The Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery and Memorial (French:Le Cemitière de Guerre Canadien Groesbeek) is located about three kilometers north of the village of Groesbeek, Netherlands. The cemetery contains 2,338 Canadian soldiers of World War II. Within the cemetery stands the Groesbeek Memorial, which commemorates members of the Commonwealth land forces who died during the campaign in north-west Europe between the time of crossing the Seine River at the end of August 1944 and the end of the war in Europe. The Memorial consists of twin colonnaded buildings which face each other across the grass forecourt of the cemetery, between the entrance and the "Stone of Remembrance." The names of the men whose graves are unknown are inscribed in panels of Portland stone built into the rear walls. Groesbeek is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands. ... Combatants Allied Powers Axis Powers Commanders {{{commander1}}} {{{commander2}}} Strength {{{strength1}}} {{{strength2}}} Casualties 17 million military deaths 8 million military deaths {{{notes}}} World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a military conflict that took place between 1939 and 1945. ... The Commonwealth of Nations, usually known as The Commonwealth, is an association of independent sovereign states, almost all of which are former territories of the British Empire. ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... This article is about the river in France. ... The Cenotaph, in Whitehall, London, England, is made from Portland stone Portland stone is limestone from the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. ...

The cemetery is unique in that many of the dead were brought here from nearby Germany. It is one of the few cases where bodies were moved across international frontiers. It is believed that all fallen Canadian soldiers of the Rhineland battles, who were buried in German battlefields, were reinterred here (except for one who is buried in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery). General H.D.G. Crerar, who commanded Canadian land forces in Europe, ordered that Canadian dead were not to be buried in German soil. The Rhineland (Rheinland in German) is the general name for the land on both sides of the river Rhine in the west of Germany. ... General Henry Duncan Graham Crerar CH CB DSO KStJ CD (April 28, 1888 - April 1, 1965) was a Canadian general and the countrys leading field commander in World War II. Born in Hamilton, Ontario, he died at Ottawa, Ontario. ...

Among those buried here is Victoria Cross recipient Aubrey Cosens and memorialized are Gustave Biéler, Frank Pickersgill, and Roméo Sabourin, Canadian members of the Special Operations Executive who were sent undercover into occupied France and were caught by the Germans and sent to Concentration Camps where they were executed. Victoria Cross medal, ribbon, and bar. ... Photo by Geoff Winnington-Ball - Jul 2000 Aubrey Cosens, VC was a Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. ... Gustave Daniel Alfred Biéler, born in 1904 in Lutry, Vaud, Switzerland - died September 6, 1944 in Bavaria, was a Special Operations Executive agent during World War II. Gustave Biéler At the age of twenty, Gustave Biéler emigrated to Canada where he settled in the city of Montreal... Frank Herbert Dedrick Pickersgill (May 28, 1915, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada - September 14, 1944, Weimar, Thuringia, Germany) is a Canadian hero of World War II. Captain Pickersgill joined the Canadian Intelligence Corps then, because he was fluent in the French language, he was recruited into the Special Operations Executive. ... Roméo Sabourin (January 1, 1923, Montreal, Quebec, Canada - September 14, 1944, Weimar, Thuringia, Germany) is a Canadian hero of World War II. Lieutenant Sabourin joined the Canadian Army, serving in the Canadian Intelligence Corps. ... The Special Operations Executive (SOE), sometimes referred to as the Baker Street Irregulars after Sherlock Holmess fictional group of spies, was a World War II organisation initiated by Winston Churchill and Hugh Dalton in July 1940 as a mechanism for conducting warfare by means other than direct military engagement. ... A concentration camp is a large detention center created for political opponents, enemy aliens, specific ethnic or religious groups, civilians of a critical war-zone, or other groups of people, often during a war. ...

Thousands of Dutch children tend the graves of Canadian soldiers buried here as they do throughout the Netherlands.

External links

• 360° panorama photo of Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery
• Government of Canada website for Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery