German Burials for 1940

It's not actually where they are buried that's in question (they are in Bourdon and Lommel), it's a question of diffrentiating who is who in these cemeteries with the lack of detail available in the cemetery records. Unfortunately, it's not possible to just go of date alone as, obviously, the German Army was suffering casualties elsewhere on the dates in question also.

I'm awaiting a list from the kriegsgraberfursorge detailing which cemeteries were transferred into which cemetery, but I suspect (as in the case of their WW1 lists) that it will be simply a list of cemeteries and ,possibly, numbers transferred as opposed to detailed personal details. Then again, I might strike lucky!

Dave

 

It all depends on the unit that maintained/started the original cemetery (some were more "germanic" in record keeping than others), whether these records were passed in completion to the kriegsgraberfursorge (if they still existed) and whether these records were maintained. Post-war, the Volksbund also made their own records of transferrals and finds, etc with ,usually, a set format of paperwork. Unfortunately, due to the size of the task, these records can be incomplete also.
German burial records can be, at best, described as "variable". Because of the period I'm interested in, I'm hoping I might be lucky here, however.

Dave

 

Dave, what details appear for a German burial?
Any mention of a unit at all?

At the most detailed (we're talking identified casualties here), the kriegsgraberfursorge have paperwork that lists details of unit, personal details including NoK, original burial details and dates, sketches of ID tag (if not the original) and, upon discoveries and transfers, a "skeletal" sketch (even detailing which body parts are missing!). At the absolute worst you might be looking at paperwork that simply lists a name (might even be just a christian name) and the current burial place and plot.

See what I mean by "variable"?

Dave

 

This picture from "Mei 1940" by Peter Taghon shows German burials with temporary markers dating from 28th May 1940 at Houtem-Ten Brielen (just north of Ieper). The photo looks to have been taken some time later.



The caption states that the graves are from 82nd Infantry Regiment (31st Division) and that they suffered heavy losses on 27th May - 65 dead including Oberstlt.Bayer, the Commander of IIde 82nd Regt.

(Apologies that my knowledge of German units is poor and the caption is in Dutch)

Is this sort of info helpful ?

Rich.

 

This picture from "Mei 1940" by Peter Taghon shows German burials with temporary markers dating from 28th May 1940 at Houtem-Ten Brielen (just north of Ieper). The photo looks to have been taken some time later.



The caption states that the graves are from 82nd Infantry Regiment (31st Division) and that they suffered heavy losses on 27th May - 65 dead including Oberstlt.Bayer, the Commander of IIde 82nd Regt.

(Apologies that my knowledge of German units is poor and the caption is in Dutch)

Is this sort of info helpful ?

Rich.


Houthem and Tenbrielen are actually SE of Ypres and are within the area of interest so, yes, that is very helpful, thanks. It's not a priority of mine to actually name the German dead, but I just need a rare few for something I'm doing and so this type of thing is especially useful. Photos of the original German cemeteries and graves from this action are most welcome (looking especially for images of the small plot that was in the vicinity of Hill 60 - the Bluff and 1940 graves in 1914-18 cemeteries).

Cheers,

Dave.

 

Dave, looks as if I need "ondertiteling" on my maps of West Vlaanderen ! I found Brielen north of Ieper and didn't bother to look further although the geography should have told me to !

I'll see if I can find anything else.

Rich.

 

The Cologne cemetery at Zollstock contains quite a number of Wehrmacht 1940 burials whose dead must have fallen external to Germany possibily from the 10 May onslaught on the Western Wall.Greater still are the burials from late 1944 when the first German town of Aachen fell to the Allies.

 

Owen, It must be Friedrich (Rank and date of death fit).

He's been moved to Lommel.

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Cheers, Rich.
Ich spreche kleines Deutsche, aber es ist nicht sehr gut.
Would you be able to get to Lommel and get a photo of his grave?

...If you're not in too much of a hurry,Owen. It's not that far away but it's not on my way to anywhere !

My spoken German is not too good but I get to read a lot at work.

Tracing casualties by unit would be really handy, wouldn't it ? It is something that I would have liked to do with the BEF in an attempt to try to clarify the rather confusing patterns of withdrawal but I don't think it's possible.

Rich.

 

Would you be able to get to Lommel and get a photo of his grave?


Guess who'll be visiting Lommel (amongst other places) in the first week of August!:p

(Lucky heather anyone?)

Dave

 

Don't forget we want a photo Dave.

Like you'd let me forget about it if I did, Owen? :tongue:

Dave

 

Don't forget we want a photo Dave.


No probs. I took a few of the graves of some of his men too (amongst others killed in different areas , such as the western side of the corridor, at the same time) if you're interested?

 

Incidentally, Bourdon is too far south (between Abbeville and Amiens) to have any of the May 1940 German casualties interred there.It was a concentration cemetery created after the war and contains the dead occurring in many French Departments from the occupation days to those who fell in the region after D Day.

Lommel was created in 1947 but there must have been German Great War dead interred there as records show 542 Great War German graves.Second World War grave count amounts to 38.552 dead giving a total of 39.094 dead.

 

Lommel was originally a US WW2 cemetery. The Great War dead were transferred there from the hospital cemetery at Leopoldsburg post-WW2. It now contains only the German dead who fell in Belgium (apart from those who are interred at places such as Romagne, etc, of course).

Bourdon does contain May 1940 dead, by the way. Don't forget that actions took place in the area during that period too (Ok, admittedly, mainly in June 1940, but Bourdon is the nearest cemetery for all those who fell at, for example, Arras, Calais, and the western part of the "corridor", etc., bearing in mind that those fallen in Belgium at this time are mainly located in Lommel). The majority of German cemeteries are post-war concentration cemeteries (some based upon an existing cemetery) anyway in which you'll find a wide variety of dates of death.

Dave.