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:

Comments

Your name



Details

Founded: 1944
Category: Cemeteries, mausoleums and burial places in France

Rating

4.7/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Alexis Bascourt (13 months ago)
The German commentary as you can see in the pictures is a lot different than other commentaries. Each grave has more than one person.
Joemon Thekkaekurikattukunnal (13 months ago)
Very unique experience of visiting war cemetery ???
Astrid Kurth (14 months ago)
The cemetery itself is beautiful and the layout is poignant. The Visitors Center provides context to the occupation, the war, and the D-Day invasion. It is a very balanced interpretation, showing in great detail the atrocities committed by the Nazis, but also examining the humanity of individuals who died in Normandy. It provides a meaningful contrast to the American, British and Canadian cemeteries and memorials. A visit is highly recommended.
Alex Char (2 years ago)
It’s a complete contrast compared to the American cemetery. The latter is in fact much better kept. They really want to keep their memory alive. On the other hand, the German cemetery is not as tidy which is bit sad because maybe some soldiers were sent to be killed and did not necessarily assent to the nazi ideology
J B (2 years ago)
Worth a stop. The German cemeteries are always a big contrast to the Allied cemeteries. Visit the information centre first for an insight into how the cemetery came about and a few who are buried there. It was informative and interesting.
Powered by Google

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Historic Site of the week

Doune Castle

Doune Castle was originally built in the thirteenth century, then probably damaged in the Scottish Wars of Independence, before being rebuilt in its present form in the late 14th century by Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany (c. 1340–1420), the son of King Robert II of Scots, and Regent of Scotland from 1388 until his death. Duke Robert"s stronghold has survived relatively unchanged and complete, and the whole castle was traditionally thought of as the result of a single period of construction at this time. The castle passed to the crown in 1425, when Albany"s son was executed, and was used as a royal hunting lodge and dower house.

In the later 16th century, Doune became the property of the Earls of Moray. The castle saw military action during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and Glencairn"s rising in the mid-17th century, and during the Jacobite risings of the late 17th century and 18th century.