Marigny WWII Cemetery

This was our last day in France and I wanted to visit the D-Day Beaches in Normandy and pay my respects at a cemetery of each of the combatants. We started at Marigny – quiet and peaceful in the sunny countryside – on what was to be a very thought-provoking day.

The Marigny German Cemetery is on the outskirts of La Chapelle-en-Juger (to the west of Saint Lô). Many of the 11,172 German soldiers buried here belonged to the Panzer-Lehr Division, an élite corps in the army. The rate of casualties was very high, effectively breaking the corps. The attack was part of Operation Cobra, the break through on the Cotentin Peninsula by the American troops from 25-31 July 1944. (Read this story.)