Oignies Kriegsgräberstätte – German War Cemetery

Historical Information (Source: Volksbund)

Oignies German Military Cemetery contains 727 German war deaths and 25 Russian war deaths First World War

 

The German military cemetery Oignies was set up by the German troops in October 1915 as part of the community cemetery for the reception of a small number of dead at that time. After its occupation in 1914, until the Germans retired in September 1918, the village was a stage and military hospital. Over 500 of those buried here succumbed to their injuries in the hospitals in 1917 alone. The victims come from major British attacks in the spring between Arras and Lens, in the autumn north of Lens and the bitter position war. Another almost 100 of the dead were added as a result of the fighting in the spring of 1918. During the war, the cemetery received a surrounding wall and the burial ground was planted with bushes and trees. The dead belonged to troops whose home garrisons were in Pomerania, Schleswig-Holstein, Brandenburg, Upper Silesia, Saxony, Westphalia, and Hesse-Nassau.