D-Day: Commonwealth Sectors

47. Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Ceme

Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandie

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The beautifully manicured cemetery on the outskirts of the picturesque Normandy village of Reviers contains the bodies of 2,044 Canadians, from the 3rd Division, along with the bodies of 15 airmen and four British soldiers. There are 19 unknown graves and all were killed on or just after the D-Day Landings on the 6th June. The graveyard is enclosed in pine and maple trees, with a white marble Cross of Sacrifice at the centre. It contains the remains of nine sets of brothers, and the body of French Resistance fighter, Mr Guenard who died alongside the Canadian soldiers and is recognisable as the only grey, stone cross, as opposed to the gleaming white markers of the others. It is also the resting place of twenty prisoners of war, summarily executed at Ardenne Abbey by the 12th SS Panzer troops and the body of Rev Walter Brown also killed in cold blood near Galmanche.