Burials During WWI

The topic of burials during WWI is of interest for many reasons. Firstly, it provides insight into the massive scale of the war and its toll on human life. It also shows how governments adapted to the reality of industrial warfare involving destructive new technology such as tanks, machine guns, and aircraft. The devastating effects of this new weaponry led to a logistical nightmare for how governments collected the bodies of soldiers. This necessitated an entire rethinking of how casualties were collected and processed. Secondly, the process of burying the war dead leads to a better understanding of the psychological effect of losing a loved one. The period of mourning that followed also served as a catalyst for action. Families that had lost

[13] Each grave that the Registration Units dug was marked with a cross or other religious symbol if it was known what faith the deceased believed in.[14] The identity, rank, and date of death if known was also recorded on this marker.[15] With the increasing amounts of dead the IWGC started to create their own cemeteries made specifically for the military.[16] These were located behind the frontlines but still close enough that they still relatively easy to get to. More and more cemeteries started to pop up around the locations of major battles such as Somme and Verdun. However, fighting during the