German and British soldiers of the First World War rest on the Commonwealth war cemetery.
Cemetery description
A flight of steps leads to the slightly elevated site, which is landscaped around two hills. Signs at the entrance provide information in several languages about the history of the cemetery. Steps lead up to the first hill. There is a seven-metre-high obelisk with an inscription in German commemorating the German and British casualties of the Battle of Mons on 23 and 24 August 1914.
At the back, a staircase leads down to a burial ground. The German war graves are located to the left of the entrance. Depending on the regimental affiliation, the natural stone crosses are designed differently and inscribed with names.
The rear part of the cemetery is reserved for British war graves. On the second hill there is a high stone cross with a metal cross on top. The graves of the British war dead surround this memorial.
Burial
Around 134,000 German soldiers died in Belgium during the First World War. They were buried in around 270 locations. In addition to the 99 German military cemeteries, there were 22 German cemeteries in Allied military cemeteries. There were also fields of honor, small groups of graves or individual graves in Belgian municipal cemeteries. Several hundred German soldiers from the First World War lie in a total of 87 Commonwealth War Graves Commission war cemeteries.
The cemetery in Saint-Symphorien was established by the German military immediately after the Battle of Mons for the burial of German and British soldiers. Shortly before the end of the war in 1918, the number of graves amounted to more than 400. After the end of hostilities, the graves were transferred from the surrounding area. Today, more than 500 war dead rest there. Among them are more than 240 Germans whose names are known. A further 40 rest among the unknown.
History
in 1919, the German Army handed over responsibility for the war cemetery to the then Imperial War Graves Commission, the predecessor of today's Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The CWGC is the British partner organization of the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e. V. (German War Graves Commission).
Special feature
Due to its historical significance and its design, the Saint-Symphorien war cemetery has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site of the burial and memorial sites of the First World War on the Western Front since 2023. Both the first British soldier - John Parr, who died on August 21, 1914 - to lose his life in combat during the First World War and the last: George Lawrence Price, who died on November 11, 1918, rest there.
The German War Graves Commission is responsible for 23 UNESCO World Heritage Sites: World Heritage War Gravesite: German War Graves Commission welcomes UNESCO decision.
