La Cambe German war cemetery is one of six main German cemeteries in Normandy. It
contains more than 21,000 graves; almost half of the dead interred here were
relocated from over 1,400 other locations in isolated field graves or small
battlefield cemeteries throughout Calvados and the Orne. At the center of the
cemetery is a large 50-foot high burial mound (called a “tumulus”) topped by a
large dark cross and flanked by two statues that marks the mass grave of 207
unknown and 89 identified German soldiers. Nearly 50 rectangular grave fields
(each containing up to 400 graves with flat grave markers) surround the mound.
The soldiers range in age from 16 to 72 and all died during the Allied landings
between June 6 and August 20, 1944. La Cambe contains an information center where
relatives can use a database to look up grave locations for family members. A
peace garden with 1,200 maple trees lines the access road.
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