Today I visited the biggest German war cemetary in Holland, counting 31.585 graves. Where 85 of them where killed in ww1.
6.000+ of these guys here where never identified...
Very impressive, makes you look different at life.


With the best regards,
Nick

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Eine Lichtung im Walde wo die Sonne scheint.
Eingeschlossen durch Bäume sind wir gefangen,
in dieser Lichtung Gottes...

what a massive grave yard how did you feel walking around ?
thankyou for showing us these great pituers well done
best krieg

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for thow . will be ours someday.we shall have it all
... und mear.......

Great thread, keep up the good work!

Hard to discribe...

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Eine Lichtung im Walde wo die Sonne scheint.
Eingeschlossen durch Bäume sind wir gefangen,
in dieser Lichtung Gottes...

Dutch Waffen-SS.

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Eine Lichtung im Walde wo die Sonne scheint.
Eingeschlossen durch Bäume sind wir gefangen,
in dieser Lichtung Gottes...

Oh my, I have been looking for pictures from this cemetery for so Long. If only I had known you were there. I am looking for a picture of Major Paul Semrau+ crew grave ( block 0- row 2 graves numbers 37 38 and 39. Any chance you took a photo of the tombstone of these Nachtjägers?

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Thanks for posting this, can you please tell me the name of this cemetery. I'm curious as to how that many soldiers were buried in Holland, surely they could not have been killed on Dutch soil? I want to look this up, thanks again!

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This is a pair of Dutch resistance crystal radios, built into a small metal can, and a matchbox. The image is from a postcard bought at a Dutch Resistance Museum in Amsterdam. The matchbox is marked in Swedish, but Swedish matches were sold in Holland for many years..
Scott

The last one died after the war, did he not?

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Best Regards,
JW

the name is Ysselsteyn. The large majority of these men were killed on Dutch soil ( or sometimes Germany) . This was a combat zone up to May 1945 with combats in 1940 , 1944 and 1945 but also many air combats from 1940 up to 1945 and even pows who died after 1945.

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@Skipper, no sorry. Didn't see that.

@Bigfun, the cemetary lays near Ysselsteyn, thats also the name of the cemetary if I'm correct.

@Slip, indeed, that and other of the Dutch Waffen-SS guys all have a late dates on there gravestone's. Maybe they where executed after the war?

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Eine Lichtung im Walde wo die Sonne scheint.
Eingeschlossen durch Bäume sind wir gefangen,
in dieser Lichtung Gottes...

Any chance that you and/or one of your buddies could go back there one day and get these pictures?

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I'll ask around.

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Eine Lichtung im Walde wo die Sonne scheint.
Eingeschlossen durch Bäume sind wir gefangen,
in dieser Lichtung Gottes...

oops! I just saw that! i guess I should pay more attention to the titles!!
Thanks!!
I'm just surprised at the number, 31 thousand!! I didn't realize the germans suffered losses like that in Holland.
Something else I must read up on! Thanks guys!!

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This is a pair of Dutch resistance crystal radios, built into a small metal can, and a matchbox. The image is from a postcard bought at a Dutch Resistance Museum in Amsterdam. The matchbox is marked in Swedish, but Swedish matches were sold in Holland for many years..
Scott

Not all the Germans that where killed in Holland lay burried here, the number of Germans killed in Holland is far more than 31.000 ....

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Eine Lichtung im Walde wo die Sonne scheint.
Eingeschlossen durch Bäume sind wir gefangen,
in dieser Lichtung Gottes...

Wow, I mean I knew that there were big battles in Holland, but I didn't realize that the losses went that high, or higher!

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This is a pair of Dutch resistance crystal radios, built into a small metal can, and a matchbox. The image is from a postcard bought at a Dutch Resistance Museum in Amsterdam. The matchbox is marked in Swedish, but Swedish matches were sold in Holland for many years..
Scott

A good example is the battle for Kapelsche Veer, this battle took place on a spot not bigger than 1 square km. With more than 1000 German casualties. Than offcourse we have operation Market and Garden who took place here in Holland, also in the province Limburg (south of holland near the Aachen border) many battles took place... and offcourse the battle for the Schelde (Woensdrecht, Bergen op Zoom, Walcheren)... Some battles are maybe quite unkown, but many soldiers got killed here.

And not to forget the airwar above Holland 4/5 years long... and the invasion in May 1940... battle for the "Grebbelinie" etc. who took thousands of lives.

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Eine Lichtung im Walde wo die Sonne scheint.
Eingeschlossen durch Bäume sind wir gefangen,
in dieser Lichtung Gottes...

Blimey, I'm more than familiar with Cannock Chase German cemetery here in the UK
but have never seen shots of such a large & densely occupied resting place.
If I may, some shots I took of Cannock on my last visit, differently
designed markers, mostly 2 men per stone, but very much a similar 'feel' by the looks of it:






The Zeppelin ones from WW1 there are particularly chilling,
as each contains the same full complement of crew, you don't escape from a burning airship:





There's also a very well maintained memorial to the Galician SS division there,
always makes me stop and wonder...

Cheers,
Adam.

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"Wars cannot be fought with dream stuff" - Sir Percy Hobart.

Impressive, these are all German airmen I presume?

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Eine Lichtung im Walde wo die Sonne scheint.
Eingeschlossen durch Bäume sind wir gefangen,
in dieser Lichtung Gottes...

Not exclusively, there's c.5000 chaps interred there gathered from all across the UK between 1959-69. There's a great deal of airmen but also many (presumably) POWs, Army & SS. Sailors too, (I'm told washed up on the shores from naval incidents is the most likely reason for their presence).
There's also a sizeable section devoted to German civilian internees, including some young children & babies.

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"Wars cannot be fought with dream stuff" - Sir Percy Hobart.

Nick back to the cemetary you visited and posted Dutch -SS, have any of the sites been desecrated ?

Thanks Nick, I can wait until the next time. If any of you go there before I do, please contact me and I will send you a list of Luftwaffe crew grave pictures I am looking for.

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