Becklingen War Cemetery

The Becklingen War Cemetery is a military cemetery located in the state of Lower Saxony in north Germany on the Lüneburg Heath. It was built by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission who continue to look after it today. The cemetery lies near Getrudenhof near the village of Becklingen.

This Commonwealth war cemetery was laid out in 1951 on a gentle slope enabling a good view across the Lüneburg Heath. This site was chosen because the terrain resembled the Timeloberg hill on the edge of the village of Wendisch Evern. It was at Timeloberg on 4 May 1945 that a German delegation headed by General Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg signed the unconditional surrender of German forces in the north German region, in the presence of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.

The Becklingen War Cemetery in the Lüneburg Heath was an amalgamation of several smaller cemeteries and individual graves within a radius of about 80 km, in which fallen soldiers and prisoners of war from the Second World War had been interred. Most of those buried here died in the final two months of the war. A total of 2,086 British, 140 Canadian, 79 Australian, 38 New Zealand, 2 South African, 1 Greek, 19 Polish, 5 Russian, 2 Yugoslav war dead and 29 persons of unknown nationality have their final resting place in this cemetery.

Like almost all CWGC war cemeteries the layout follows standard guidelines. Its architectural design stems from the British architect Philip Dalton Hepworth. Cemeteries based on his design comprise two central elements and a memorial hall, rows of gravestones and a simple lawn layout.