The German military cemetery in Bourdon is the resting place of fallen soldiers from the Second World War, most of whom died in the area around the River Somme.
Cemetery description
The German military cemetery Bourdon is located 20 kilometers northwest of Amiens directly on the Somme in the north of France. It was designed by the architect Paul Schmitthenner. To make the cemetery stand out from the surrounding landscape, it is enclosed on all sides by a natural stone wall up to 1.60 meters high. Through a simple single-storey entrance building, which separates the cemetery from the street, visitors first enter a courtyard planted with trees. This is followed by a slightly higher second courtyard, formed by a high ring of natural stone walls with a ten-metre-high memorial hall in the middle. The only access to the cemetery grounds is through this striking circular building made of Palatinate sandstone, which is stylistically inspired by the spiritual world of the Middle Ages. Several columnar oaks frame the entire complex and emphasize its special character.
In the interior of the memorial hall stands the larger-than-life marble sculpture "The Mother" - created by the Cologne sculptor Prof. Gerhard Marcks. Its form is reminiscent of the female sculptures of Greek antiquity and is intended to embody the pain of all mothers in the world for their children who died in the war. An opening in the ceiling and six narrow slits in the masonry bring light into the room.
From the hall, the path first leads to the eight larger of the 62 communal graves before reaching the large cemetery. There, a wide grass path leads to a twelve-meter-high wooden cross. The cemetery stretches out on both sides of the path. It is divided into 44 blocks. Crosses bear three names on each side.
Occupancy
The cemetery is home to 22,216 German war dead who died in the Second World War in June 1940 during the crossing of the Somme, during the occupation or during the retreat battles at the end of August / beginning of September 1944. There are also numerous German soldiers who died as prisoners of war. The dead buried in Bourdon were transferred here from the departments of Somme, Nord and Pas-de-Calais.
History
In June 1940, the area in the lower reaches and coastal area of the Somme was the scene of fierce fighting. German troops advanced towards the English Channel and captured the towns of Boulogne, Calais and Lille. Around 400,000 French and English soldiers were encircled and around 300,000 of them and several thousand Belgian soldiers were subsequently evacuated by sea.
in 1961, the Volksbund began to recover the German dead from graves in the surrounding départements. The cemetery was consecrated on September 16, 1967. The North Rhine-Westphalia branch of the Volksbund is the sponsor of this cemetery.
Special feature
Hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives in battles on the Somme during the First World War. Numerous cemeteries of the nations involved still commemorate this today.
The German war cemetery of Fricourt (Germany) is located around 50 kilometers east of Bourdon. This is the resting place of 17,031 German soldiers who died in the First World War.
