Cimetière Allemand de Belleau

This necropolis was built by France in March 1922. It contains graves from 123 different places (temporary cemeteries and individual graves) located between the Chemin des Dames and the Marne. It contains 8,630 bodies (stone crosses). Of the 4,308 bodies in individual graves, 22 could not be identified. Of the 4,322 bodies buried in the two ossuaries, only 487 could be identified. Approximately 70 of the men buried in this cemetery were killed in September and October 1914, during the German advance and retreat after the Battle of the Marne, and finally during the initial fighting on the Chemin des Dames. But 8,500 graves are those of soldiers killed from the German offensive of May 27, 1918, on the Chemin des Dames and the Allied counter-offensive that began on July 18. It should be noted that in this necropolis there are also graves of German prisoners of war who died between the end of 1914 and the beginning of 1918.

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