The difference in the way countries and cultures tackle the issue of their dead service personnel is interesting. Normandy and North Eastern France/Belgium were revealing areas to visit, not only for the differences but also for the sheer number and range of cemeteries in the battlefield areas.
The US one at Colleville Sur Mer, which featured in 'Saving Private Ryan,' receives over two million visitors every year. Almost 10,000 US troops are buried there - barely a third of the total killed. 64% of the bodies were repatriated to the States at the behest of their families. The place is immaculately maintained, has a large visitor centre/museum and a huge memorial. Row upon row of simple white crosses with name, rank, age and date of death on them. Soldiers who received the Medal of Honor had their details written in gold. The site overlooks the Omaha Beach where many Americans died trying to get ashore and inland.
Not far away is the large German Cemetery at La Cambe. What a contrast. The French were distinctly unhappy at the idea of giving land to their invaders. Bodies initially buried in many other parts of Normandy were re-buried here in the fifties - many by members of the International Peace Corps who used volunteer young people for the task. The Museum/Exhibition Centre promotes world peace and has many anti-war messages. Because space is at a premium, many grave sites contain 4 or more bodies (or what was left of them). In the centre is a large mound with a sombre statue on it and this covers several thousand unknown soldiers. Again, well maintained, with symbolic rows of 4 dark crosses - the actual graves are flat tablets on the ground with name, rank and date of death (if known). Very few of the graves have any other adornment. There was one though, which stood out. The grave of SS Obersturmfuhrer Michael Wittman had German flags, flowers and wreaths on it. Turns out he was an ace tank commander who knocked out over a hundred tanks on the Eastern Front and then added another 30+ in Normandy. He was killed when his tank was surrounded by five allied tanks who fired simultaneously at it. His grave is probably like so many others, symbolic rather than real.
The British and Commonwealth cemeteries were different again. Immaculately maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, they contained row upon row of simple headstones with lovely flowerbeds. Each stone had the name, rank, regiment, date of death and crucially a statement from the family. Many of these were of the 'He did his duty' type or quotations from the bible. A good third were heartfelt, simple messages to a beloved son, husband, father. Absolutely devastating to read the impact the deaths had on those left behind. Powerful and very affecting.
In the Artois area north of Arras there is a French National Cemetery which contained the remains of over 80,000 soldiers killed in that area in the first World War. There were nearly 50,000 buried, another 20,000 remains in an ossuary (bone store). This had a huge tower on top which could be seen for miles. In addition there were two patches of ground, each about the size of a penalty area containing another 10,000 bodies who were unknown and unidentified. The markings on the simple crosses of those buried there - a name and date of death - nothing else.
The French lost one million, three hundred thousand men from a population of 40 million, mainly between the ages of 18 - 40. The Germans lost over a million as did the British and Commonwealth forces. Why? What was it all for?
The state of the battlefields, particularly in the First World War was such that vast numbers of killed were never found. The colossal Thiepval Memorial by the Somme has the names of over 75,000 British and Commonwealth troops on it who were never found. The site also has a new museum, part of which has a small theatre playing a slide/soundtrack of the build up to the battle (of the Somme), what happened and the aftermath. Tears streaming at the colossal waste, the folly of the Pals Battalions and the arrogant stupidity of the general staff, it is an emotionally very powerful place.
The town of Ypres (known to the Tommies as 'Wipers') was completely flattened between 1914 and 1918. At the end of the war, Winston Churchill wanted to keep it as a permanent memorial to the fallen. The French did this in the area around Verdun. The good people of Ypres had other ideas however and the whole place was rebuilt in the medieval style of the original. And very well done it was too. They did allow a massive memorial to be built within the town - the Menin Gate. This is another place of pilgrimage for relatives from all over the world. On this marble and stone archway are listed over 50,000 names of missing British and Commonwealth troops from the battlefields around Ypres. At 8-00pm every night the traffic is stopped and the last post is played. Members of the War Graves Commission staff take it in turns to perform the task along with members of the Ypres Fire Brigade. It is a most moving ceremony. The fact that the arch embraces a busy roadway into Ypres is somehow apt. As the citizens go about their daily business they are reminded just how important this place has become to peoples from around the world.
The German cemeteries in this area are different in style from La Cambe in Normandy. The Germans came to stay and therefore devoted a lot more pomp and stature to their WW1 fallen. They are well maintained with the predominant marking being 'Eine Deutche Soldat.' Seeing the devastation caused in this area by repeated German Imperialism, it is amazing to see how well the countries get on within the EU.
The surprising thing about the British cemeteries was the sheer number of them. Having expected to see some huge ones, it was unexpected to see marker after marker at crossroads, pointing the way to yet more cemeteries. Outside villages, in towns, by main roads, in fields, small, medium and large. Just so many - and all beautifully maintained. And all places of homage.
One of the most affecting places visited was outside the village of Poziers. This was a fiercely fought over patch of ground and claimed the lives of 23,000 Australian officers and men who launched 19 attacks in 45 days. The ruined windmill stands as a significant reminder of the grim events of 94 years ago. Instead of giant marble columns and anguished statues there were simply lots of tiny Australian flags fluttering in the wind on a small mound alongside wreaths and small memorial crosses.
Finally, one discovery which needs more research. There is a quote in 'The First World War' by John Keegan, in a passage about the fiasco of Gallipoli, which takes some comprehending, "The Turks, who bothered neither to bury or count their dead, had probably lost 300,000 men killed, wounded and missing."
The Turks neither buried or counted their dead! Can that be true? And if so, why?
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