Villers au-Flos

This war cemetery is home to 2,449 German war dead from the First World War. Département Pas-de-Calais The German military cemetery Villers-au-Flos was established by the German troops in October 1914 during the first summer battle. After German troops retook possession of the site in March 1918, further burials took place continuously until August 1918. After the war, the French military authorities reburied around 800 German dead from the surrounding communities, in particular from Bapaume. On this occasion, the monument erected in the Bapaume cemetery was moved here. The inscriptions read: We bow our heads before our dead Who fearlessly and faithfully gave their lives. We laid to rest here what was mortal, their spirit went free to their homeland. and: "The XIV Reserve Corps 1914 - 1918 pays tribute to the comrades who fell in the vicinity of Bapaume with this memorial." The troops resting in this cemetery belonged to units that had their home garrisons in almost all Prussian provinces, in Thuringia, Saxony, Baden, Bavaria, Württemberg and Alsace-Lorraine. Another memorial with an attached bronze cross bears the inscription on the front: "HERE REST GERMAN SOLDIERS" and the years "1914" and "1918" on the sides Final design After the conclusion of the Franco-German War Graves Agreement of July 19, 1966, the German War Graves Commission was able to begin the final design of the German military cemeteries in France from the First World War. From 1978, the temporary wooden grave markers erected by the French military administration were replaced by metal ones with the names and dates of the dead cast in relief. For religious reasons, the graves of fallen Jews were given a natural stone stele instead of a cross. The Hebrew characters read: 1. (above) "Here rests buried .... ." 2. (below) "May his soul be interwoven into the circle of the living." The German Armed Forces were responsible for transporting the concrete foundations required to erect the metal crosses, most of which were laid by participants in Volksbund youth camps. This was followed by a fundamental landscape gardening overhaul, which mainly involved planting greenery on the graves, planting new trees and bushes and maintaining the existing stock. Maintenance: The cemetery is constantly maintained by the Volksbund's maintenance service. Cemeteries of other nations - approx. 2 km southwest in Le Transloy French war cemetery with approx. 725 fallen soldiers in three common graves. They are members of the French infantry regiments 278 and 338 who lost their lives in the battles on August 28 and September 28, 1914. - english war cemetery (Manchester Cemetery) approx. 1 km northwest at the entrance to Riencourt-les-Bapaume with 71 fallen.