inSPIREd Sunday - Normandy

Sally hosts inSPIREd Sunday!

August 2012 - Normandy France

I thought this would be appropriate for this week.

Ranville was the first village to be liberated in France when the bridge over the Caen Canal was captured intact in the early hours of 6 June 1944 by troops of the 6th Airborne Division, who were landed nearby by parachute and glider. Many of the division's casualties are buried in Ranville War Cemetery and the adjoining churchyard.

Click here for a link to the Fallen Heroes website which puts a face to many of these graves.

This is outside the church.

The churchyard was used for immediate burials, and some soldiers from 6th (Airborne) were laid to rest at this location as the fighting for the Eastern Flank continued. After the Second World War the site was chosen to regroup burials from this part of the battlefield, and graves were brought in from a number of areas, including: Amfreville, Colleville-sur-Orne, Houlgate, Colombelles and Villers-sur-Mer. The cemetery was finally closed in 1946. 

A very high proportion of the dead here are men from 6th (Airborne) Division. Burials total 2,562 - contains 2,235 Commonwealth burials  97 of them unidentified. There are also 330 German graves and a few burials of other nationalities.

 The graves of 76 Canadians are located in the Ranville War Cemetery near Caen, including nine members of the RCAF, three CANLOAN officers and 57 members of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion. 

 
In the grounds of the old church are local graves along with soldiers' graves.

A German grave.