The German military cemetery in Recogne is located in the hamlet of Recogne. It contains the graves of 6,807 German soldiers and is managed by the German War Graves Commission.
Galerie photos
Hang.christian, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
History
During the winter of 1944-1945, German forces launched the Battle of the Bulge. They surrounded the town of Bastogne but failed to capture it. Heavy fighting eventually led to the recapture of the area by American forces in January 1945.
To honor those who died in this battle, the American authorities established a cemetery in Recogne where approximately 2,700 American soldiers and 3,000 German soldiers were buried. After the war, the remains of the American soldiers were transferred to the American cemetery and memorial in Henri-Chapelle.
Meanwhile, the Belgian authorities began cleaning up the German cemeteries in the area and transferred all the German graves to either Recogne or the German war cemetery in Lommel. However, the Recogne cemetery also contains graves of Germans killed in 1940 or during the occupation.
In 1950, the cemetery was transferred to the German War Graves Commission.
