Reichswald Forest War Cemetery

The Annual Remembrance Service was held at the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery on Sunday 12th November 2006.  The cemetery is 5 km south west of Kleve on the Dutch/German border.  It is the largest Commonwealth cemetery of either world war, in terms of area, and contains over 7,650 graves.  After the end of the War in 1945, thousands of graves of soldiers and airmen were brought from burial places in western Germany to lie in the Reichswald.  Many of the soldiers who rest here perished in the grim battle of the Rhineland.  Some fought and died in the advance through the forest itself in February 1945.  Many others died in the crossing of the Rhine, among them men of the airborne forces whose bodies were brought from Hamminkeln where the 6th British Airborne Division made a landing from bases in England.  Nearly 4,000 airmen are buried in the cemetery.  Some lost their lives in supporting the advance into Germany, but most died in the earlier years of the war, in the intensive air attacks on German targets, and were brought to the Reichswald from cemeteries and isolated burial places in the neighbouring area.  When viewing the cemetery from the main entrance the soldiers’ graves lie to the right, the airmen’s to the left.

For many years the Remembrance Service at Reichswald was organised by RAF Laarbruch, when the Station closed the Support Battalion, a British Unit, from NATO’s Ace Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) took over the organisation of the event.  This year due to operational commitments the Service was organised by the Rheindahlen Support Unit.  The Service was conducted by Father Terence Makings MBE and the Rev Deacon Alfons Lieser, the Royal British Legion was represented by Pete Richardson from the Rheindahlen Branch and Clive Candlin from the District of Germany.  Also present was Deryck Morris who represented the Britannia Club in nearby Goch, the club was formed by expatriate employees at RAF Laarbruch who remained in the area when the Station closed.

In addition to Reichswald Forest the Rheindahlen Branch has the Commonwealth War Cemeteries at Cologne and Rheinberg near Krefeld and the Military Cemetery at JHQ within its area of responsibility.  We receive many requests to lay wreathes and flowers from families whose loved ones are buried at the cemeteries.