Reply #7: Massive graveyard and memorial [View All]

[happyslug]

http://www.webmatters.net/france/ww1_lorette.htm

In French:
http://www.nordmag.fr/patrimoine/histoire_regionale/premiere_guerre/lorette.htm

The tombstones that were attacked:

http://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au/notre-dame/index.html

The church was and is a Catholic Church as were most of the Soldiers killed at that battle. Not to dishonor the Moslems, the French put the Moslems in a separate Graveyard without cross over their grave. This was to honor them, but also made the tombstones easy targets for vandals.

Another view of the Church AND this time the Crosses in the graveyard:

http://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au/notre-dame/index.html

In the rest of the graveyard, crosses were used except every so often you see a flat tombstone, which I assume is for someone of Jewish or other non-christian religion. Notice these are mixed in with the Crosses, making it harder for vandals to destroy them, the moslems tombstones are located in one place, an easy target. Some moslems may be in with the crosses, preferred being buried among their comrades in whatever unit they were serving, the Moslems in the Moslem Cemetery may have belonged to a Moslem unit from a French Colony, and thus buried together for that is their unit.