Groesbeek Memorial

• Country Netherlands
• Total identified casualties 1018 Find these casualties
• Region Gelderland
• Identified casualties from Second World War
• GPS Coordinates Latitude: 51.79815, Longitude: 5.9313

Location information

The village of Groesbeek is in the east of the Netherlands and approx 10kms south east of the city of Nijmegen. From the A73 motorway NIJMEGEN to VENLO take exit 3 (Afrit 3) MALDEN / GROESBEEK / MOOK / HEUMEN / OVERASSELT. Follow signs for N271 MOOK. Continue through the village of MOLENHOEK and in the village of MOOK turn left at the roundabout (CWGC sign for MOOK WAR CEMETERY) onto the GROESBEEKSEWEG. Continue for approx 4.5kms and then turn left at the roundabout onto the PANNENSTRAAT. Continue through the town where the road name changes to DORPSTRAAT. Turn left onto BURGEMEESTER OTTENHOFFSTRAAT (CWGC Sign). After approx 100m turn right (CWGC sign) onto ZEVENHEUVELENWEG. The cemetery is approx 2kms along this road on the right. The cemetery address is:- Zevenheuvelenweg 38 6561 Groesbeek Netherlands GPS Location is:- N 51 47 52 E 05 55 51

Visiting information

The Groesbeek Memorial stands within Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery.

Visitors are advised not to leave possessions lying visible in their car as theft is common at the municipal car park in front of the cemetery

Wheelchair access to cemetery possible via main entrance. For further information regarding wheelchair access, please contact our Enquiries Section on telephone number 01628 507200.

History information

Allied forces entered the Netherlands on 12 September 1944. Airborne operations later that month established a bridgehead at Nijmegen and in the following months, coastal areas and ports were cleared and secured, but it was not until the German initiated offensive in the Ardennes had been repulsed that the drive into Germany could begin.

Most of those buried in GROESBEEK CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY were Canadians, many of whom died in the Battle of the Rhineland, when the 2nd and 3rd Canadian Infantry Divisions and the 4th Canadian Armoured Division took part in the drive southwards from Nijmegen to clear the territory between the Maas and the Rhine in February and March 1945. Others buried here died earlier or later in the southern part of the Netherlands and in the Rhineland.

The cemetery contains 2,610 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, and nine war graves of other nationalities.

Within the cemetery stands the GROESBEEK MEMORIAL, which commemorates by name more than 1,000 members of the Commonwealth land forces who died during the campaign in north-west Europe between the time of crossing the Seine at the end of August 1944 and the end of the war in Europe, and whose graves are not known.

The MEMORIAL and CEMETERY were designed by P.D. Hepworth.