La Cambe War Cemetery, La Cambe, France

La Cambe military war grave cemetery contains of 21,000 German military personnel of World War II. It is maintained and managed by the German War Graves Commission. La Cambe was originally the site of a battlefield cemetery, established by the United States Army Graves Registration Service during the war, where American and German soldiers, sailors and airmen were buried in two adjacent fields.

After the war had ended on the continent and paralleling the work undertaken to repair all the devastation that the war had caused, work began on exhuming the American remains and transferring them in accordance with the wishes of their families. Beginning in 1945, the Americans transferred two-thirds of their fallen from this site back to the United States while the remainder were reinterred at the new permanent American Cemetery and Memorial at Colleville-sur-Mer, which overlooks the Omaha Beach landing site.

Because of the pace of the war, the German war dead in Normandy were scattered over a wide area, many of them buried in isolated field graves - or small battlefield cemeteries. In the years following the war, the German War Graves Commission (Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge) sought to establish six main German cemeteries in the Normandy area.

References:

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User Reviews

Joe Traveler (2 years ago)
Night and day difference between US soilders cemetery. Must see reminder of all who lost their lives

Patrick Turner (2 years ago)
My son and I truly enjoyed our visit. It’s not as big as the American Cemetery but you still get the feeling of life lost on the German side. There were a few very nice, English speaking volunteers to provide information. The large mound-monument is actually a burial site for hundreds of soldiers.

John Thompson (2 years ago)
As an Englishman visiting Normandy I thought it may be out of place for me to visit a German cemetery, not so. Well worth a visit. Good information centre full of information about the cemetery and some of those who lie there. Very peaceful and somewhere to reflect on the waste of life that war is. Thank you.

Harry T (2 years ago)
A lot of people forget about this place, it's not as fancy as Omaha Cemetery and is facing a motorway, but once you enter its walls, you'd never know. Rows upon rows of fallen German men and boys, nearly all are 2 men per grave, some are 4, and a lot of them are unknown (ein deutscher soldat). It's a sad place, but well worth a visit to remember both sides took great losses.

Alex Dugal (2 years ago)
Impressive cemetery for the German fallen soldiers of WW2. Such a vast difference from the Maison Blanch World War One Cemetery. The Canadian maple leaf memorial garden is a somber place to reflect. Information Center gives some historical information and also includes a free public washroom.

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The Church of Saint Demetrius, or Hagios Demetrios, is the main sanctuary dedicated to Saint Demetrius, the patron saint of Thessaloniki. It is part of the site Palaeochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessaloniki on the list of World Heritage Sites by UNESCO since 1988.

The first church on the spot was constructed in the early 4th century AD, replacing a Roman bath. A century later, a prefect named Leontios replaced the small oratory with a larger, three-aisled basilica. Repeatedly gutted by fires, the church eventually was reconstructed as a five-aisled basilica in 629–634. This was the surviving form of the church much as it is today. The most important shrine in the city, it was probably larger than the local cathedral. The historic location of the latter is now unknown.

The church had an unusual shrine called the ciborium, a hexagonal, roofed structure at one side of the nave. It was made of or covered with silver. The structure had doors and inside was a couch or bed. Unusually, it did not hold any physical relics of the saint. The ciborium seems to have been a symbolic tomb. It was rebuilt at least once.

The basilica is famous for six extant mosaic panels, dated to the period between the latest reconstruction and the inauguration of the Byzantine Iconoclasm in 730. These mosaics depict St. Demetrius with officials responsible for the restoration of the church (called the founders, ktetors) and with children. An inscription below one of the images glorifies heaven for saving the people of Thessalonica from a pagan Slavic raid in 615.

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