Jürgen Schmieschek recently wrote a piece aimed at local audiences in Chemnitz, introducing the remarkably well-preserved Soldatenfriedhof Quesnoy-sur-Deûle (divisional cemetery of 40. Infanterie-Division until summer 1916) and the wider history of the Chemnitz regiments IR 104 and IR 181 in the Ploegsteert Wood area.

Given the international interest of the subject matter (which inevitably touches on the Christmas Truce) we present this piece here both in the original German and in an English translation by Andrew Lucas. French may follow later for the benefit of the residents of the area under discussion, for whom this is also a piece of their local history.

German version (Adobe Acrobat PDF, 2.32 MB)
English version (Adobe Acrobat PDF, 2.32 MB)

If you are a member of Colonel Joe Robinson's WW1 German history group on Facebook (which we warmly recommend to all our readers), you can also read a detailed article on the history of its cemetery including the stories of some of those buried there.

We are particularly keen to hear from anyone with a family story or other information and/or images linked to this cemetery, as part of Jürgen's ongoing project of cataloguing the names and histories of those who are interred there. We are more than happy to share our own research with any interested parties! If this is you, please contact us and we will get back to you as soon as possible.