ALLIED AND GERMAN WARGRAVES & COMMEMORATIVE ASSOCIATIONS

THE AMERICAN BATTLE MONUMENTS COMMISSION

The Commission was established by the United States Congress in March 1923 for the permanent maintenance of military cemeteries and memorials on foreign soil, their first task being the creation of cemeteries for the American dead of WW1.

After WW2 fourteen overseas military cemeteries were constructed. The US policy has always been to repatriate their dead if requested so to do by the relatives. The WW2 cemeteries contain approximately 39% of those originally buried. The ground on which each cemetery was built was granted by the host nation, free of rent or taxes.

A white marble stone (Star of David for the Jewish, Latin Cross for all others, whether they be Atheist, Buddhist, Christian or of any other belief) marks each burial. Memorials bearing the names of the Missing with no known grave, a non-denominational chapel and visitors’ room containing the register and Visitors’ Book and WCs are standard in all cemeteries.

To bury the American dead of MARKET-GARDEN two large cemeteries were constructed. One was in Molenhoek (qv) and contained 836 graves (including some British). The other was at Wolfswinkel (qv) and contained 450 graves. The setting up of the former and of the British Temporary Cemetery at Sophiaweg in Nijmegen (qv) and the details of all those buried in them are described in the minutely-researched book Vanished (Temp) Cemeteries in the Nijmegen Area by Father Thuring (qv) and J. Hey (qv).

Molenhoek and Wolfswinkel were both dismantled in 1948-9 and the burials were reinterred in the only American Military Cemetery now remaining in the Netherlands in which any casualties from MARKET-GARDEN not repatriated are buried. It is known as the Netherlands Cemetery and it is at Margraten, 6 miles to the east of Maastricht. In it is a tall Memorial Tower which dominates the 65.5-acre site. The entrance leads on to the Court of Honor with a pool in which the tower is reflected. To the right is the Visitors’ building and to the left the Museum, containing three large engraved maps with texts depicting the military operations of the Armed Forces. Stretching along the sides of the court are the two walls of the Missing on which are recorded 1,722 names. Beyond the tower which contains the Chapel are the sixteen burial plots containing 8,301 graves, their headstones set in long curves. A wide tree-lined avenue leads to the flagstaff which crowns the crest. The light fitting in the Chapel, the altar candelabra and flowerbowl were gifts of the Government of the Netherlands and the local Provincial administration.

All American casualties of the Operation are recorded in the Roll of Honour at the National Liberation Museum, Groesbeek (qv).

The COMMISSION’S OFFICES are at: UNITED STATES: Room 2067, Tempo A and T Streets SW, Washington DC 20315. Tel: [001] 6936067

EUROPEAN: 68 Rue Janvier, 92 Garches, France. Tel: [0033] 1 9700173

Grave of Lt-Gen James Gavin, 23 February 1990, in West Point Cemetery. Strangely, on one of the sally ports at Westpoint, ‘ARNHEM’, not ‘Market-Garden’, is marked as a battle honour

BELGIAN MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS - GRAVES SERVICE

This Ministry is responsible for the care of Belgian Military Cemeteries. They were peviously maintained by the Nos Tombes - Onze Graven Association and the Red Cross. There are a total of 106 Military Cemeteries in Belgium, including CWGC, French and German as well as Belgian. Details of the Belgian Military Cemetery at Leopoldsburg, are described in Itinerary 1. There are Belgian burials in Jonkerbos (qv) and Groesbeek (qv) CWGC Cemeteries.

Contact: Mr Vermeiren, Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken, Wetgeving en Nationale Instelling der Militaire Begraafsplaatsen, Koningsstraat 66,1000 Brussel. Tel: [00 32] 25002289.

CANADIAN CEMETERIES

The small Canadian Battle Cemeteries in the MARKET-GARDEN area were concentrated into the large CWGC cemetery at Groesbeek (qv). Other Canadians were buried in CWGC Cemeteries throughout the region.

COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION/GRAVES REGISTRATION & ENQUIRY

The story of the foundation of the Imperial War Graves Commission in 1917 is told in Major & Mrs Holt’s Battlefield Guides to The Ypres Salient and The Somme. Further details are in the Holts’ Guide to Gallipoli. The post-WWII work of the Commission in Normandy is described in the Holts’ Battlefield Guide to the Normandy Landing Beaches.

In France and Belgium there existed an organisation for the care of the WW1 graves that was quickly reetablished (often with pre-War personnel) after WWII. The situation in Holland was quite different and it was not until November 1946 that a branch office was opened there. Within two years the work-load was such that the European command was split into two - the French District, based in Arras, and the District for Belgium, Germany, Holland, based in Brussels.

But before the Commission could start its traditional work of landscaping the cemeteries and erecting the familiar Portland stone grave markers, the Graves Registration & Enquiry (G.R. and E.), which had been incorporated into the Army as early as 1915, had to fulfil its terrible task of finding the bodies, recording as many details that would assist identification as possible and then re-interring them in the chosen cemetery sites. The Exhumation Report form was detailed, with spaces for Army No., Rank, Name, Cemetery or place of burial, plot, row and grave numbers, Height, Build, Colour of hair, fingers and hands. Nature of wound, Identity disc, Documents or other effects on body, Clothing, Boots, Equipment (including any arms) and finally General Remarks. Often a map reference of where the bodies were found was added, and the place of burial, e.g. ‘230E-89, nr. 693-775’, ‘isolated field, Elst garden of large house, main road’, ‘in front of hotel’, ‘near hospital’, ‘beside burnt out glider’, ‘buried inside dropping container from Dakota’, ‘recovered from the Rhine’/brought in by a civilian’. The form was signed and dated by the officer conducting the exhumation. The Arnhem-Oosterbeek exhumations did not start until almost a year after the original burial and in some cases over two years. By then bodies were in advanced state of decomposition and many of them had been badly burnt, yet the dedicated men conducting the exhumations examined them in meticulous detail, recording anything that could lead to an identification for the sake of the families and comrades. No wonder the forms were marked ‘CONFIDENTIAL’, much of their content would have been far too traumatic for the bereaved to bear. ‘Other effects’ included items such as ‘3rd class ticket for the 8A Putney to Charing X’ [with a sketch of the ticket], ‘one halfpenny’, ‘wallet bought in Cairo’, ‘NAAFI soap’, ‘escape map’, ‘1 shell dressing’, ‘tin of choc’, ‘50 cigs tin’. Laundry marks were noted, or the name of a tailor.

As well as in the Arnhem-Oosterbeek, in many other MARKET-GARDEN areas men had been buried by their crashed planes and gliders, beside hospitals, in local churchyards and (often by caring civilians) in local gardens. In some cases remains were so fragmented and intermingled that men had to be buried in ‘Collective’ or ‘Joint’ graves.

Work had begun three days after the liberation of Arnhem, on 20 April 1945, by a Graves Registration Unit led by Captain J. T. Long. In May a team of six O.R.s and an RC Padre, the Rev Father McGowan (ex 4th Para Bde Chaplain, who was awarded the MC), all of whom had been through the September 1944 operation, were sent to assist in locating the graves. G.R.Unit 37, which supervised the Arnhem-Oosterbeek area, had its HQ in Tilburg and there was a separate Canadian G.R.U., No. 2. Meanwhile, the Rev S. H. Chase, MC, Chaplain to the Forces of the 7th Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, billetted in a Dutch Red Cross house in Ede, had been carrying out his own investigations, seemingly unaware of the G.R.U.’s work. He complained to the Deputy Assistant Director of the 1st Canadian Army GR. & E. of the lack of a British Graves Registration Unit in the Oosterbeek area and detailed the work that he had personally carried out with ‘endless journeys seeking for fuller information, and much time’. Dutch civilians, who had ‘exposed themselves to considerable danger by performing these burials’ informed him of mass graves (in Wolfheze, Oosterbeek Station, by a ‘large house’ and near the river) and many single graves. The Rev Chase was eventually placated by the energetic and capable Assistant Director of the G.R. and E., Lieutenant-Colonel A.C. Stott.

In July the Glider Pilot Regiments’ Chaplains also arrived to help with identification but only succeeded in adding to the confusion. However, with the co-operation of the Airborne Section and from interviews with local civilians, by 20 July 1945 some 1,450 graves (at that time 80% of which were recorded as ‘Unknown’) had been located and firmly marked. The work had been hampered by the extensive minefields that remained in the district. Originally the graves had been ‘twig-marked’ - with a cross made of two twigs tied together. The Burgomasters of Arnhem and Renkum, anxious to expedite the proper reburial of the 1944 casualties as their citizens were returning to their homes after being evacuated to other parts of Holland, and they naturally feared a health hazard, co-operated in every possible way. Many of the returning civilians had made lists of the graves which they gave to the G.R. and E.

On 4-6 June Lieutenant-Colonel Stott had personally chosen the site for the cemetery which could accommodate up to 2,000 graves, all difficulties being overcome ‘by the good offices of the Burgomaster of Oosterbeek’. At that time the acting Burgomaster of Renkum (which of course includes Oosterbeek) was none other than Mr Jan ter Horst (qv) who made a point of meeting General Urquhart, during what the latter hoped would be an incognito visit in September, as he and other military members of his party were nervous of the reception they would receive from civilians whose lives and homes they had destroyed in the battle. Mr Ter Horst was soon able to assure him otherwise.

By 25 June the site was levelled. Stott hoped that the concentration work could begin on 6 August, so that the bulk of the work could be completed before the bad winter weather set in. He applied for permission to erect a temporary Bailey Bridge over the railway at Oosterbeek Station which would reduce the distance to be travelled by about 12kms and would avoid having to transport the bodies through the town. Work went ahead apace with Stott’s Amhem-Oosterbeek Cemetery and as a result of the meeting with Mr Ter Horst and Urquhart it was consecrated on 25 September 1945 in the presence of British military representatives (including soldiers working on the filming of Theirs is the Glory) and Dutch personnel. The first pilgrimage of relatives, organised by the Airborne Forces Security Fund, with the support of the Dutch Government, was held in September 1946. The service was attended ‘by almost the whole population’ of Oosterbeek. [See also the entry on the Cemetery in Itinerary 5.]

In the Province of North Brabant alone there are fifty-two civilian cemeteries which contain Allied military burials.

Not included in any of the recommended Itineraries in this book is the Reichswald Forest CWGC Cemetery. The cemetery is 5kms south west of Kleve. From Kleve take the Hoffmannallee from the town centre, which becomes Materbornerallee. This road enters Reichswald Forest and becomes Grunewaldstrasse. Follow the directions for Gennep and on entering Reichswald Forest the cemetery is 500m on the left.

This vast cemetery contains 7,495 Known and 162 Unknown burials, comprising 18 RN, 3,548 UK Army and 90 Unknown, 2,689 RAF and 68 Unknown, 327 RAAF and 1 Unknown, 704 RCAF and 1 Unknown, 127 RNAF, 1 South African, 13 non-Commonwealth Army and 65 airmen with 1 Unknown. The great majority of them are from the February-March 1945 Operations. They include Private James Stokes, KSLI, age 30,1 March 1945 [62.E.14.] to whom the VC was awarded for his action during an attack on Kervenheim.

Illustrated here is the headstone of Private G. Gray, 2nd Gordon Highlanders, age 19, 25 September 1944. His headstone in Mierlo CWGC bears the personal message, ‘O for the touch of a vanished hand, And the sound of a voice that is still!’, a quotation from Tennyson’s Break, Break, Break, a moving but oft-chosen inscription. Note that Private Gray has no religious symbol on his headstone. This is one of the advantages of the originally disputed headstone as opposed to a cross. The stone can bear the emblem of any religion - Jewish Star, Hindu symbols - or none - and has ample room for Name, Rank, Military Number, Regiment, Regimental Badge and, in many cases, a personal message from the family as described above. This generous information, unique to British and Commonwealth headstones, gives a rounded picture of the person who lies beneath them.

Headstone of Private G. Gray, Mierlo CWGC Cemetery

CWGC HEADQUARTERS

UK: 2 Marlow Road, Maidenhead, Berks SL6 7DX.

Tel: 01628 632422. Fax: 01628 771208. E-mail (general): general.enq@cwgc.org (cemetery/casualties): casualty.enq@cwgc.org

Northern Europe Area (which covers Belgium and The Netherlands): Elverdingsestraat 82, B-8900 leper, Belgium. Tel: [00 32] (0)57 200118. Fax: [00 32] (0)57 218014. E-mail: neaoffice@cwgc.org

CWGC WEBSITE

In November 1995 the CWGC opened a website which includes the details of 1.7 million casualties. They are accessed on the Internet on www.cwgc.org. by the criteria of family name and regiment. This popular site has some 500,000 ‘hits’ per week.

OORLOGSGRAVENSTICHTING

(Dutch Wargraves Association)

There are four Dutch Military Cemeteries in the Netherlands:

Loenen (Gelderland) 3,038 graves; Overveen (Noord Holland) 374 graves; Rhenen (Utrecht) 697 graves; Valkenburg (Zuid Holland) 36 graves.

There are also Dutch military graves in many local churchyards in the MARKET-GARDEN area and in CWGC Cemeteries. The presence of Dutch graves is indicated by a green Oorlogsgravenstichting sign at the cemetery entrance.

Contact: Area postbus 85981,2508 CR Den Haag, Netherlands. Tel: + 70 3633434.

POLISH CEMETERY

The Polish Cemetery at Lommel in Belgium (see Itinerary One) is maintained by Mr Czeslaw Szkudlarski, M. Scheperlaan, 77, 3550 Heusden-Zolder, Belgium. Tel: [00 32] (01) 537480.

Other Polish graves for the MARKET-GARDEN Operation are in CWGC Cemeteries, e.g. Arnhem-Oosterbeek, Venray, Eindhoven Woensel, Uden, Jonkerbos and Mook. The Polish headstones are easily distinguished from the straight-topped British and Commonwealth ones as they have a pointed top and bear the distinctive Polish Coat of Arms.

VOLKSBUND DEUTSCHE KRIEGSGRÄBERFÜRSORGE

(The German War Graves Welfare Organisation)

The organisation is similar in function to the CWGC and the American Battle Monuments Commission in that it maintains the graves of German war dead in military cemeteries from WW1 and WW2. It also organises subsidised pilgrimages for families to the graves of their loved ones. In 1994, the 75th Anniversary of the Founding of the organisation, a beautifully illustrated book, Dienst am Menschen, Dienst am Frieden, was published to commemorate their work after two World Wars.

German casualty figures for the Operation are almost impossible to verify with any reliable accuracy. In the Arnhem-Oosterbeek area some of the German dead were, like the Allied, buried where they fell. In the summer of 1945 many of these field burials were exhumed and the bodies concentrated in the German Cemetery at Zijpendaal, near the Burgers’ Zoo, which had been in use since May 1940. There was also a provisional cemetery in Arnhem along Deelenseweg, used even during the battle. When the vast cemetery at Ysselsteyn was created, all the bodies from Arnhem and Renkum were re-interred there by the Grave Unit of the Dutch Army. A high proportion of the dead were unidentified. From Oosterbeek alone 150 of the 455 reburied there were Unknown.

Three German cemeteries are included in the itineraries - see Index for reference:

Lommel, Belgium, with 38,962 WW2 and 541 WW1 burials; Ysselsteyn, Holland, with 31,511 WW2 and 124 WW1 burials; Donsbruggen, Germany, with 2,381 WW2 burials.

Headquarters: Werner-Hilpert Strasse 2, 34112 Kassel, Germany. Tel: [00 49] (0) 5617009 221. E-mail: volksbund.kassel@t-online.de