La Cambe, "the forgotten".

During my holiday in Normandy I visited some sites of D-Day, most of them well known to all of us (at least I presume). Places like Omaha-Beach, Pointe du Hoc and Arromanches are all discussed before. Yet one place was new to me, La Cambe, a German cemetery.

I'll compare an American Cemetery (near La Cambe) with La Cambe just to explain the title of this post. I'm not implying that the people who took care of this cemetery back in 1947 didn't pay enough respect nor am I implying that there is any injustice. I'm only describing that there was also a huge tragedy going on on "the other side" of the battle, which hasn't been told for a long time.


The American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer is also a monument, 9387 graves and a "Garden of the Missing" stating the names of 1557 missing soldiers. Perfectly mowed grass and a curving red tarmac road surrounding the graveyard give it (imo) a typical American sub-urban vibe. Compete with chapel, visitors center and guides in all languages. The length of the graveyard including the monument is about 700 meters.


La Cambe on the other hand was a cemetery for both American and German soldiers until 1947 when all American soldiers were transported back to the United States and the German graves were fitted with actual stones. The whole cemetery is about 300 meters in length with only a entrance and a large hill in the middle.

Over 21.000 graves of German soldiers are at La Cambe, two soldiers per grave, most of them unknown soldiers or missing dates of birth/death. Those who did have this information told me that they where younger then us when they died. A plaque at the entrance stated that most of them "probably didn't choose neither the fight nor the cause".