Country: France
Locality: Calvados
Identified Casualties:
2872
Google Earth Link:
Cemetery
Location
The cemetery lies on the west side of
the main road from Caen to Falaise (route N158) about 14 kilometres south of
Caen and just north of the village of Cintheaux. The village of Bretteville lies
3 kilometres south-west of the cemetery, which is reached by a minor road which
runs paralell with the N158. It is well signposted, and there is a large parking
area outside the cemetery.
Cemetery
Information
For the most part, those
buried at Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery died during the later
stages of the fighting in Normandy, including the capture of Caen and the thrust
southwards to Falaise - an advance led initially by the 4th Canadian and 1st
Polish Armoured Divisions - to close the Falaise Gap. The burials here include
men from almost every unit of Canadian 2nd Corps, with casualties from late July
and August 1944 dominating the burials. Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War
Cemetery contains 2,957 Second World War burials, the majority Canadian, and 87
of them unidentified.
WW2
Graves
The graves here are largely
Canadian soldiers from the advance on Falaise.
Photo
Archive