War Cemetery No. 307 - ĹÄ
kta Dolna - cemetery from World War I located in the village of ĹÄ
kta Dolna in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in the Bochnia poviat, in the commune of Trzciana. It is one of 400 Western-Galician war cemeteries built by the Cemetery Graves Division of the C. and K. Military Commanders in Krakow. Of this number, there are 46 cemeteries in the Bochnia district, in ĹÄ
kowa Dolna 3. [source: Wikipedia, 2157506]
| type of the cemetery | war |
| state of the cemetery | closed |
| [source: Wikipedia, 2157506] |
Position
It is located on a hill called NagĂłrze, at an altitude of 330 m above sea level. It is located far from buildings, on an open farmland. Thanks to this, a wide panoramic view of the peaks of the Beskid Wyspowy is visible to the south. Right next to him, closer to the forest, there is the second war cemetery from this battle (No. 306), a little further, there are two other forests behind the forest: No. 305 and No. 308. To these 4 cemeteries leads from the main roads the road ĹÄ
kta Dolna - Leszczyna . You can enter it in Leszno from the road No. 966 MuchĂłwka - Leszczyna - ĹapanĂłw, heading south, or from the road running through ĹÄ
kta Dolna, heading north (here the initial section is asphalted). Places where you have to turn from the main road to this side road are marked with original concrete boards on a concrete pillar. [source: Wikipedia, 2157506]
History
56 soldiers of the German army were buried here, who died on December 6-7, 1914 during the Limanowa-Pawanski operation. They were soldiers 217, 219 and 220 of the Prussian reserve infantry regiment. Everyone is known by their last name. In the nearby fields of ĹÄ
kta Dolna and in forested ravines, branches of the 47 Prussian infantry divisions in bloody battles fought unsuccessfully to gain strongly fortified positions of soldiers of the Russian army Gen. Radko Dmitryev. The allied Austrian-German troops succeeded in other sections of the front, which forced the Russians to retreat further east. In these fights, both sides suffered large losses and there are many war cemeteries around. All of them were made by the Austrians during the war, as soon as they drove the Russians further east. This cemetery (and nearby cemeteries No. 304, 305 and 306) were arranged directly on the battlefield. The designers' idea was that people visiting these cemeteries could see the battlefield and visualize the harshness and drama of the battle. [source: Wikipedia, 2157506]
Description of the cemetery
It is a small cemetery (108 m) on a rectangular plan. The fence is made of low stone and massive stone posts covered with concrete, covered with concrete roofs. There is a low but massive wooden fence between the posts. Entrance through a low wooden gate. The main decorative element is a monumental stone wall standing on one of the walls of the fence with a cross also made of stone and a concrete bench. Next to it are two openwork cast-iron crosses on concrete plinths. At the junction of the crosses the Maltese crosses crowned with laurel leaves. The tombstones are decorated with concrete steles with cast-iron plaques on which Maltese crosses and names of buried soldiers have been embossed. One oak grows at the cemetery by the fence. [source: Wikipedia, 2157506]
The fate of the cemetery
In the interwar period, the cemetery was still in good condition as new. After World War II, the importance of the cemetery in the awareness of the society and the then authorities decreased, because new, more recent cemeteries and dramatic stories of the new war came. The cemetery was naturally destroyed by weather and vegetation factors. It was not until the 1990s that the first world war cemeteries began to be looked after. In 1994, the cemetery was incorporated into the list of immovable monuments. In 2000, the commune of Trzciana completed a major refurbishment of the cemetery. Grass in the cemetery is cut and the cemetery is kept up to date, also by schoolchildren. On the Day of the Dead school youth lights candles at the cemetery, and every year in October organizes rallies along cemeteries. In the Trzciana commune, this action was initiated by Tadeusz Olszewski, a junior high school teacher. [source: Wikipedia, 2157506]
