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French Military Cemetery - Chastre (Belgium) |
Important note The World War II
Recogne German Military Cemetery photo portfolio is provided
by Mr. Robert Mary. All
photos on this page are copyright Robert Mary and may only be reproduced
with his express permission. You may contact me here.
The cemetery is located in Chastre, Belgium. 500 French soldiers are
buried there. |
You can
find precise soldier names here (you
will have access to the database of the French
MemorialGenWeb which
you can contact there (select
Jean-Marie Aubry since he is responsible for the list of soldiers
buried in this peculiar cemetery) |
Historical information The military French cemetery in Chastre is a memory place where you will learn about tragic events of the local history. In the cemetery lie the bodies of soldiers who fought during the Battle of Gembloux. Only a few people remember this battle, even in our own country. However, this first tank battle in History was a key event of the May 1940 campaign, as it was the first tactical victory of Allied Forces against the German attack.During 72 hours, German Panzer tanks stopped in their progression, thanks to the strong resistance and the sacrifice of French troops, which included Colonial troops, among them Moroccan, Algerian and even Senegalian soldiers. Unfortunately, the tactical French victory in Gembloux hasn’t been converted by the Higher Command into a Allied strategic advance. As a result, Germany won the May 1940 campaign. But the French sacrifice was not vain, as it provided the English Army with some delay to escape safely from Dunkerque (operation Dynamo) and to pursue the war.The goal of this easy mystery cache is to honor the memory of North African soldiers who fought and died here in an unknown country. Park your geomobile on the parking of the French Cemetery (N50°36.244 E4°37.481). Look at the tombs, most of them belong to Muslims : soldiers of the RTM (Régiment des Tirailleurs Marocains) and of RTA (Régiment des Tirailleurs Algériens). Go then discretely to the stash position (N50°36.248 E4°37.490), which is hidden from visitors view. Before going back, read the Golden Book (N50°36.243 E4°37.464), where some comments are written in Arab. You can add your own comment, but don’t confuse the Cemetery Golden Book with the cache Log Book ;-). The War Graves Service On 27 January, 1920 the Ministère des Pensions was created and it took over responsibility for looking after the military graves and sepulchres. On 11 November 1920 the French 'unknown soldier' (le Soldat Inconnu) was laid in the tomb under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. By the end of 1925 the Ministère des Pensions had carried out 960,000 exhumations from the old First World War battlefields and smaller burial sites. 22,000 bodies of German prisoners of war had been repatriated to Germany for reburial. In September 1939 the French War Graves Service was moved to the War Ministry again. With the liberation of France in 1944 and the end of the war in Europe in May 1945 the responsibility for looking after the military burial sites was passed to the local civilian goverment offices of each of the regional Departments. A law was passed on 16 October 1946 which gave parents the right to remove a soldier from a military cemetery and take him home for reburial. About 125,000 soldiers killed in the First and Second World Wars were removed from military sites at about that time. This law also applied to more recent conflicts involving French troops in Indochina, Korea and Madagascar. Location information The necropolis is
located at "Rue des 15 bonniers" in Chastre. |