In Belgium, 134,000 German military graves from the First World War remain scattered across 270 sites in all parts of the country. In addition to 99 German military cemeteries, there were 22 German grave fields in Allied military cemeteries, 36 fields of honor in Belgian municipal cemeteries, and individual graves or smaller German grave groups of up to 20 dead in another 100 Belgian municipal cemeteries.
Since the maintenance and upkeep of the numerous small cemeteries proved to be impossible in the long term, the war graves agreement concluded between the Federal Republic of Germany and Belgium on May 28, 1954 provided for the German dead of the First World War to be buried in a few larger cemeteries. All unknown fallen were transferred to Langemark. There are three other large German military cemeteries in Flanders: Menen, Vladslo and Hooglede. Furthermore, there are German burial grounds for a total of 2,233 dead in five Belgian municipal cemeteries, as well as nine joint war gravesites for 5,014 German and 3,180 French fallen from the First World War in southern Belgium. 2,525 German dead from the First World War were buried in 88 British military cemeteries.
Almost 46,000 German soldiers were buried on Belgian soil during the Second World War. 2,000 of them fell in Belgium during the Western campaign in the summer of 1940 and were buried together in smaller German military cemeteries or in German military cemeteries from the First World War after the end of the fighting. The German losses were considerably higher during the bitter defensive and retreat battles after the offensive of British and American forces in the fall of 1944 and especially during the German offensive in the Ardennes in the winter of 1944/45. However, a large number of the German soldiers buried in Belgium died in the fighting in the Aachen area, in the Hürtgenwald forest and around the Remagen bridgehead. The Americans returned the German fallen to their supply bases on Belgian soil and buried them in the immediate vicinity of provisional American burial grounds.
After the war, the American Graves Service transferred the German dead from the provisional cemeteries in Henri-Chapelle, Fosse, Overrepen and Neuville-en-Condroz to a site provided by the Belgian government in the Lommel Heath. The Americans also set up a provisional German cemetery in the small community of Foy near Bastogne. The two sites at Lommel and Recogne-Bastogne were later used by the Belgian army's burial service to transfer graves from all over the country. The Belgians also took over the initial preparation of the cemeteries and the setting of concrete crosses. After the German-Belgian war graves agreement was concluded, the Commission was then able to begin the final development of both military cemeteries.
In Belgium, only a few war dead from the First and Second World Wars are still found and buried in our cemeteries. The dead of the First World War are buried in Langemark, the dead of the Second World War in the cemetery in Lommel.