 Cimetière militaire Allemand - Oignies, France
N 50° 28.181 E 002° 58.987
31U E 498801 N 5590854
[En] The Oignies German War Cemetery, near Lens, bears witness to the First World War [Fr] Le cimetière militaire allemand de Oignies, près de Lens, témoigne de la première guerre mondiale
Waymark Code: WM184QM
Location: Hauts-de-France, France
Date Posted: 05/30/2023
Views: 6
Descriptif
Département Pas-de-Calais 727 German war casualties1342 French war casualties 25 Russian war casualties First World War The Franco-German military cemetery in Oignies was set up by the German troops in October 1915 as part of the municipal cemetery to accommodate what was then a small number of dead. After its occupation in 1914 and until the German retreat in September 1918, the village was a stage and hospital site. More than 500 of those buried here succumbed to their injuries in the military hospitals in 1917 alone. The casualties came from British major attacks in the spring between Arras and Lens, in the autumn north of Lens and the bitter trench warfare. Another almost 100 of the dead came as a result of fighting in the spring of 1918. During the war, the cemetery received an enclosing wall and the burial ground was planted with bushes and trees. The dead belonged to units whose home garrisons were in Pomerania, Schleswig-Holstein, Brandenburg, Upper Silesia, Saxony, Westphalia and Hesse-Nassau. Repair work between the wars The first repair work to improve the condition of the cemetery was carried out by the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V. on the basis of an agreement reached in 1926 with the responsible French military authorities. However, the problem of permanently marking the graves remained unsolved due to a lack of foreign exchange and the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. Final design After the conclusion of the Franco-German war graves agreement of July 19, 1966, the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V. - financially supported by the federal government - was able to carry out the final design of the German military cemeteries of the First World War in France. In addition to a fundamental revision of the landscape gardening, in 1979 the provisional wooden grave markers were exchanged for metal crosses with cast-in names and dates of those buried here. The Bundeswehr took on the transport of the 35-kilogram concrete foundations required for erecting the metal crosses, which were mostly moved to the graves by participants in youth camps run by the Volksbund. All 727 German dead rest in individual graves. The 25 Russian dead are prisoners of war. For religious reasons, the three graves of fallen Jews were given a stele made of natural stone instead of a cross. The Hebrew characters say: 1. (above) 'Here rests buried ... .'2. (below) 'May his soul be woven into the circle of the living.' Care: The cemetery is constantly looked after by the care service of the Volksbund.
Visit Instructions: Take at least one, clear photo of the site or object. This must be a personally obtained photo and not taken from the internet. You must also describe your experience. Any differences since the waymark was approved? Was the museum closed? Was the object moved? Has it deteriorated more? Give details!
|