Grave of an unknown Soldier from the Royal Yorkshire Regiment, who died in the 1939-45 War, Bayeux War Cemetery on the Boulevard Fabian Ware, France
The Bayeux War Cemetery is the largest Second World War cemetery of Commonwealth soldiers in France, located in Bayeux, Normandy. The cemetery contains 4,648 burials, mostly from the Invasion of Normandy. Opposite this cemetery stands the Bayeux Memorial which commemorates more than 1,800 casualties of the Commonwealth forces who died in Normandy and have no known grave. The cemetery grounds were assigned to the United Kingdom in perpetuity by France in recognition of the sacrifices made by the British Empire in the defence and liberation of France during the war. In addition to the Commonwealth burials, there are also over 500 war graves of other nationalities, the majority German.[2] The cemetery contains the Cross of Sacrifice or War Cross, designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). British Army Corporal Sidney Bates, a member of the 1st Battalion The Royal Norfolk Regiment, was awarded the Victoria Cross for his gallant actions on 6 August 1944 near Sourdeval. Five members of one aircrew are buried together: Royal Air Force Flying Officer Bell (pilot); Flying Officer Clark (air gunner); Sergeant J. Holden (wireless operator/air gunner); Sergeant Reed (air gunner); and Royal Australian Air Force Flying Officer D. MacFadyen. They all died on 10 June 1944. The cemetery is located in Bayeux, in the Calvados commune, on the Boulevard Fabian Ware (). It is located 24 kilometres north-west of Caen and 13 kilometres south of Arromanches-les-Bains. The cemetery is the subject of a poem by Charles Causley, "At the British War Cemetery, Bayeux". Causley served in the Royal Navy during World War II, but not in Europe. This poem was written after his first visit to Normandy, in the summer of 1954. He stated that he had been inspired to write the piece because Bayeux was the first war cemetery he had ever visited. The theme of 'survivor's guilt' figures prominently in Causley's war poetry, and this poem is deeply
Size: 5046px × 3673px
Location: Bayeux, in the Calvados commune, on the Boulevard Fabian Ware
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -day, 4648, battle, bayeux, burials, calvados, cemetery, close-, commission, commonwealth, commune, france, graves, invasion, landings, largest, normandy, normandy., soldiers, war, world, wwii
