Footsteps of WWII · Normandy
Bayeux War Cemetery and Memorial
Cemetery · 1944–1952
The story
This is the largest Commonwealth Second World War cemetery in France, with 4,648 burials, mostly men killed in the Normandy campaign. More than 500 graves are of other nationalities, most of them German. It was begun in 1944, completed in 1952 and designed by Philip Hepworth for the Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission. Across the road the Bayeux Memorial names more than 1,800 Commonwealth servicemen who died in the Battle of Normandy and have no known grave. Its Latin frieze reads, in translation: 'We, once conquered by William, have now set free the Conqueror's native land.'
What to look for
Rows of Portland-stone headstones in lawns, with the Cross of Sacrifice and Stone of Remembrance. Across the road, the colonnaded Bayeux Memorial carries the names of the missing, and its Latin inscription about William the Conqueror runs across the front.
Plan your visit
CWGC cemetery and memorial: free, open at all times, no booking needed. Park on Boulevard Fabian Ware, opposite the Museum of the Battle of Normandy.
Things change, so check opening times before you travel.
Nearby sites
- Museum of the Battle of Normandy, Bayeux · under 1 km
- Longues-sur-Mer battery · 8 km
- Arromanches: Mulberry harbour and D-Day Museum · 10 km
- Overlord Museum, Colleville-sur-Mer · 13 km
- Normandy American Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer · 14 km
- Omaha Beach: Les Braves, Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer · 16 km
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Footsteps of WWII: Europe 1939–1945
A free field guide for your phone: the route, the maps and the stories built in, even with no signal. The whole Second World War in Europe, from the first shots at Westerplatte on 1 September 1939 to the German surrender in May 1945: Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, Normandy, Arnhem, Bastogne, Stalingrad, Berlin and the camps, in 15 areas from Britain to Russia.
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