The Bayeux Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery in the Normandy is the largest Second World War British military cemetery in France.
The Bayeux War Cemetery, with the graves of nearly 5,000 soldiers, is the largest Second World War cemetery of British war casualties in France. The cemetery has the graves of nearly 4,000 British soldiers but also graves for military personnel from ten further nations, including a large number of German soldiers. A classical memorial honor the memories of a further 1,807 Commonwealth soldiers missing-in-action. The Bayeux Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery is near the Battle of Normandy Memorial Museum in the southern edge of the town center. The cemetery is freely accessible year round.
Over 25,000 soldiers are buried in 18 Commonwealth cemeteries in Normandy with many more buried in local communal and churchyard cemeteries. In contrast to the American custom of repatriating bodies, or reburying in dedicated American cemeteries (in Normandy at Colleville-sur-Mer and Saint-James), the British and Commonwealth soldiers were usually not moved after first burial.
(These figures include 338 British soldiers who could not be identified individually. Their graves are marked by gravestones inscribed with “A soldier of the 1939-45 War – Known unto God”.)
A memorial lists the names of a further 1,807 Commonwealth soldiers who were missing-in-action during the liberation of France.
In contrast to the American and German war cemeteries, headstones here are not totally uniform with the top ends slightly different for the respective nations. The Commonwealth headstones are slightly rounded at the top while the Polish stones are more pointed, the German stones triangular and with the Malta Cross, and Russian ones with little steps and the Soviet Star (but no sickle) – see Wikimedia Commons for more examples.
In contrast to the Normandy American Military Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer and the German Kriegsgräberstätte at La Cambe, flowers are planted in the rows directly next to the headstones. Like the American cemetery, visiting the Bayeux cemetery is inherently sad but in no way a morbid experience.
At the northeastern (old town side) of the cemetery is the classical Bayeux Memorial (MĂ©morial Britannique) for the Commonwealth soldiers who died during Operation Overlord. It contains the names of 1,801 Commonwealth soldiers, who went missing in action during D-Day, the Battle of Normandy, and the advance on Paris in 1944.
Latin is indeed a more cryptic language.
The Bayeux Memorial is separated from the Bayeux Cemetery by the southern ring road. It is less perverse if bearing in mind that this road was originally built by the British in 1944 to allow military convoys to bypass the narrow streets of Bayeux.
Bayeux claims to be the first town of significance to have been liberated in France in 1944. (Sainte-Mère-Église and others claim the same but Bayeux became the head quarters of De Gaulle until Paris was liberated.) The town itself saw very little fighting and escaped the Second World War mostly undamaged.
The Bayeux War Cemetery and Bayeux Memorial are open year round and freely accessible during daylight hours.
Parking is available at the museum or in side streets. It is also a pleasant ten-minute walk to the cemetery from the old town center of Bayeux and the Bayeux Tapestry Museum.
Next to the memorial is the Mémorial des Reporters – a memorial and walkway with the names of nearly 2,000 journalists and member of the press killed since 1944.