Belgium Langemark German cemetery (#0356)

44,924.....

The cemetery contains 44,924 war dead, the vast majority of which are unidentified. The rectangular grave markers in this picture designate locations where eight soldiers, identified and unidentified, are buried; behind me is a mass grave described in later pictures.

From what I can put together, it seems that the area where the cemetery is located was originally what was known as the 'student cemetery' due to being the burial ground of the large number of German students who died in the first battles of Ypres. At some point in the 1930's this area was laid out as a German cemetery by (or for) the Volksbund, a German charity that manages the cemetery. Various accounts suggest that there was a battle line through here during the war, so I could not figure out what happened at this location from early in the war until the 1930's. In the 1950’s there was a decision to consolidate the graves of Germans that were scattered across Belgium into a smaller number of cemeteries, including this one. Thus many of those buried here died elsewhere in Belgium.

See: www.greatwar.co.uk/ypres-salient/cemetery-langemark.htm and www.digi-cms.be/langemark-poelkapelle2.be/toerisme-en/590-www/592-www.html