Mierlo War Cemetery
Mierlo War Cemetery is a Second World War Commonwealth war grave cemetery, located in the village of Mierlo, 12 km (7.5 mi) east of Eindhoven in The Netherlands.[1]
| Mierlo War Cemetery | |
|---|---|
| Commonwealth War Graves Commission | |
 Mierlo War Cemetery | |
| Used for those deceased 1944–1945 | |
| Established | Spring 1945 |
| Location | 51°26′09″N 05°35′49″E near Mierlo, Netherlands |
| Total burials | 665 |
Unknowns | 7 |
| Burials by nation | |
United Kingdom 655 Australia 5 Canada 4 Netherlands 1 | |
| Burials by war | |
| Statistics source: Cemetery details. Commonwealth War Graves Commission. | |
History
The cemetery was created in the spring of 1945. The majority of those buried here had fallen in battles between September and November 1944 in the region south and west of the River Meuse and during the fighting for the Scheldt estuary. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is responsible for the cemetery.[1]
The cemetery contains 658 fallen service personnel; 648 are Commonwealth soldiers (seven unidentified) and one Dutch grave (of G.M. Stönner of the Princess Irene Brigade).[1]
In 1982, an employee of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission was also buried in the cemetery.
The graves are arranged in eight sections (numbered 1 to 8), with six or seven rows in each section (A to F or G).[2]
The Cross of Sacrifice at the cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.
In September 2019 the cemetery was vandalized with graffiti. The damage included letters on the gravestones, a swastika in the chapel and graffiti on the Cross of Sacrifice. There was also the graffiti "MH17 lie" in reference to the shooting down of flight MH17.[3]
| Country | Army | Air Force | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| known | unknown | known | unknown | total | ||
| United Kingdom | 635 | 7 | 13 | 648 | 7 | 648 |
| Australia | 5 | 5 | 5 | |||
| Canada | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 | ||
| Netherlands | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Total | 639 | 7 | 19 | 658 | 7 | 658[lower-alpha 1] |
Photographs
The Cross of Sacrifice
Headstones
Overview from left
Overview from right
Overview from rear
Two headstones of unknown soldiers
Dutchman's grave
Notes
- Total doesn't include the unknown burials as a citation cannot be found at present
References
- "Cemetery – Mierlo War Cemetery". www.cwgc.org. Retrieved 2019-09-14.
- "MMierlo War Cemetery Plan". CWGC.
- "Vandals deface British WW2 graves in Netherlands". 2019-09-13. Retrieved 2019-09-14.
External links
- Cemetery details. Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
- Description of the monument on the website of the Dutch Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 mei
- Mierlo War Cemetery, Noord-Brabant at Find a Grave