British Military Cemetery - Bayeux (France)

British Military Cemetery Bayeux

Historical information

Bayeux was entered by the Sherwood Rangers late on 6th June 1944, but was formally liberated the next day. Charles de Gaulle established is first seat of government here until Paris was liberated, and it became the main staging post for the British Army in Normandy. The streets of Bayeux were too narrow for most military vehicles, and so the Royal Engineers and Pioneer Corps constructed a ring-road round Bayeux soon after D Day. Several military hospitals were established here, and many of the burials in the cemetery are from these.

Buried people:

British - 3.935
Canadian - 181
Australian - 17
New Zealand - 8
South African - 1
Polish - 25
France - 3
Czech - 2
Italian - 2
Russian - 7
German - 466
Unidentified - 1

On the other side of the ring road, a memorial bears the names of 1.808 Commonwealth soldiers with no known grave.

The official website of the cemetery stands here

Location information

Bayeux is the largest British WWII cemetery in France. It stands on the site of a temporary cemetery, which was set up near a military hospital shortly after the town was liberated on June 7th 1944.

The cemetery lies on the south-west side of the main ring road (built by the British in 1944) around the city of Bayeux. It is about 100 metres from the junction with the D5 to Littry, and almost opposite the Museum of the Battle of Normandy (which is well signposted throughout Bayeux).

US Military Cemetery Colleville sur mer

Historical information

At the conclusion of the fighting in Normandy, there were more than ten American cemeteries on the battlefield, with hundreds of small burial grounds and isolated graves. The American Battle Monuments Commission (AMBC) repatriated at least 60% of these burials back to the United States, and concentrated the remaining casualties into two main cemeteries; one here in Normandy and another in Britanny.
To a size of 172.5 acres, the Normandy American Cemetery has 9,387 burials of US service men and women. Of this number, some 307 are unknowns, three are Medal of Honour winners (see below) and four are women. In addition there are 33 pairs of brothers buried side by side. It is the largest American Cemetery from WW2, but not the largest in Europe: that is the Meuse-Argonne Cemetery from WW1 with more than 14,000 burials.
The main body of the cemetery is rectangular with the main paths laid out in the pattern of a Latin cross. On entering the cemetery, visit first the Visitors Building where veterans can sign the Veteran's Book, and all others the main Visitors Book. Here you can also trace US servicemen and women who are in the care of AMBC either in cemeteries or on memorials. You can also pick up a free leaflet about the cemetery.
Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr is buried there.

The official website of the cemetery stands here

Location

The cemetery is well signposted from many locations, including Bayeux. From Bayeux take the RN13 in the direction of Cherbourg. Take the exit signposted 'Omaha Beach' and follow the road junction in Vierville-sur-Mer. Here turn left on the RN814 and follow through St Laurent sur Mer to a roundabout just before Colleville sur Mer. Here turn left and follow the signs to the parking at the cemetery.

German Military Cemetery La Cambe

Historical information

The German war dead from the Normandy campaign were scattered over a wide area, many of them buried in isolated or field graves - or small battlefield cemeteries. In the years following WW2, the German War Graves Commission, Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge, decided to establish six main German cemeteries in the Normandy area, with the one here at La Cambe started in 1954. During this period the remains of more than 12,000 German soldiers were moved in from 1,400 locations in the departements of Calvados and the Orne. The cemetery was finished in 1961, and inaugurated in September of that year. Since this date more than 700 soldiers have been found on the battlefield, and are now also buried here.
In total there are 21,222 German soldiers commemorated here, of which 207 unknown and 89 identified are buried in a kamaradengraben (or mass grave) below the central tumulus.
Since the mid-1990s there has been an Information Centre on the site. Here you can see a permanent exhibition about the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge, check casualties on a computer based database and there are also toilet facilities.
The cemetery is open daily from 08.00 - 19.00. The Information Centre is open daily from 08.00 - 12.00 and 13.00 - 19.00.

Tank ace Michael Wittmann is buried here. Even before Normandy Wittmann had gained a high reputation on the Russian Front, and had been highly decorated. At Villers-Bocage in June 1944, he played havoc with the advance guard of 7th (Armoured) Division and caught them unawares with his Tiger I, inflicting heavy losses before he was forced to abandon it. He finally met his match south of Caen on 8th August 1944, when his Tiger was knocked out and all the crew killed, including Wittman. It was thought that Canadian armour, or RAF Typhoons had accounted for the Tank Ace, but recent research has shown it was a Sherman Firely from the Northamptonshire Yeomanry. Wittmann's remains were not recovered until the early 1980s, when during research for his book Panzers in Normandy: Then and Now, Eric Levevre located the field graves and Wittmann and his crew were buried here.

The official website of the cemetery stands here