This tomb has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since September 2023.
Burial
10,685 German war dead, 502 British, 192 Russian and 6 Romanian casualties from the First World War are buried in two cemeteries on the "Route de Solesmes".
Of the 10,685 German casualties, 7,939 are buried in individual graves. Of these, 242 remain unknown. There are 2,746 victims buried in the common grave. Only 442 are known by name. For religious reasons, the 26 graves of fallen Jews were given a natural stone headstone instead of a cross.
History
The German military cemetery in Cambrai was established by the German troops in March 1917 after the first site at the Porte-de-Paris was occupied. At the time, Cambrai was the center of military command posts, supplies and military hospitals. Wounded Germans, French and English alike were treated here. Those who died were given a grave at the new joint war cemetery.
Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Kreis - architect and co-founder of the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e. V. in 1919 - designed the memorial in 1917, which is still the focal point of the site today. Other small memorials were also erected by the Germans where enemy soldiers had been buried.
The number of burials increased with the battles at Arras in April 1917 and the British attack on Cambrai in November with the first mass deployment of armored fighting vehicles and the counterattack in December 1917. The German offensive in March 1918 and the defensive battles in September and October 1918 also claimed many victims.
Those laid to rest in Cambrai belonged to units whose home garrisons were located in almost all countries and Prussian provinces in what was then the German Reich. Members of the "Boelcke Hunting Squadron", which was stationed in Cambrai for some time, also rest in the cemetery. Some of those who died in 1918 belonged to units that first appeared on the German side at this time: Schwere Kampfwagen-Abt.15, Panzerwagen-Abt.11, Marineinf. regiments 1 to 3.
Between 1921 and 1924, the French military authorities expanded the cemetery by reburying German war dead who had previously been buried in civilian and provisional cemeteries in the region or whose remains were later found in the battlefields. This also brought fallen soldiers from the war years 1914 to 1916 to Cambrai.
The British cemeteries were designed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission with specially designed grave steles and a memorial in the shape of a Celtic cross.
The first work to improve the condition of the cemetery was carried out by the War Graves Commission in the 1930s. The basis for this was an agreement with the responsible French military authorities from 1926. The problem of permanently marking the graves remained unresolved due to a lack of foreign currency and the Second World War from 1939.
After the conclusion of the Franco-German War Graves Agreement of July 19, 1966, the Volksbund - financially supported by the German government - began the final design of the German military cemeteries in France. It added trees and bushes, renewed the hedges and landscaped the entire cemetery area.
From 1977, the Volksbund replaced the previous temporary grave markers made of concrete and wood with crosses made of natural stone with engraved names and dates.
Special feature
In September 2023, UNESCO declared 139 cemeteries of the First World War as World Heritage Sites. 24 German graves are in the care of the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V. - Cambrai is one of them.
