Relation with Lake (class): Lake Area Inland Cemetery (LAI)  
Total nr. of casualties buried here (TC): at least 12 end WW2. Today: 11. 
Lake casualties, initially, end WW2 (LC-I): 1
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, Lake Cemetery East side of Lake (LCE)
Post war burial site for collection and reburial from other sites: no
Cemetery with Lake casualties today: no (LCW).


              
OOSTERWOLDE GENERAL CEMETERY

Oosterwolde near Oldebroek and Elburg is a bit remote and the cemetery with its war graves must be one of the least visited in the Netherlands. The hamlet has attached to her north west a meadow of 5 x 5km, named 'Oosterwolde polder'. A length of 6km Zuyder sea dike (Lake IJsselmeer dike) protects this polder from the sea. During WW2, two Royal Air Force bombers crashed in this polder, a Wellington in October 1940 and a Lancaster in June 1944. The crews were buried in the local grave yard. Allied airmen that washed ashore on the foot of the dike were transported and buried in Harderwijk, Amersfoort and Kampen. But in 1944, when road transport became to dangerous because of prowling Allied fighters, at least 1 washed ashore American airman was buried here as well (exhumed 1946). Possibly the US Grave registration unit also took with them nameless American airmen. This needs further research. 

   

Dutch name: Oosterwolde Alg. begr. pl.
Full name: Oosterwolde General Cemetery near Oldebroek
Address (usable for car navigation):
Oostendorperstraatweg 64
For comments; send us an email,
see address and info at CONTACT.
Please use as subject title: 'Oosterwolde'.








Remarkable is that the 1944-crew is buried left on the cemetery. The 1940-crew lays 50m further on the right field. We estimate the right field since October 1940 came full with civilians and by June 1944 the left field came in use. Round 1965 civilian graves around the war graves were exhumed and since then they lay in the open.

Photo below: P/O J. Brodies crew of Lancaster LL955, 106 Sqn, 21/22 June 1944. This is a collective grave, which means there are 1 to 4 coffins, remains combined. End 1950's each man received an individual headstone, placed side by side. American airman Lt. Bull was buried here first, March 1944. The Lancaster crew came beside him.












































       


Photo below: the RAF-Czech crew of 311 Sqn (Czech). Wellington L7844, pilot Bohumil Landa, 16 October 1940. Of this crew, 2 men survived and became POW. Three of the men buried were severely burned. P/O Hubert Jarosek was found intact, but his parachute had not fully opened. 

































































    







RAF/Czech 311 Sqn Wellington L7844 was the first RAF bomber shot down by a German nightfighter guided by a (experimental) German ground-to-air radar station.

  



























On this cemetery are Czech (4), English (4), Canadian (2), New Zealand airmen (1). There was at least one American airman buried here. Just to the South is Elburg where a Polish and an American airman in Canadian service rest (washed ashore). Only a few km to the North is IJsselmuiden (Kampen General Cemetery) where are buried 5 airmen from the UK, 1 Australian, 1 New Zealander and 5 American were exhumed in 1946. All these airmen washed ashore here on this 10 mile stretch of down-wind coastline. 























































The American airman in Oosterwolde was 2Lt. Webster M. Bull. Pilot of B-17G  42-37773 "Full House", crashed in the lake 22 December 1943. His body washed ashore here after 3 months and 30 miles from were his aircraft hit the water. His body followed the normal pattern that bodies in the lake follow at this time of year.  



Sources:

- Site 
- Site CWGC
- MACR





© ZZairwar (Zuyder Zee Air war).