Historical Information (Source: Volksbund)

3.487 German war dead of the First World War

The German military cemetery Laon-Champ-de-Manoeuvre was established after the end of the war on the edge of a military training area by the French military authorities as a collective cemetery for the German war dead buried during the war in the city of Laon and its immediate surroundings.

Later, more bodies were found during construction work. During the German occupation, Laon was the seat of an army high command. It was also the end point of the railway in this sector of the front. Therefore, there were numerous supply facilities for troops and hospitals in the city. Accordingly, the dead include numerous members of staff and rear services, as well as those who died in the hospitals and those killed in action in August and September 1914.

Further heavy losses were caused by the great battles for the Chemin-des-Dames in the autumn of 1914 and in the winter of 1914/15, the French offensive in April/May 1917, the failure of which triggered a serious moral crisis in the French army, the Battle of Laffaux and the German attacks in the spring of 1918 with the subsequent retreat and defensive battles, especially in September and October 1918.

Some of the German hospitals were maintained in this area until 1920 for the purpose of providing medical care to wounded soldiers who could not be transported and to prisoners of war. Those resting here belonged to units whose home garrisons were located in almost all countries and provinces of the then German Reich.