Langemark German war cemetery

The German war cemetery of Langemark (formerly spelt 'Langemarck') is near the village of Langemark, part of the municipality of Langemark-Poelkapelle, in the Belgian province of West Flanders. More than 44,000 soldiers are buried here. The village was the scene of the first poison gas attacks by the Imperial German Army in the Western Front (see trench map), marking the beginning of the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915. During the First Battle of Ypres (1914) in World War I, poorly trained and inexperienced German infantrymen suffered severe casualties when they made a futile frontal attack on allied positions near Langemark and were checked by experienced French Poilus and British Tommies. Fifteen percent of the German soldiers involved in the Battle of Langemark were schoolboys or students, some as young as 15 years old. The original communiqué sent out as propaganda stated that the German infantry had been singing the first stanza of what later (1919) became the national anthem of the Weimar Republic; "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles", as they charged. The cemetery, which evolved from a small group of graves from 1915, has seen numerous changes and extensions. It was dedicated in 1932. Today, visitors find a mass grave near the entrance. This comrades' grave contains 24,917 servicemen, including the World War I flying ace Werner Voss. Between the oak trees, next to

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