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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Orientation of Graves


PhilB

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Persico`s book "11th Hour, 11th Day, 11th Month" mentions a British officer being buried with his head towards the enemy as a sign of respect. I`ve found that, generally, the graves in a CWGC cemetery face you as you enter from the road so that a grave is normally at right angles to the road. So, is the grave orientation more or less random depending on the road to it or was there some guideline?

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I thought the rule of thumb was that the side of gravestones bearing the inscriptions face to the East and therefore the rising sun in the morning.

In his memoirs "War as I Knew It," Gen. George Patton complained that Graves Registration units were placing too many temporary military cemeteries along main roads leading to the front lines, which he said demoralized troops driving forward into battle. He would have preferred that the cemeteries be located in out-of-the-way places.

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quote: I thought the rule of thumb was that the side of gravestones bearing the inscriptions face to the East and therefore the rising sun in the morning

Most of the WWI graves the CWGC cemetery nearest to me here comply with the above

However, those from WWII face in exactly the oposite direction - the two sets of headstones therefore face each other

They also each have their own Cross of Sacrifice

In contrast, see Redoubt Cemetery on Gallipoli here http://www.cwgc.org/CWGCImgs/Redoubt%20Cem021.JPG

and note that the graves nearest the cross have their backs to those nearest the gate/camera

In the end, there does not seem to be a hard and fast rule

regards

Michael

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In my experience there is no hard and fast rule to any CWGC burial ground from WW1. Wartime cemeteries do not abide to any rules, with graves often scattered in every direction, and post-war cemeteries were all individually designed by architects who chose the layout. One sees graves facing east, graves facing west, graves facing the Cross, graves facing away from the Cross - and many more designs as well.

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I agree with Paul. Cemeteries have headstones facing in all directions. Concentration cemeteries 'usually' have the headstones facing in one direction. Front-line cemeteries have headstones facing in all directions whilst the concentration have a more ordered look. Although even these (such as Tyne Cot) have a number of 'erratically' placed graves which was the nucleus of the larger cemetery.

steve m

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