La Broque

This war cemetery is home to 1,933 German war dead from the First World War. Département Bas-Rhin The German military cemetery at La Broque (in the commune of Schirmeck) was established by the French military authorities in 1920 as a collective cemetery for German casualties. The recovery of the dead from their provisional graves, often created during the fighting, in the areas of 37 communes or districts took place in the years up to 1924. The majority of those now resting here lost their lives in mid-August 1914 during the first battles for the border crossings and in the course of the "Battle of Lorraine", when German troops went on the counter-offensive after a French attack from August 20, in the course of which they reached the gates of Nancy. However, after losing the Battle of the Marne, they were forced to retreat back to the former imperial border. Most of the dead belonged to Bavarian regiments, but there were also regiments from Baden, Württemberg, Hesse, Thuringia and Brandenburg. Repair work between the wars The first work to improve the condition of the cemetery was carried out by the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e. V. (German War Graves Commission) on the basis of an agreement made with the French military authorities in 1926. In addition to planting trees, hedges and shrubs, the cemetery was planted with greenery, the communal grave was surrounded by a natural stone wall, the entrance was landscaped and - as a central point - a high cross made of oak was erected. 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 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 Second World War in France. Prior to this, young helpers from the Volksbund had already begun preparatory gardening work. in 1980, the previous temporary wooden grave markers were replaced by metal crosses with the names and dates of those buried here cast into them. Young helpers from the Volksbund were also involved here. They moved the 35-kilogram concrete foundations, which had been transported by the German Armed Forces, as a base for the crosses. A total of 636 war dead were given individual graves; two of them remained unknown. A total of 1,297 war dead rest in two common graves. Of these, 1,177 remain unknown. This was followed by a fundamental landscaping overhaul of the entire site, including the redesign of the entrance area. A wrought-iron gate between natural stone wing walls and a high cross made of forged steel characterize the image of the cemetery. Maintenance: The cemetery is constantly looked after by the Volksbund's maintenance service.