Illfurth

Département Haut-Rhin 1,964 German war dead First World War The Illfurth German military cemetery was established by the French military authorities in April 1920. As a collective cemetery, it housed some of the fallen from the battles on August 7 and 17, 1914, when the French forces - advancing from the Belfort area - tried to reach the Rhine beyond Mulhouse. At the end of the month, German troops pursued the retreating French. These battles and the subsequent trench warfare that lasted until the end of the war in 1918 claimed further victims. The transfer to Illfurth of the war dead provisionally buried in 64 municipalities and districts during the war and those who died in French captivity ended in 1924. Among those buried there was also the first German casualty of the 1914-1918 war on the Western Front, Lieutenant Albert Mayer, who was killed on August 2, 1914 while on patrol. The first French soldier also lost his life in this battle. Some memorials erected in field cemeteries during the war were moved to Illfurth, such as the memorial of the Bavarian Landwehr Infantry Regiment 15, the memorial stone of the Landwehr Infantry Regiment 123 - formerly in Bernweiler cemetery - and a memorial to an aircrew killed in action on March 18, 1916, which previously stood in Habsheim. Those resting here today belonged to units whose home garrisons were mainly in Bavaria, Baden and Württemberg, but also in Westphalia, Hesse, Thuringia, East Prussia, Silesia, Lower Saxony and Alsace. 95 years after their deaths, the 21 German soldiers who died in 1918 in the so-called Kilianstollen near the Alsatian municipality of Carspach were finally given a dignified resting place. On 18 March 1918, the soldiers were buried in their dugout by artillery hits. The German troops were unable to recover the bodies at the time. However, the names of the dead were always known. A memorial stone at the site of their deaths commemorated their fate for decades. It was not until 2011 that French archaeologists were able to uncover the underground complex. On July 19, 2013, the burial took place as part of a ceremonial commemoration. Repair work between the wars The Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V. (German War Graves Commission) carried out the first work to improve the condition of the cemetery on the basis of an agreement made with the French military authorities in 1926. The communal grave was given a border made of natural stone. The same material was used for the construction of a terrace, the stairway to the central marker and the new entrance with a wrought-iron gate. However, the problem of permanently marking the graves remained unresolved due to a lack of foreign currency and the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. Final design Following the conclusion of the Franco-German War Graves Agreement on July 19, 1966, the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V. (German War Graves Commission) was able to undertake the final design of the German military cemeteries of the First World War in France, with financial support from the German government. The entire area has been landscaped. Young volunteers from the Volksbund had already begun the preliminary gardening work. Numerous new trees and shrubs give the cemetery a grove-like character. The graves were planted with new vegetation. In 1975, the previous temporary wooden grave markers were replaced with natural stone slabs engraved with the names and dates of those buried here. The usual crosses could not be used here due to the extreme slope. 1,425 of those who died in 1964 rest in individual graves. Of these, 7 remain unknown. In a common grave with 539 dead, 508 victims remained unknown. The seven graves of fallen Jews were given their own markers for religious reasons. The Hebrew characters read: 1. (above) "Here rests buried.... ." 2. (below) "May his soul be embedded in the circle of the living." Maintenance The cemetery is constantly maintained by the Volksbund's maintenance service.