The Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery is a war

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

containing predominantly

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

soldiers killed during the later stages of the

Battle of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norm ...

in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It is located close to the village of

Cintheaux Cintheaux () is a Communes of France, commune in the Calvados (department), Calvados Departments of France, department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy Regions of France, region in northwestern France. Geography The commune is lo ...

and named after

Bretteville-sur-Laize Bretteville-sur-Laize () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. The scene of heavy fighting following the Normandy landings, much of the town is of post-World War II construction. Population ...

in the

Calvados Calvados (, , ) is a brandy from Normandy in France, made from apples or pears, or from apples with pears. History In France Apple orchards and brewers are mentioned as far back as the 8th century by Charlemagne. The first known record of Nor ...

department, between

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Falaise Falaise may refer to: Places * Falaise, Ardennes, France * Falaise, Calvados, France ** The Falaise pocket was the site of a battle in the Second World War * La Falaise, in the Yvelines ''département'', France * The Falaise escarpment in Quebe ...

in lower

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

History

Bretteville-sur-Laize was created as a permanent resting place for Canadian soldiers who had been temporarily buried in smaller plots close to where they fell. At the time of the cemetery's creation, France granted Canada a perpetual concession to the land occupied by the cemetery. Of the 2,958 burials, 2,782 are Canadian of whom 87 remain unidentified, together with 80 British, four Australian and one each from France and New Zealand. There are records for 2,792 of the Canadian men. A large number of dead in the cemetery were killed late July 1944 around

Saint-André-sur-Orne Saint-André-sur-Orne (, literally ''Saint-André on Orne''; named Saint-André-de-Fontenay until 1911) is a village in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. Geography Saint-André-sur-Orne is situated on the Or ...

and in the battle for the Falaise Pocket in August 1944. Soldiers from nearly every unit within the

II Canadian Corps II Canadian Corps was a corps-level formation that, along with I (British) Corps (August 1, 1944 to April 1, 1945) and I Canadian Corps (April 6, 1943 to November 1943, and April 1, 1945 until the end of hostilities), comprised the First Canad ...

are represented in the cemetery. Canadians killed earlier (June and early July) in the

are buried near

Juno Beach Juno or Juno Beach was one of five beaches of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944 during the Second World War. The beach spanned from Courseulles, a village just east of the British beach Gold ...

in the

Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery The Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery (french: Cimetière militaire canadien de Bény-sur-Mer) is a cemetery containing predominantly Canadian soldiers killed during the early stages of the Battle of Normandy in the Second World War. It is locat ...

Location

The cemetery is located on the N158 road between

, about 14 km from Caen, in the commune of Cintheaux. However, there is no access directly from the roadway. The road into the cemetery, the Rue du Prieuré/D167 runs north out of the village of Cintheaux It can be seen o
Google Maps here

References

External links

Veteran Affairs Canada
{{Subject bar , portal1=Architecture , portal2=France , portal3=Canada , portal4=World War II , commons=y , commons-search=Cimetière militaire canadien de Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian military memorials and cemeteries Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries in France Military history of Canada during World War II Operation Overlord cemeteries

History

Location

See also

References

External links