstone.

architecture

In the entrance area, two towers in the Moorish style provide a wide view of the complex. Left and right in the narrow axis are two protective buildings that contain the grave books with all the names of the soldiers buried here; this, too, is a mandatory rule for British cemeteries of honor. The altar stone, which was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens , is placed almost in the center of the complex . The large sacrificial cross designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield is opposite the main entrance and forms a large park unit in the background, visually separated by the forest.

Graves of individual soldiers of different nationalities

Grave of the Dutchman Arend Jan Schuurman

For example, in the cemetery you can find the tombstone with the Dutch lion and the inscription "Koninkrijk der Nederlanden". The Dutch soldier Arend Jan Schuurman rests here. Another individual grave contains the remains of the Canadian Flying Officer William “Andy” Anderson (position 31 B. 18.), which were later brought here. He was shot down on the right bank of the Rhine on March 24, 1945 near Dingden at the age of 24 and was temporarily buried there.