Grebbeberg War Cemetery | |
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Netherlands War Graves Foundation Oorlogsgravenstichting | |
![]() Cross of Remembrance at the entrance | |
Used for those deceased 1940–1945 | |
Established | 20-5-1940 |
Location | 51°57′21″N5°36′1″E / 51.95583°N 5.60028°E Coordinates: 51°57′21″N5°36′1″E / 51.95583°N 5.60028°E near |
Designed by | Jacobus Oud |
Total burials | 850 |
Burials by war | |
Grebbeberg War Cemetery (Dutch : Militair Ereveld Grebbeberg) is a Second World War military war grave cemetery, located on the Grebbeberg, a hill 2 km (1.2 mi) east of Rhenen the Netherlands. The cemetery contains 799 military personnel and one civilian who died during the invasion of the Netherlands by the Germans in May 1940. More than 400 of those interred in the cemetery fell during the Battle of the Grebbeberg.
Immediately after the surrender of the Netherlands, a cemetery was laid out at the Grebbeberg for both Dutch and German dead. On 20 May 1940, the cemetery was completed and all the dead were buried. On 27 May all field graves were cleared from around Grebbeberg and the remains were reburied within the cemetery.
The cemetery contained 380 Dutch graves and about 150 German graves. The graves were marked with wooden signs with the name of the soldier, if known. In 1942, a stone wall was built around the cemetery and all tombstones were replaced with headstones. Until that time, many family members or relatives had their own headstone placed on the grave. After the German surrender andfollowing the end of the war, all German graves were moved to the Ysselsteyn German war cemetery. Until 1 January 1952 the cemetery was maintained by the Ministry of Defence, which at that date, transferred it to the Netherlands War Graves Foundation . [1]
The reconstruction of the history of the National Army Monument Grebbeberg shows how the designer, architect J.J.P. Oud, in 1948–1953 conducted intensive consultations with the client about the meaning and symbolism of the monument. [2]
Since the 1960s, many soldiers were moved from local graves to the cemetery.
The cemetery has a special significance because it is located exactly at the point in the Netherlands where the fiercest fighting took place during the Second World War. After the surrender, it became the first official Dutch war cemetery. After the fighting (and the Dutch capitulation) the German occupiers ordered a search for victims from both sides to have them properly buried. [1]
Since 1946, this cemetery serves as a national memorial site. Here the military memorial ceremony held on Remembrance of the Dead, 4 May. In addition, on Whit, a commemoration of the former Eighth Regiment Infantry takes place, where all the colleagues who died during the May days are commemorated.
Remembrance of the Dead is held annually on May 4 in the Netherlands. It commemorates all civilians and members of the armed forces of the Kingdom of the Netherlands who have died in wars or peacekeeping missions since the beginning of the Second World War.
Rhenen is a municipality and a city in the central Netherlands. The municipality also includes the villages of Achterberg, Remmerden, Elst and Laareind. The town lies at a geographically interesting location, namely on the southernmost part of the chain of hills known as the Utrecht Hill Ridge, where this meets the river Rhine. Because of this Rhenen has a unique character with quite some elevation through town.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars. The commission is also responsible for commemorating Commonwealth civilians who died as a result of enemy action during the Second World War. The commission was founded by Sir Fabian Ware and constituted through Royal Charter in 1917 as the Imperial War Graves Commission. The change to the present name took place in 1960.
The Georgian uprising on Texel was an insurrection by the 882nd Infantry Battalion Königin Tamara of the Georgian Legion of the German Army stationed on the German-occupied Dutch island of Texel. The battalion was made up of 800 Georgians and 400 Germans, with mainly German officers. It was one of the last battles in the European theatre.
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Jacobus Johannes Pieter Oud, commonly called J. J. P. Oud was a Dutch architect. His fame began as a follower of the De Stijl movement.
Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery and Memorial is a Second World War Commonwealth War Graves Commission military war grave cemetery, located in the village of Groesbeek, 8 km (5.0 mi) southeast of Nijmegen in the Netherlands. Of the total 2,619 burials, the cemetery contains 2,338 Canadian soldiers. It was built to a design by Commission architect Philip Hepworth.
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Sai Wan War Cemetery is a military cemetery located in Chai Wan, Hong Kong which was built in 1946. The cemetery was created to commemorate soldiers of Hong Kong Garrison who perished during the Second World War. The cemetery also contains 12 World War I burials. A total of 1,528 soldiers, mainly from the Commonwealth, are commemorated here. Most of the remaining burials are located at the Stanley Military Cemetery.
Ardennes American Cemetery and Memorial is a Second World War American military war grave cemetery, located in the village of Neuville-en-Condroz, near the southeast edge of Neupré, some 20 km (12 mi) south-west of Liège in Belgium. The cemetery, dedicated in 1960, contains 5,329 American war dead and covers 90.5 acres (36.6 ha). It is one of three American war cemeteries in Belgium, the other two being at Flanders Field and Henri-Chapelle and is administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC).
The Grebbe Line was a forward defence line of the Dutch Water Line, based on inundation. The Grebbe Line ran from the Grebbeberg in Rhenen northwards until the IJsselmeer.
The Grebbeberg is a 52-meter high hill located east of Rhenen, Netherlands in the province of Utrecht. It forms the southeastern tip of the Utrechtse Heuvelrug, a moraine. Due to its strategic location with a view of the Lower Rhine and the Betuwe, this hill was historically of great importance. The Grebbe Line was constructed from here in the 18th century. The hill is best known for the Battle of the Grebbeberg in May 1940. On the Grebbeberg is the Grebbeberg War Cemetery where Dutch soldiers are buried.
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The Battle of the Grebbeberg was a major engagement during the Battle of the Netherlands, which was a part of the World War II Operation Fall Gelb in 1940.
The St Symphorien Military Cemetery is a First World War Commonwealth War Graves Commission burial ground in Saint-Symphorien, Belgium. It contains the graves of 284 German and 229 Commonwealth soldiers, principally those killed during the Battle of Mons. The cemetery was established by the German Army on land donated by Jean Houzeau de Lehaie. It was initially designed as a woodland cemetery before being redesigned by William Harrison Cowlishaw after the Imperial War Graves Commission took over maintenance of the cemetery after the war.
The Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery, more commonly known as the Airborne Cemetery, is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in Oosterbeek, near Arnhem, the Netherlands. It was established in 1945 and is home to 1764 graves from the Second World War besides 4 later non-war graves and there are special memorials of two personnel buried elsewhere. Most of the men buried in the cemetery were Allied servicemen killed in the Battle of Arnhem, an Allied attempt to cross the Rhine in 1944, or in the liberation of the city the following year. Men killed in these battles are still discovered in the surrounding area even in the 21st century, and so the number of people interred in the cemetery continues to grow.
During World War II, the Netherlands was the scene of five years of continuous air warfare between the Allied and the Nazis as the Netherlands lies en route from England to Germany and was designated and built up as the foremost line of Nazi air defence of Germany. Also, in 1944 there was heavy land fighting during the largest Allied airborne attack of the WWII in the south and east of the country in 1944–45. Thousands of airmen, soldiers and others of many nations were killed, and their war graves in some 4,000 locations are in the care of the Dutch War Cemetery Organisation.
Willem Pieter Landzaat was a Dutch military officer who died during the Battle of the Grebbeberg.
The Belgian Military Field of Honour 1914–1918, is a burial site located at the Oostergaarde Cemetery of the Dutch city Harderwijk in Gelderland. Originally, thirty-six soldiers were buried at the site. Nowadays, 349 Belgian soldiers from the First World War are commemorated. These include 124 individuals whose names feature on a monument because their remains could not be retrieved anymore. The cemetery was inaugurated on 28 September 1963 by the Belgian ambassador. The gravestones are similar to the ones used by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and are varying from the official Belgian gravestones. The burial site is administered by the Dutch Oorlogsgravenstichting.