*VIRTUAL TOUR - The Somme Offensive Continued* Fricourt German Cemetery

Fricourt German War Cemetery

The Fricourt German War Cemetery was established in 1920, by the French Military Authorities, and concentrates the burials from 79 communes in the regions around Bethune, Albert, Combles, Ancre Valley, and Villers-Bretonneux. Most of the fallen were members of the Imperial German Second Army. Of the 17,000 burials, about 1,000 died in the autumn of 1914 and the ensuing trench warfare; about 10,000 during the Somme Offensive; the final 6,000 in the Spring Offensive of 1918 and the ensuing Allied counterattack, the 100 Days Offensive.

In 1929, the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (VDK) started working on the German Military grave registration service and landscaping the Cemetery. It received a new entrance with stairs, and wrought-iron gate and trees and bushes were planted. The community graves got a verge made of natural stone and a planting with game roses. A high wooden cross served as a central mark; however, the problem of a durable and long term marking for the graves remained. In 1939, the eruption of the Second World War saw a suspension of the VDK's work.

After the conclusion of the French-German War grave agreement, from 19th July 1966, the VDK could begin German Military Grave registration services with the final organisation of the German Military Cemeteries in France, dating from the 1st World War. From 1977, the provisional wood grave markers were exchanged with metal crosses with raised names and dates, where possible. The German Federal Armed Forces took over the construction of the concrete foundations necessary for setting up the metal crosses, which were shifted mostly by participants in youth camps.

Among those buried here, was the famous German Fighter Pilot ‘The Red Baron’ Manfred von Richthofen, he was buried for a short time in this Cemetery. He was killed on the 21st April 1918, near Corbie. Engaged in action with two Canadian aircraft, von Richthofen made the mistake of flying too close to Allied lines and was hit by Australian machine-gun fire. His plane crashed near the brickworks on the heights near Corbie, and the Australians buried him, with full Military Honours, at Bertangles. His body was reinterred at Fricourt after the war, but in 1915 he was transferred to Berlin, before being finally laid to rest at Wiesbaden.

The Red Baron