the Commonwealth Becklingen War Cemetery
The Commonwealth War Cemetery at Becklingen in Germany lies on the Lüneburger Heide, close to the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp.
The position was chosen on a hillside overlooking this Luneburg Heath for a reason. On may the 4th in 1945 the unconditional surrender was signed by a delegation of German officers from the Flensburg government under command of Grossadmiral Karl Dönitz. General Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg, Generaloberst Alfred Jodl and Major Wilhelm Oxenius signed the document on the 4th of May 1945 to Field Marshall Bernhard Montgommery at the Luneburger Heath.
There are 2401 burials on the Becklingen Commonwealth Cemetery in 2023, mainly soldiers and airmen. 2086 British, 140 Canadian, 79 Australian, 38 New Zealand, 2 South African, 1 Greek, 19 Polish, 5 Russian and 29 unindentified graves.
lieutenant James Griffith
Lieutenant James Griffith was born James Glaser, both his parents were German but emigrated to the United Kingdom before the War. Although he changed his name to Griffith he still carried the name “The German”, given to him by his fellow soldiers.
He was one of the men in the “German Platoon “due to his linguistic knowledge. James Led a reconnaissance patrol to swim a river and take out the sentry on the enemies side and take over control of the bridge. The sentry was on alert and the bridge was blown up before the mission was completed. James Griffith joined a platoon of the British 1st Brigade thereafter, changing his sneakers with a dead German soldier quickly and stepped in line. During their advance through the Esseler forest the situation began to get hotter, while it was light James was told to take cover in a foxhole, there were snipers in the area. James Laughed and answered; “It’s ok. I am bulletproof!” Two minutes later he was killed by a sniper. He had been well liked and his fellow platoon mates were sorry for his loss. At nightfall lieutenant James Griffith was buried as the armored artillery battalion fired a salute for the last time giving James a true soldiers burial.
This text can be read at the Becklinger War Cemetery.
Visit
The Cemetery is open for public during daytime hours.
