Relation with Lake (class): Former Lake Casualty Cemetery (FLC)  
Total nr. of casualties buried here (TC): end WW2 at least 18, today 16.
Lake casualties, initially, end WW2 (LC-I): 2 or more
Unknown today: 0
of which unknown from Lake (LC-U): 0
of which unknown from North Sea (NS-U): 0
Initial burial site in WW2: yes.
Post war burial site for collection and reburial from other sites: no. 
Cemetery with Lake casualties today: no.


             
HILVERSUM NORTHERN CEMETERY

North of Hilversum is a coastline belonging to the villages (west to east): Naarden, including Oud-Valkenveen/Oud-Naarden, Bussum, Huizen and Eemnes. Bodies of airmen that washed ashore on this coast during WW2, were buried in Amsterdam and Amersfoort. The wooded area in and around Hilversum ('het Gooi') was very suitable for German military installations, such as the Luftwaffe HQ for Holland. Gradually this area became a German strongpoint. In 1944/1945 dozens of Allied fighters prowled here daily. Transport became difficult, washed ashore bodies were also buried locally from then on. There are no Allied war graves in 'Het Gooi' anymore, only in Hilversum.

    


Dutch name cemetery: Hilversum Noordelijke Begr. Pl. 
Full name: Hilversum Northern Cemetery.
Address (usable for car navigation):
Lane 1940-1945, or, 1940-1945 Lane, or, 40-45 Lane.

For reaction or comments; send us an email,
see address and info at CONTACT.
Please use as subject title: 'Hilversum'.








End March 1944 the American airmen Sgt. Chester N. Rush (crashed in the lake 22 December 1943 in B-17G 42-37773) and 2Lt. Donald E. Nason (pilot of B-17  42-37719, crashed in the lake 11 January 1944) washed ashore on the coast of Huizen and were buried here. They were exhumed by an US Grave Registration team just after the war. It is interesting to know if the team took with them more washed ashore USAAF airmen from this cemetery and/or region to the US identification centre in Neuville-en-Condroz (Ardennes, Belgium). There are no airmen buried anymore on this cemetery.
















































      

The war dead today on the Hilversum Northern Cemetery are 16 infantry soldiers from the UK. Tragically they all were killed after the surrender of Germany (May 7, 1945). On the 10th of May 1945, the Royal Leicestershire Regiment was in Hilversum and they were involved in disarmament of SS-troops of the German Hermann Göring Division. Just south of Hilversum in Lage Vuursche (on today's Midget golf course). A German threw a mine (or something else) on a pile of land mines. The explosion killed him and some other Germans and 13 men of the Leicestershire Regiment. Their remains were buried on the 12th in 7 coffins. Each men got his own headstone. Grave-no. is 'Collective grave 10-16'. The 3 others were members of the Royal Artillery, Pionier Corps and Signals Corps, they died July 1945. There are no airwar casualties here anymore.  







































































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Burial of the 13 soldiers of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment 12 May 1945. Hilversum Northern Cemetery.





























Map below: Front situation 18 April 1945. 

































Map below: Situation on 7 May 1945, German surrender. Hilversum and the North-Western part of The Netherlands (Holland) were occupied by the German army from 15 May 1940 until 7 May 1945.






































Sources:

- Old newspaper articles
- Dutch Police reports
- Site CWGC on Hilversum
- MACR




© ZZairwar (Zuyder Zee Air War).