Historical Information (Source: Volksbund)

2,988 German war dead in individual graves First World War

The German military cemetery Dourges was created in August 1915 as a burial place for the victims of the bitter war of positions in the area between Arras and La Bassée. The last burials took place in September 1918, when the area had to be cleared by the German troops. The French military authorities expanded the facility considerably by bedding German war dead from the areas of 27 municipalities up to a distance of 30 kilometers. The course of the war can be seen from the data of the fallen: in 1915 there were constant British and French attacks in this front section. The buried in 1916 found their death in the position war. The dead of 1917 and 1918 were again victims of the Allied large-scale attacks in the Arras area, the German attack in April 1918 west of Lille and the Allied counteroffensive in August - September 1918. Württemberg, Lorraine, Westphalia, East and West Prussia, Poznan, Silesia, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg, Saxony and in the Rhineland.