Quote:
Originally posted by herkman
What I find a little disapointing, is the disposal and apparent lack of retrevial, of many of the war dead. Surely they deserve a more fitting end, than to be buried in some field and forgotten.
Michael Wittmann, appears to be one of Germanies finest tank commanders, and yet today he lies hardly marked in a German war grave, with just his name and date of birth.
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Two points, Col... first, on the type of double-intense battlefields such as was Normandy, the dead from both sides were left where they fell, to be identified and buried by followup forces (usually by the padres). Of course, they went to great pains to identify our men and record the locations of their graves for retrieval in future, but the simple fact is the German casualties had no such service, and were usually put under the ground as fast as possible (it could have been the other way around had the Germans been winning). It may not have been right, but it was the necessity of the times.
Secondly, every German military cemetery I've been in on the continent (not very many I grant you) has its dead buried two, three or even five to a grave. I presume it was sometime after the war when German authorities organized the retrieval, identification and interrment of its fallen; inevitably, as has happened to us as well, bodies are missed and only come to light years later, and no, some can never be identified. It's just a guess but I suggest the percentage is about the same for both sides.