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Polish War Cemetery Les Larrets, photo Ambasada RP w Bernie, 2022
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Fotografia przedstawiająca Polish War Cemetery Les Larrets
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ID: WOJ-000407-W (CH-0233)

Polish War Cemetery Les Larrets

ID: WOJ-000407-W (CH-0233)

Polish War Cemetery Les Larrets

The 2nd Infantry Rifle Division fighting in France in June 1940 was ordered to withdraw to Switzerland after running out of ammunition. On the night of 19-20 June 1940, the division's soldiers, numbering around 13,000, crossed the Swiss border. They were interned by the Swiss authorities and stayed in that country until the end of the war in numerous camps set up for them. One such camp was located in Leysin. There were also tuberculosis sanatoriums here, where soldiers of the 2nd DSP, among others, were treated. In the military cemetery of Les Larrets, located 3 km from Leysin, there is a separate plot with the graves of 27 Polish soldiers who died in the local sanatoriums. On 1 November 1967, a monument designed by Maciej Piotrowski, a former soldier of the 2nd DSP, was unveiled next to the Polish graves. The monument depicts a large aluminium eagle with outspread wings, which stands on three vertically positioned swords. Below it is a plaque with an inscription in Polish and French, placed on a concrete base. The inscription on the plaque reads: "TU SPOCZYWAJĄ ŻOŁNIERZE POLSCY / DRUGIEJ DYWIZJI STRZELCÓW PIESZYCH / INTERNED IN SWITZERLAND DURING / THE SECOND WAR AND DIED IN LEYSIN // A LA MEMOIRE DES SOLDATS DE LA / DEUXIEME DIVISION DES CHASSEURS / POLONAIS INTERNES PENDANT LA / DEUXIEME CUERRE MONDIALE EN / SUISSE [....]". In 2011. The Council for the Protection of Remembrance of Struggle and Martyrdom cleaned the gravestones and carried out their conservation, and financed the purchase and installation of a flagpole in the Polish quarters. In 2012, the memorial was renovated with funds from the OPWiM Council.
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List of buried persons

27

Related projects

1
Polski Cmentarz Wojenny Les Larrets
Katalog cmentarzy wojennych MKiDN Show
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