[cyberia]

Originally Posted by Holly6

And thus I glean another bit of knowledge to pass on to the students. Thanks much. Do you know if this was a policy of burial? I understand the need for speed to bury bodies after major battles, but with the elitist position of the SS, are you aware of a desire to set their losses apart in seperate sections of cemeteries when time allowed?

I have a set of photographs I can't lay my hands on at the moment that shows the difference between Waffen SS and Heer burials. When I locate them I will post them.

For most part battlefield burials were handled by the units the fallen served with. So Waffen SS units would have buried their own, when possible, and therefore probably separate from Heer units operating even in the same sector.

In the beginning of the war there were even divisional and battalion battlefield cemeteries that had unit symbols attached to either individual grave markers or fashioned into elaborate center pieces.

Of course all of this must have changed was the war wore on and casualties grew to enormous numbers.

One thing I found interesting as I sorted through the nearly two thousand photographs for the Ostfront collection, was that three out of every ten were of either graves, cemeteries or burial ceremonies.

It would seem the manner in which they buried their brothers in arms was something very important to these men.