NI Photowalk - British and German Cemeteries

Visiting the war cemeteries was an interesting experience because they were so different.  I have visited Arlington in Washington, DC, several times, and have driven past the East Tennessee Veteran's Cemetery, so I have in my mind what a military cemetery should look like.  The British and German ones were similar and different to the American military cemeteries.  The Bayeux War Cemetery is one of the British WWII Cemeteries.

This monument is in the center of the cemetery and people have placed poppy wreaths around it.  We also found poppy wreaths at the German cemetery.

Like the American military cemeteries, the grave markers were uniform and in perfect rows, regardless of the direction that you looked.

Unlike the American military cemetery, each grave had a small flowering bush planted beside it.  I don't know if those were placed by family members or by the British military.

In the rear of the cemetery, the graves stood in a curve, which broke the uniformity of the grave markers.

There was also a section of graves identified as German soldiers.  The stones were a darker stone, but otherwise, the German dead were given the same treatment as the British.  Most likely, these were soldiers that died in the British hospital or as prisoners of war.

The British graves were decorated with the symbol of their regiment, their rank, a religious symbol and date of death, plus a personal message from their family.  Click on the pictures of the stones to see the messages.

This monument across from the cemetery lists the names of 1800 British soldiers who have no known grave.

The inscription, in Latin, translates to "We, once conquered by William, have now set free the Conqueror's native land."  This is especially significant in the city of Bayeux, which houses the tapestry that tells the story of the 1066 invasion of England by William the Conqueror, the last time that England was successfully invaded.

We also stopped at the German Cemetery.  I recently learned that this was once one of the temporary cemeteries for the Americans, and eventually designated as a German Cemetery.

A hill with a cross at the top dominates the center of the cemetery.

The markers in this cemetery were flat, with a set of five crosses interrupting the landscape in regular intervals.

The markers are not as regular as those in the British and American cemeteries, but they were placed in double rows with the names turned inward so as you walked between them, you could read the names on both rows.

There were the names of two soldiers on each stone, indicating that there were two bodies in each grave.  One of the significant facts about this cemetery also is the age of the soldiers: very few of them were older than 21.

And a good portion had no name on them, such as this marker identifying "Two German Soldiers."