Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery

Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery
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Country:	Netherlands
Location:	Groesbeek
Coordinates:	51°47′52″N 05°55′51″E / 51.79778, 5.93083
Type:	Public
Owned by:	Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Website:	Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery

The Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery is a cemetery containing predominantly Canadian soldiers killed during the Battle for the Rhineland in the Second World War. Located with the cemetery is the Groesbeek Memorial which commemorates some of the Canadians with no known grave. The cemetery is named after the nearby village of Groesbeek in the east of the Netherlands and is approximately 10kms south east of the city of Nijmegen.

History

Allied forces entered the Netherlands on 12 September 1944. Airborne operations later that month established a bridgehead at Nijmegen and in the following months, coastal areas and ports were cleared and secured, but it was not until the German initiated offensive in the Ardennes had been repulsed that the drive into Germany could begin. Most of those buried in Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery were Canadians, many of whom died in the Battle of the Rhineland, when the 2nd and 3rd Canadian Infantry Divisions and the 4th Canadian Armoured Division took part in the drive southwards from Nijmegen to clear the territory between the Maas and the Rhine in February and March 1945. Others buried here died earlier or later in the southern part of the Netherlands and in the Rhineland. The cemetery contains 2,610 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, and nine war graves of other nationalities.

Within the cemetery stands the Groesbeek Memorial, which commemorates by name more than 1,000 members of the Commonwealth land forces who died during the campaign in north-west Europe between the time of crossing the Seine at the end of August 1944 and the end of the war in Europe, and whose graves are not known.^[1]

Location

The village of Groesbeek is in the east of the Netherlands and approx 10kms south east of the city of Nijmegen. From the A73 motorway NIJMEGEN to VENLO take exit 3 (Afrit 3) MALDEN / GROESBEEK / MOOK / HEUMEN / OVERASSELT. Follow signs for N271 MOOK. Continue through the village of MOLENHOEK and in the village of MOOK turn left at the roundabout (CWGC sign for MOOK WAR CEMETERY) onto the GROESBEEKSEWEG. Continue for approx 4.5kms and then turn left at the roundabout onto the PANNENSTRAAT. Continue through the town where the road name changes to DORPSTRAAT. Turn left onto BURGEMEESTER OTTENHOFFSTRAAT (CWGC Sign). After approx 100m turn right (CWGC sign) onto ZEVENHEUVELENWEG. The cemetery is approx 2kms along this road on the right.

"We Rest Here"

The following members of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals are buried at Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery.

Service Number	Rank and Name	Grave Location
B17076	Sigmn CH Burgess	I.A.7.
G16011	Sigmn WD Clark	I.B.6.
K45568	Cpl ES Couture	II.G.1.
B111538	Sigmn TJ Cronan	I.C.6.
A57804	Sgt AB Eakett	II.F.6.
D116378	Sigmn A Ford	V.E.14.
M53192	Sgt DH Greenfield	IV.A.10.
B134241	Sigmn AE Jay	VII.A.14.
-	Lt KG Jeanneret	IX.E.8.
F78831	Sigmn EJ Kennedy	IX.A.11.
L65754	Sigmn HJ Levesque	VII.A.12.
-	Capt DSH Loughnan	XI.G.15
C5809	Sigmn MV Shields	II.A.12.
B38505	Sigmn WC Soule	XXIV.B.8.
L58711	Sigmn RG Sweeting	X.B.1.
C31566	Sigmn LE Wilks	II.F.1.