Cannock Chase, north of Birmingham, is the central German military cemetery in Great Britain. It is located near a British military cemetery where other German soldiers are buried.
Cemetery description
The war cemetery is located in a shallow valley bordered by pine forest to the south. The visitors' room with the name books is located in the entrance building. The small inner courtyard forms the connection to the hall of honor, in the middle of which stands a bronze sculpture on a stone pedestal. A depression runs through the grounds and separates the cemeteries of the dead of the First and Second World Wars. Stelae made of Belgian hard shell limestone mark the graves. They are usually engraved with the dates of two fallen soldiers on the front and back. The cemetery is sponsored by the Volksbund-Landesverband Bremen.
Occupancy
More than 4,900 fallen soldiers rest on the site: 2,143 from the First World War and almost 2,800 from the Second World War, most of whom lost their lives as prisoners of war or in internment camps. In addition, there are crew members of crashed fighter planes and the dead who were washed ashore.
History
The Cannock Chase Military Cemetery was opened to the public on June 10, 1967. The memorial was created after the governments of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Federal Republic of Germany signed an agreement on October 16, 1959. On behalf of the German government, the Volksbund took on the task of burying the German war dead buried in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
1.566 dead from the First and Second World Wars who had already been buried in British military cemeteries were left out. These graves on 148 honorary plots continue to be cared for by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the British war graves commission. The Fort George cemetery in St. Peter Port on the Channel Island of Guernsey remained in existence. There lie 111 German casualties from the Second World War.
Special feature
At the British military cemetery Cannock Chase Brereton, only about 400 meters away, 228 German casualties from the First World War and 29 casualties from the Second World War are buried. There are also 24 British and 73 New Zealanders from the First World War and three British soldiers from the Second World War buried here.
