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The Gosselming national cemetery

La nécropole nationale de Gosselming. © ECPAD

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The Gosselming national cemetery, which adjoins a German cemetery, was created in 1914 by the German army during the Battle of Sarrebourg in August 1914. It brings together 346 French soldiers, including 293 buried in two ossuaries, and 256 German soldiers, 188 of whom lie in an ossuary. The cemetery was developed in 1924, when the bodies of soldiers exhumed in the surrounding area were brought there. The Gosselming cemetery is typical of military cemeteries from the start of World War I, and of the way in which the dead were treated by the French and German military authorities. At this time, officers were generally buried in individual graves, whereas troops were buried in a shared grave. It is also the case here, with the graves of Krémer, the battalion commander of the 56th infantry regiment (grave 43), and those of several officers and non-commissioned officers. The principle of shared graves remained until 1915, but individual graves quickly became widespread for both armies.

La nécropole nationale de Gosselming. © ECPAD

Après la bataille de Sarrebourg du 18 au 20 août 1914. © Archives départementales de la Moselle - 8 Fi 255/1

Fantassins français en position dans un champ, 1914. Avec un uniforme d'un autre âge, les soldats français, vêtus d'un pantalon rouge garance et d'une capote gris de fer, sont particulièrement exposés, au cours de l'été 1914, aux tirs des mitrailleuses ennemies. © Collection particulière FBN - DR