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Norwegian Cemeteries

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Oslo Western Civil Cemetery

Oslo was captured by the Germans in April 1940 and liberated on 10th May 1945, two days after VE Day. The Civil Cemetery is in the north-western outskirts of the capital and contains the Commonwealth War Graves Plot. There are also plots nearby of those of other nationalities.

Many of the airmen buried here were shot down while attacking Oslo Airport at Fornebu in November 1941. However, 43 soldiers and airmen were killed on the day of liberation (an unopposed landing) when two aeroplanes carrying airborne troops crashed accidentally-- a particularly tragic way to die just after the end of the war in Europe. The Cross of Sacrifice was unveiled in November 1949 by General Otto Ruge, who commanded the Norwegian Army at the time of the German invasion. Facing the Cross, outside the plot, stands a memorial erected by the City of Oslo in honour of the men of the British forces who died in Norway in the 1939-1945 War; it represents the figure of a mourning woman and was unveiled by King Olaf in June 1960. The plot contains 90 British, eight Canadian and two Australian burials.

spacer The text on this page has been taken from Courage Remembered, by Kingsley Ward and Major Edwin Gibson.

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