German Military Cemetery

Created in March 1921 in Thanvillé by French military authorities, this German military cemetery holds the remains of German soldiers who fell during the initial border clashes of August 1914 and the positional battles fought between 1915 and 1918.

Among the 355 soldiers buried in individual graves, some died during the fighting on August 18, 1914, or in the clashes preceding the liberation of the valley in 1918. A mass grave also contains 290 other soldiers, 74 of whom remain unidentified to this day. At the cemetery entrance is a name book, the Namenbuch, listing each soldier's name, first name, rank, and date of death. Visitors can consult this information on site or research online the history of the regiments or associated monuments. To the right upon entering, along the wall, eight family graves belong to the Castex and Dartein families, former lords of the Thanvillé castle, whose coats of arms adorn the first two tombs. The fifth grave is that of Bertrand Pierre de Castex, an Empire general whose name is also inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.