On the northeastern edge of the Belgian town of Menen, near the French border, lies the largest German military cemetery on the Western Front.
Buried within the cemetery are the remains of 47,864 German soldiers who fell during the First World War.
Access to the "Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof Menen" is gained through a building situated on Groenestraat.
This has a room where you can view the books that hold the details of the soldiers who lie within.
A path laid with stone slabs leads you to the Commemoration Chapel, which is situated in the middle of the cemetery. This is surrounded by grass which is beautifully tended to and is overshadowed by large leafy oak trees.
cemetery plan
Within the chapel stands a central supporting pillar. There are scenes on some of the walls that depict Bible illustrations.
Within two beautifully ornate recesses lie the books containing the soldiers details.
These are printed on parchment paper.
After the terrible fighting of 1917, German troops began laying the foundations of the cemetery within Menen Wood. The fighting, which eventually lasted for four years, had reached its peak by then. In many cases those that fell could not be buried, or were lost after burial to shell fire. At the end of the hostilities the cemetery contained the remains of 6,340 German soldiers.
Geluwe Koelenberg
Between 1955 and 1959 the German wargraves commission, the "Volksbund", cleared 49 grave sites from West-Vlaanderen and brought the remains of the fallen soldiers to Menen. It was then that the entrance building and chapel were built.
The names are carved in Belgian granite stone.
Many thanks to Steve Smith for the excellent English translation!
(text: Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V.)
contact: hanslesage@live.be
Links:
andere Soldatenfriedhöfe 1914-1918
Der Erste Weltkrieg - Ostfriesland - Soldatenschicksale
Gräbersuche
Weltkriegsopfer.de
Die Informationsseite über Kriegsgräberstätten und Kriegsopfer.
de Vries Johannes Gefreiter + 12.6.1916
Dokter Heinrich Landwehrmann(Jäger) + 20.12.1914
Höninger Josef Ersatz-Reservist + 4.6.1916
Hummels Heinrich Gerhard Landwehrmann + 12.11.1914
Lamm Ludwig Gefreiter + 18.11.1917
Meier Peter Infanterist + 27.10.1917
Mulch Karl Jäger + 27.4.1915
Paulsen Adolf Christian Unteroffizier + 27.9.1915
Schneider Ernst Musketier + 2.12.1915
Sendker Heinrich Musketier + 4.5.1915
Sommen Ludwig Soldat + 11.7.1918
Stammfuss Georg Musketier + 24.10.1917
Strube Uffe Wehrmann + 9.11.1914
Stoll Georg Militärgeschichte - Markus Klauer
Terbeek Heike Pionier + 2.8.1917
ter Haar Hermann Wehrmann + 18.12.1914
