Breitenbach

Département Haut-Rhin 3,362 German war dead First World War 173 German war dead Second World War The German military cemetery in Breitenbach was established in December 1920 by the French military authorities as a collective cemetery for German casualties. The area stretched within a radius of up to 35 kilometers to 66 villages or districts from Riquewihr (Reichenweier) in the north via Neuf-Brisach (Neu-Breisach) on the Rhine to the gates of the town of Cernay (Sennheim) in the south. Most of the dead came from the combat zones in the upper Fecht valley and its tributary valleys within the Vosges ridge. Further burials also took place from the Lauch valley to the south. A small number of those resting here lost their lives during the first border battles at the beginning of August 1914 and the German counterattack up to the Vosges ridge at the end of August to the beginning of September 1914. However, the majority died in the battles from October 1914 to the end of 1915 and during the defence against the French offensive in July and August 1915. The positional battles that continued until the end of the war in 1918 also constantly claimed new victims. A total of 14 infantry and artillery regiments are buried here. In particular, the fallen of the Bavarian Res.Inf.Reg. 18, 19, 22 and 23 with a total of 631 dead. The victims also belonged to units whose home garrisons were in Baden, Württemberg, Westphalia, East Frisia, Hanover, Brunswick, Brandenburg, Pomerania, West Prussia, Saxony and Alsace. Repair work between the wars The first work to improve the condition of the cemetery was carried out by the German War Graves Commission on the basis of an agreement reached with the French military authorities in 1926. stone and earthworks began in 1928. The terraced rows of graves were provided with retaining walls and the communal graves with natural stone borders. The cemetery was demarcated from the surrounding countryside by planting trees and shrubs. The top terrace was given a wooden high cross. However, the problem of permanently marking the graves initially 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 of July 19, 1966, the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V. - financially supported by the German government - was able to undertake the final design of the German military cemeteries of the First World War in France. Young volunteers from the War Graves Commission had already begun preparatory gardening work. in 1978, the previous temporary wooden grave markers were replaced by metal crosses with the names and dates of the dead cast into them. The helpers moved the necessary 35-kilogram concrete foundations at the graves, which were transported by the German army, and also helped with the renovation of the terrace walls. The dilapidated wooden high cross was replaced by a forged steel cross. A new entrance with a gate and natural stone wing walls replaced the previous temporary entrance. Of the total of 3,362 war dead from the First World War, 2,277 lie in individual graves; 27 of them remain unknown. There are 1,085 war dead in four common graves, 103 of whom remain unknown. For religious reasons, the eight graves of fallen Jews were marked with a gravestone made of natural stone instead of a cross. The Hebrew characters read: 1. (above) "Here rests buried.... ." 2. (below) "May his soul be included in the circle of the living."