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Encyclopedia
Cemetery of Honour
Reimsbach
1939 - 1945

" German Military Cemetery WWII, ❌ Encyclopedia is an information bank, a reference work of knowledge. It offers comprehensive information on a wide variety of topics relating to the 2WW cemetery in Reimsbach, Saarland. Our goal is to make our website your first stop for information on all aspects of military history related to this Cemetery of Honour."

 Copyright © All rights reserved by the author (Skr) Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. The unauthorized use and/or reproduction of these material texts and images without the express written consent of the author and/or owner of this blog is strictly prohibited.  Copyright © All rights reserved by the author (Skr) Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. The unauthorized use and/or reproduction of these material texts and images without the express written consent of the author and/or owner of this blog is strictly prohibited.  Copyright © All rights reserved by the author (Skr) Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. The unauthorized use and/or reproduction of these material texts and images without the express written consent of the author and/or owner of this blog is strictly prohibited.

Introduction

Reimsbach


is located in the district of Merzig-Wadern, in the state of Saarland, Germany

📌 The "Thousand Year Reich" has left its mark everywhere. The graves of millions of victims and soldiers of World War II are scattered around the world. For decades, members had virtually no opportunity to travel to the places where their fathers, husbands, sons, brothers, other relatives, or friends perished.

✅ As far as we know, this graveyard is our only eternal home on planet earth.

❌ What makes this cemetery so special?
The answers are hidden deep in the past of our ancestors.

* To find her, we must take a journey back in our history,
* o see the collapse of the Weimar Republic,
* to witness the Conference and the Treaty of Versailles,
* diving through humiliation and discrimination,
* to ride on the torment and bullying of undisciplined diplomats and politicians,
* to face the collapse of the world economic crisis,
* to feel the bitterness of hunger and economic catastrophe,
* and to experience the fury of World War II.

We must travel back in time until we reach the birth of our ancestors' challenges.
Then we can piece together and discover our incredible story.

❌ and why all this, that's why we're all here.



© by the Author



📌 Encyclopedia

War history website of the Cemetery of Honour

Official
Name
Ehrenfriedhof Reimsbach 1939 - 1945 Copyright ©  All Rights Reserved by the author (Skr)  Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material text and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.
also known as Cemetery of Honour, War Cemetery, Military Cemetery
Inauguration: in spring 1940 by the 95th Infantry Division, German Wehrmacht
Established: in the years 1940 - 1945 by Reichsarbeitsdienst - Reimsbach RAD camp
Reburial: were completed in 1956 by the German War Graves Commission
Cemetery location: was laid out on an area of 6800m² as a forest cemetery
Coordinates: 49°27'19.2"N, 6°45'49.0"E at altitude 270 MASL
Address: Kriegerfriedhofstraße, 66701 Beckingen OT. Reimsbach, Kreis - Merzig-Wadern, Bundesland - Saarland, Deutschland Copyright ©  All Rights Reserved by the author (Skr)  Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material text and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.
Link to
in:
GB Flag-icon

visit: 👉 👉 👉 Encyclopedia


×

Cemetery area
Total number of graves: 314 single graves, each marked with an iron ✞
from the sum: 289 - German
from the sum: 1 - Polish / ethnic Germans
from the sum: 7 - former Soviet
from the sum: 17 - unknown
the first buried: ✞ 13.May.1940, Monday morning at approximate 5.30am Private (Gefreiter) 👉 KEHL Reinhold was the first fallen soldiers of his unit were to be mourned during the battles on the Siegfried Line and was also the first buried here at the War Cemetery in Reimsbach.

Copyright ©  All Rights Reserved by the author (Skr)  Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material text and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

👉 👉 👉 KEHL Reinhold - we remember


Age: 28
the last buried: ✞ 1945, 👉 Friedrichsen Hans was mortally wounded near Reimsbach, Germany. He is also the last soldier buried here at the War Cemetery in Reimsbach.

Copyright ©  All Rights Reserved by the author (Skr)  Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material text and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

👉 👉 👉 Friedrichsen Hans - we remember


Age: 22
the youngest: ✞ 30.Nov.1944, Thursday 👉 Linke Siegfried was mortally wounded near Nalbach by Dillingen/Saar, Germany. He is also the youngest fallen soldier buried here at the War Cemetery in Reimsbach.

Copyright ©  All Rights Reserved by the author (Skr)  Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material text and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

👉 👉 👉 Linke Siegfried - we remember


Age: 17
the oldest: ✞ 22.June.1940, Saturday the day of the Armistice which was signed at 18:36 near Compiègne, France, 👉 Weiner Wilhelm was mortally wounded in Dahlstein/Lothringen France. He is also the oldest fallen soldier buried here at the War Cemetery in Reimsbach during the French campaign.

Copyright ©  All Rights Reserved by the author (Skr)  Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material text and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

👉 👉 👉 Weiner Wilhelm - we remember


Age: 55+

id="waldfriedhof"
Forest Cemetery
Reimsbach
Grabstätte
Historische Informationen:
On historical ground, not far from an old Roman road on which Roman legionnaires once marched into Germanic territory, the 👉 95. Infanterie-Division the German Wehrmacht built their first military cemetery high in the pine forest.

Reimsbach 1939/40: 1. Military Cemetery of the 95th Infantry Division German Wehrmacht:

On the way of 👉 95. ID der Deutschen Wehrmacht > lies the first military cemetery, which was founded in the spring of 1940 by the 👉 95. Infanterie-Division was inaugurated in Reimsbach.

The small town of Reimsbach is located in the northern part of Saarland, which is bordered by Rhineland-Palatinate to the north and east, France to the south and south-west and Luxembourg to the west. The capital is Saarbrucken


 Copyright © All Rights Reserved by the author (Skr)  Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material text and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.
Reimsbach 2008: During the war, the Reimsbach families took care of the graves. After the end of the war, the Saarland Ministry of the Interior transferred the maintenance of the cemetery to the then independent municipality of Reimsbach. The state government later took the facility back into its care.

 Copyright © All Rights Reserved by the author (Skr)  Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material text and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Reimsbach 2015: The cemetery received its current structural form in 1950. On an area of around 6800 m² there is a 👉 burial ground and a forecourt, which are spatially separated from each other.

 Copyright © All Rights Reserved by the author (Skr)  Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material text and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Link to:

viisit 👉 👉 👉 Reimsbach PhotoGallery



Excerpt from the war diary of the 95th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht t
Arrival of the
95. Information Div.
of the Wehrmacht:
At the end of December 1939 the division was transferred to the western front between Merzig, Beckingen, Dillingen and Reimsbach/Saar.
On September 19, 1939, the two medical companies San.Kp.1/195 and San.Kp.2/195, including hospital 195, were founded in Wildflecken and Hammelburg.
The Medical Services 195 were subordinate to the 95th Infantry Division of the German Wehrmacht.

Photo credit: to http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/Korps/Karte/XII0540-3.jpg, Situation map dated 20.May.1940, showing the location of the respective Infantry Division of the  German Wehrmacht including the 95th. Inf. Div.


278 Infantry Regiment of the Wehrmacht: Details of the war accident of March 20, 1940:

An excerpt from the war diary of the 95th Infantry Division of the German Wehrmacht, describing the circumstances under which Lieutenant Gottbehüt did not return from patrol with his comrades, reads as follows:

The ambush was 500 meters northwest of Zeurange on French soil.
Zeurange is a small Lorraine village across the border on French soil just 2.0 km southwest of Oberesch a German village in the municipality of Rehlingen-Siersburg, Saarland, Germany.

Photo credit: to Google map

On Wednesday, March 20, 1940, at around 1:30 a.m., the squadron company led by Lieutenant Gottbehüt, consisting of an officer, a sergeant and 4 men, was ambushed by the enemy during a night operation north-west of Zeurange on French soil.

Lieutenant Gottbehüt was assigned to lead a Patrol Scout troop from Cyclist Squadron 195 deep into the enemy line during the night to identify enemy positions.
Lieutenant Gottbehüt and Oberschützen Chudy Heinz and Henning Heinrich were mortally wounded.
Feldwebel Lehner was wounded and captured.

278 Infantry Regiment of the Wehrmacht: Details of the war accident of May 13, 1940:

An excerpt from the war diary of the 2nd Kp. Infanterieregiment 278, describing the circumstances in which their own assault groups could not reach the height of 262 and suffered heavy casualties: 28 killed and 25 wounded in one day read as follows:

The location of the altitude of 262 is 2 km. west of Niedaltdorf

Copyright ©  All Rights Reserved by the author (Skr)  Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material text and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

The 278th Infantry Regiment was set up on September 19, 1939 at the Wildflecken and Hammelburg training areas from personnel units of WW VI and placed under the 95th Infantry Division.

At the end of February 1940, the regiment was transferred to the Beckingen area, where it served as border security at the front.
From May 10, 1940, the regiment was used for strong reconnaissance troops and to obtain favorable starting positions for an attack on the Maginot Line.
On May 13, 1940, the reinforced 2nd company of the regiment attacked Hill 262 in front of their own rows.

This was occupied like a base by the French and British armies.
On May 12, 1940, under cover of darkness, the 11th company and the 2nd company secured the bridge over the Remeldorfer Bach: 1 group was on the bridge, 1 group on the group of trees south of Remeldorf and 1 group on the eastern slope up to the hill 262.
On May 13, 1940, at 5:21 a.m., our own heavy weapons opened fire on the enemy positions.
After four minutes, the enemy fired a green flare.
However, this illuminated sign was also the signal for our own artillery to stop firing, rendering it almost ineffective.
As a result, their own assault groups could not reach the height of 262 and suffered heavy losses: 28 killed and 25 wounded.


278 Infantry Regiment of the Wehrmacht: War Accident Details from May 14, 1940:

An excerpt from the 2nd. Kp. Infanterie Regiment 278 War Diary which described the circumstances under which their own attack groups could not rise to the height of 340 and suffered heavy losses: 23 dead and 44 wounded in one day reads as follows:

Location of the height of 340 is approximately 500 meters north of Heiningen, which is a small Lorraine village across the border on French soil just 1.5km southwest of Ihn a German village in the municipality of Rehlingen-Siersburg, Saarland, Germany.

Copyright ©  All Rights Reserved by the author (Skr)  Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material text and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

On May 14, 1940, 4:10 a.m., Tuesday dawn 4:19 a.m., the operation had begun as planned. Under cover of darkness, the 2./J.R. 278 in position to attack Hill 340 north of Heiningen on French soil.

Height 340 Right Page ::
On the right side of the 2nd/J.R. 278 and to secure their position there a 1 M.G. requested. The protection unit with M.G. was able to secure against enemy attacks from the Gürstling forest.
Height 340 Right Page:
On the right side of the 2nd/J.R. 280 and to reinforce their position, a protection unit with flamethrowers was requested, which, in conjunction with the Engineer Battalion 195, supported the attack from the north against the fortified blockhouses 1, 2 and 3 at Height 340.

Height 340 Left side:
On the left side of the 2nd/J.R. 278 and to secure their position there applied for an 1s. M.G. protection unit, which was to protect against the enemy attack from Heiningen against the rear front.
Height 340 Left side:
On the left side of elevation 340 was the 3./J.R. 280 stationary and to reinforce their position a flamethrower-equipped protection unit was called in to join forces with Engineer Battalion 195 to support the attack from the east against fortified Blockhouses 4 and 5 at Height 340.

At 4:40 a.m., the German artillery placed Height 340 directly under fire.
At 5:10 a.m. the German artillery fired directly at the fortified block huts at height 340.
5:50 a.m. the attempt of the left 2./J.R. 278 spy unit to break into the enemy fortified blockhouses failed. In the enemy M.G. Btl. Kdr. Major Karl Schneider was mortally wounded 10 meters from the enemy's nest of resistance.
At 6:40 a.m. the fortified log cabins number 1, 2 and 3 at height 340 were taken.
At 7:40 a.m., Hill 340 was successfully taken and declared clear of the enemy.
At 10:30 p.m., the apron commander takes command of height 340.


Link to:
Copyright ©  All Rights Reserved by the author (Skr)  Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material text and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

visit 👉 👉 👉 we remember - Btl. Kdr. Major Karl Schneider


Link to:
in
GB Flag-icon

visit: 👉 👉 👉 War graves on the way of the
95th Infantry Division of the German Wehrmacht



Cemetery 1939 - 1945 (1956)
Chart A: 1940:

The 👉 burial ground at the Reimsbach military cemetery was laid out as a west-east burial site,
The soldiers' burial site was laid out with their heads to the west and feet to the east, facing the rising sun and moon..
Thus, an ancient historical tradition for the Christian believer in the resurrection of the dead, facing the body east will enable the dead to see the Second Coming of Jesus.

The 👉 Cemetery burial site from row M to row U is for 136 soldiers mortally wounded on the western front in 1940:

Copyright ©  All Rights Reserved by the author (Skr)  Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material text and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Chart B: 1956:

Until 1956, reburials were carried out from and to the war cemetery in Reimsbach by the German War Graves Commission:

Grand total: 314 Einzelgrab,
jedes mit einem Eisen ✞ markiert
von der Gesamtsumme: 289 Deutsche Soldaten
von der Gesamtsumme: 1 polnisch/volksdeutsch
von der Gesamtsumme: 7 ehemalige sowjetische
von der Gesamtsumme: 17 Unbekannt


Chart C: 1956:

Until 1956, burials were carried out from and to the war cemetery in Reimsbach by the German War Graves Commission:

1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 total
Jan. 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 9
Feb. 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3
Mär 0 3 0 0 0 0 4 7
Apr 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
May 0 85 0 0 0 1 4 90
Jun 0 36 0 0 0 0 0 36
Jul. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Aug 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2
Sep 1 0 0 0 0 5 0 6
Oct 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 3
Nov 2 0 0 0 0 48 0 50
Dec. 0 1 0 0 0 107 0 108
Total 5 126 0 0 0 136 20 314


Chart D: 1956:

The cemetery received its current structural form in 1956. On a plot of around 6800 m² there is a 👉 burial ground and a forecourt, which are spatially separated from each other.

A sketch of the 👉 Cemetery burial site from Row A to Row U in 1956 is shown below:

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Chart E: 1956:

The final 👉 Cemetery tomb from Row A through Row U, shows the burial arrangement of 314 soldiers who were mortally wounded on the Western Front from 1939 to 1945 and buried at this Forest Cemetery.

Copyright ©  All Rights Reserved by the author (Skr)  Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material text and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Chart F: 1956:

Table 1 below shows the percentage of soldiers buried here between 1939 and 1945.
It also tells us that 1941, 1942 and 1943 were quiet and there was less war activity on the western front:

Copyright ©  All Rights Reserved by the author (Skr)  Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material text and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.


Memorial Day
Memorial Day: 1941, 1965, 2017:

The commemoration day at the Reimsbach Cemetery dates back to March 1941, after the first victims of World War II were buried.
Since this year, a memorial for the victims of the war has been held in Reimsbach every autumn on the day of national mourning.
Soldiers standing as honor guard pay their last respects to the fallen.

Copyright ©  All Rights Reserved by the author (Skr)  Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material text and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

For more information:

visit 👉 👉 👉 Memorial Day



Memorial Plaque
Memorial Plaque: Memorial Plaque - 95th Inf. Div. German Wehrmacht:

In memory of our comrades-in-arms of the 95th Infantry Division who are buried in the Far East.
A commemorative plaque with the epitaph for their brothers-in-arms in the Far East of the 95th Infantry Division of the German Wehrmacht was attached to a sandstone wall below the high cross at the end of the Reimsbach military cemetery.

Copyright ©  All Rights Reserved by the author (Skr)  Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material text and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

For more information:

visit 👉 👉 👉 War graves on the path of the 95th Infantry Division of the German Wehrmacht



Bronze Statue:
Bronze Statue: Cemetery forecourt

In the forecourt there is a bronze statue by the Saarland sculptor Oswald Hiery from Wallerklingen-Ihn, which was unveiled in 1977 by the Saarland Minister of the Interior at the time.
In a realistic depiction, his work shows two men dragging a mortally wounded man, as a symbol of the helplessness of people in the face of violent death. The helmet worn by one of the three naked men is considered a classic symbol of war, indicating struggle and destruction, victory and defeat.

Copyright ©  All Rights Reserved by the author (Skr)  Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material text and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

For more information:

visit 👉 👉 👉 Memorial Day



Image Gallery
Photos: From spring, summer, autumn, winter:

Traveling to new cemeteries at any time of the year is always an adventure without knowing what to expect.
The military cemetery in Reimsbach is embedded like a garden in the forest high above the village of Reimsbach at the end of the Kriegerfriedhofstraße.
After a winter storm in recent years, single maple trees were planted in the cemetery, symbolizing strength and perseverance.
It is also a ritual to visit the cemetery in the fall to see that the maple leaves have turned this crimson colour.

Copyright ©  All Rights Reserved by the author (Skr)  Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material text and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

For more information:

visit 👉 👉 👉 Photo Gallery



Footer
Please note: Very important to know

✅ Many people go missing in the war, causing fear and insecurity among their families and friends. People have the right to know what happened to their missing loved ones. Governments, armed forces and armed groups have an obligation to provide information and help with family reunification.

Often I came across information that family members found their missing loved ones after 60 years and months.

As a result of our research, the following results were obtained for the cemetery in Reimsbach:

that not all the names of the victims buried here were spelled correctly, as indicated on their birth certificates.
In the data sheet of the burial documents from 1956 and the German War Graves Commission, they were written incorrectly or differently for reasons that we do not yet know.
For more information:

visit 👉 👉 👉 Reihe A - U




Research Data: Research Data:

❌ Our research data comes from the original burial data sheet from 1956, as well as information from contemporary witnesses from the village in Reimsbach, from several war diaries of the German Wehrmacht, the US Army, the British Army, the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge eV (VDK) and pictures from 1940, 1965, 2008, 2015, 2018.
For more information:

visit 👉 👉 👉 Contact & Impressum




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External Links
External Links : Volksbund deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (Website)
Link to :

Photo credit: to  volksbund.de 👉www.volksbund.de - Gräbersuche Online

Link to:

👉 Volksbund deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge map - Kriegsgräberstätten Weltweit


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