Ryes War Cemetery is a

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 ...

cemetery of

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

soldiers located close to the commune of

Bazenville Bazenville () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region of north-western France. Bazenville Airfield was a former World War II Advanced Landing Ground, mostly located outside the commune of Bazenville 1.8 km to the nor ...

, east of

Bayeux Bayeux () is a Communes of France, commune in the Calvados (department), Calvados Departments of France, department in Normandy (administrative region), Normandy in northwestern France. Bayeux is the home of the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts ...

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 ...

, France. The graveyard contains 653 Commonwealth war graves, one Polish and 335 German war graves. The cemetery is maintained by the

Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...

History

The cemetery lies close to the town of

Arromanches Arromanches-les-Bains (; or simply Arromanches) is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region of north-western France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Arromanchais'' or ''Arromanchaises''. Geography Arromanches-les ...

and the first interments in the cemetery were made two days after the initial

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

landings on 6 June 1944. Some of the soldiers buried here are from the

50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division The 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army that saw distinguished service in the Second World War. Pre-war, the division was part of the Territorial Army (TA) and the two ''Ts'' in the divisional ins ...

that landed on

Gold Beach Gold, commonly known as Gold Beach, was the code name for one of the five areas of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during the Second World War. Gold, the central of the five areas, was lo ...

. The cemetery also contains a large number of Royal Navy and merchant navy sailors. Two brothers, Private Joseph Casson (

Durham Light Infantry The Durham Light Infantry (DLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1968. It was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 68th (Durham) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) and t ...

) and Marine Robert Casson (

45 Commando 45 Commando Royal Marines (pronounced "four-five commando") is a battalion sized unit of the British Royal Marines and subordinate unit within 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines, the principal Commando formation, under the Operational Command of th ...

) are buried beside each other in the graveyard. Professional footballer

Les Milner Leonard Milner (15 September 1917 – 25 June 1944), known as Les Milner, was an English professional footballer who played as an inside forward in the Football League for York City. Personal life Milner was married. He served as a sergeant in ...

is also buried in the cemetery.

Gallery

File:Ryes War Cemetery -19.JPG, Sacrificial cross in the cemetery File:Ryes War Cemetery -9.JPG, Polish headstone File:Ryes War Cemetery -6.JPG, Graves and cross

Location

The cemetery is east of

, close to Bazenville on the D.87.

References

External links

* {{Subject bar , portal1=Architecture , portal2=France , portal3=United Kingdom , portal4=World War II , commons=y , commons-search=Ryes War Cemetery British military memorials and cemeteries Canadian military memorials and cemeteries Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries in France Operation Overlord cemeteries 1944 establishments in France World War II memorials in France

History

Gallery

Location

See also

References

Further reading

External links