La Cambe German Military Cemetery in La Cambe, Basse-Normandie

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Get directions La Cambe, Basse-Normandie, France

Coordinates: 49.34193, -1.02656
Cemetery ID:

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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 Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (the German War Graves Commission), in collaboration with French, Commonwealth, and American war cemetery authorities, 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 1400 locations in the Departments 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 (mass grave) underneath the central man-made hill.

The Cemetery is the centerpiece of a Friedenspark (Peace Park), stretching along the highway back to Bayeux. Every tree in the park is sponsored by an individual, an organization, or a municipality, in honor of the cause of peace.

Since 1996 there has been an Information Centre and museum on the site. Here you can see a permanent exhibition about the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge an the Normandy Campaign and check both German and Allied casualties on a computer database.