German War Cemetery, Lommel, Belgium
Originally an American Cemetery, this is now the largest German WW2 burial ground outside of Germany. It contains the graves of 38, 962 soldiers of the 39-'45 war and 541 of the 14-'18 war. Initially a temporary American cemetery, it was ceded to the Germans during 46-'47. The Belgian authorities then transferred all German soldiers killed in Belgium to Lommel, as well as the First World War burials originally made at Leopoldsburg. One cross was erected for every two burials so that nearly 20, 000 crosses covered the 16 hectare site. Between 1978-80 the original enamel name-plates were changed to metal ones. They show, when known, the rank, dates of birth and death and grave number. Originally 13, 000 of the fallen were unknown. After the German-Belgian War Graves Agreement the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgraberfursorge (German War Graves Organisation) succeeded in identifying 7, 000 of them and the work still continues
