Neuville-St Vaast German war cemetery

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Neuville-St Vaast German War Cemetery
German War Graves Commission (Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge)
The sea of crosses at Neuville-St. Vaast
Used for those deceased 1914-1918
Established	1919
Location	near Neuville-Saint-Vaast, near Arras, France
Total burials	44,833
Burials by nation
Imperial Germany
Burials by war
World War I

The Neuville-St Vaast German War Cemetery is located in Neuville-Saint-Vaast, a small village, near Arras, Pas-de-Calais, in northern France. The cemetery was established by the French in 1919 as a concentration cemetery for German war casualties from the regions north and east of Arras. ^[1] It is now administered by the German War Graves Commission, (Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge).

It is the largest German cemetery in France, containing 44,833 burials. There is no central building, just a field of crosses, with soldiers buried four to a grave. There are, too, a few headstones for Jewish soldiers who fell fighting for Imperial Germany. The bulk of the fatalities occurred during the Battles of Artois in Autumn 1914, Spring 1915 and Autumn 1915; and the Battles of Arras in Autumn 1914, Spring 1917 and Spring 1918.