Mierlo War Cemetery

Mierlo War Cemetery is a Second World War Commonwealth war grave cemetery, located in the village of Mierlo, 12 km (7.5 mi) east of Eindhoven in The Netherlands.[1]

Mierlo War Cemetery
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Mierlo War Cemetery
Used for those deceased 1944–1945
EstablishedSpring 1945
Location51°26′09″N 05°35′49″E
near 
Mierlo, Netherlands
Total burials665
Unknowns
7
Burials by nation
United Kingdom 655
Australia 5
Canada 4
Netherlands 1
Burials by war
Statistics source: Cemetery details. Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

History

The cemetery was created in the spring of 1945. The majority of those buried here had fallen in battles between September and November 1944 in the region south and west of the River Meuse and during fighting for the Scheldt estuary. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is responsible for the cemetery.[1]

The cemetery contain 658 fallen service personnel; 648 are Commonwealth soldiers (seven unidentified) and one Dutch grave (of G.M. Stönner of the Princess Irene Brigade).[1]

In 1982, an employee of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission was also buried in the cemetery.

The graves are arranged in eight sections (numbered 1 to 8) with six or seven rows in each section (A to F or G).[2]

The Cross of Sacrifice at the cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.

In September 2019 the cemetery was vandalized with graffiti. The damage included letters on the gravestones, a swastika in the chapel and graffiti on the Cross of Sacrifice. There was also the graffiti "MH17 lie" in reference to the shooting down of flight MH17.[3]

CountryArmyAir ForceTotal
knownunknownknownunknowntotal
United Kingdom6357136487648
Australia555
Canada3144
Netherlands111
Total6397196587658[lower-alpha 1]

Photographs
Pictures of the cemetery
  • The Cross of Sacrifice
  • Headstones
  • Overview from left
  • Overview from right
  • Overview from rear
  • Two headstones of unknown soldiers
  • Dutchman's grave

Notes
  1. Total doesn't include the unknown burials as a citation cannot be found at present

References
  1. "Cemetery - MIERLO WAR CEMETERY". www.cwgc.org. Retrieved 2019-09-14.
  2. "MIERLO WAR CEMETERY PLAN". CWGC.
  3. "Vandals deface British WW2 graves in Netherlands". 2019-09-13. Retrieved 2019-09-14.
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