Orglandes German war cemetery



Orglandes War Cemetery is a German World War II cemetery in Normandy, France. It is located on the northern edge of the village of Orglandes, about 25 km west of Bayeux. The burials come from summer 1944, immediately following D-Day and the Battle of Normandy.

The entrance is marked by a small house surmounted by a bell-tower. The cemetery consists of 28 rows of graves, each grave marked by a stone cross. Each cross details the name, date of birth and date of death of each of the six or more dead soldiers buried to each cross.

"Once the neck of the Cotentin Peninsula had been crossed, the American forces then headed towards Valogne and Cherbourg. The soldiers who fell during these operations were originally buried here in the village of Orglandes. After 1945, only the German war dead, 7358 in all, remained: the Americans were reinterred in Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer. The French Burial Department brought together all the scattered German war dead in the surrounding area, some of whom had been buried alone, others in small cemeteries, and reburied them in the vacated ground. The total number of German war dead lying here comes to 10,152. "

The cemetery is administered by the German War Graves Commission, the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge. The landscaping was completed in 1958 and the cemetery was inaugurated on September 20, 1961.

Liberation plaque
By the entrance is a small plaque which says: In honour of the 9th and 90th United States Infantry Divisions who liberated Orglandes on 17 June 1944

In memory

 * List of military cemeteries in Normandy

Sources and references

 * Normandy battles site