Cesena War Cemetery in Cesena, Emilia-Romagna

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Get directions Cesena, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

Coordinates: 44.14927, 12.26051
Cemetery ID:

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Cesena War Cemetery contains 775 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War. It is situated in the Commune of Cesena, in the Province of Forli.

Directions: Take the Autostrada A14, Bologna-Ancona, exiting at Cesena. Proceed along this road for about 4 kilometres arriving at a roundabout. Turn left and then take the second road on the right hand side. After 500 metres, turning left, enter into a parking area and take a little road leading to the cemetery main entrance.

Historical Information: On 3 September 1943 the Allies invaded the Italian mainland, the invasion coinciding with an armistice made with the Italians who then re-entered the war on the Allied side. Following the fall of Rome to the Allies in June 1944, the German retreat became ordered and successive stands were made on a series of defensive lines. In the northern Appenine mountains the last of these, the Gothic Line, was breached by the Allies during the Autumn campaign and the front inched forward as far as Ravenna in the Adratic sector, but with divisions transferred to support the new offensive in France, and the Germans dug in to a number of key defensive positions, the advance stalled as winter set in. Most of those buried in this cemetery died during the advance from Rimini to Forli and beyond in September-November 1944, an advance across one flooded river after another in atrocious autumn weather. The cemetery site was selected in November 1944 and burials were brought in from the surrounding battlefields.