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:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Brendan Mahon (9 months ago)
Peaceful and poignant cemetery. Really brings the waste of young lives into perspective.

Brian Kelley (11 months ago)
Not to diminish the Allied stories, but it does provide a bit of balance to the whole Normandy experience. So many very young men buried here, just like all the other military cemeteries in the region.

Melvin Trilsbeek (2 years ago)
A must see for people who want to know the complete picture of about the second world war. This cemetery is made for the fallen soldiers who fought on the German. This is a good place to show you that there are no winners in war and that a war only knows death. I think both soldiers earn their respect. This is also an special place because this is the resting place of the tank ace Michael Wittmann.

Paul Howson (2 years ago)
I visited this not knowing how I would feel and to be honest it is a very sad place in contrast to the Allied cemeteries. When I visited the grass was muddy underfoot and it just feels like this is not as well cared about as the others. I don't mean that as a criticism just an observation. Men were busy working around the cemetery at the time. The most striking thing for me is the amount of multiple graves with no names and the young ages of some of the soldiers.

Carin Dahlin (2 years ago)
Well worth a visit, total contrast to the american cementary place.A most to see both...

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