On entering the cemetery my attention was immediately drawn to the huge ossuary where the remains of 296 soldiers are interred, their names on plaques on its circumference. On the top of the mound is a black statue of a mourning mother and father.
I was taken aback at the groups of black crosses erected at intervals and the headstones are very low or are at almost ground level almost as base stones. It really leaves one with a very somber feeling.
Buried in this cemetery are the remains of SS Haupsturmfuhrer Michael Wittmann together with 2 members of his Tiger Tank crew. Wittmann and his crew destroyed over 150 Russian and Allied vehicles both on the eastern and western fronts. Their remains were discovered in 1983 in a shallow grave near the spot where they were killed when their tank was taken out by a number of British tanks and re-interred at La Cambe – many of his SS comrades attended the ceremony
Being Jewish and knowing what the Germans did to our people it was with very mixed emotions that I walked through this cemetery. On the one hand I felt that they all deserved what they got, but on the other hand these were essentially all soldiers with mothers, fathers, children and friends.
What a waste war is.
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