The German war cemetery in the municipality of La Chapelle-en-Juger in the
french department of Manche, twelve kilometers west of Saint-Lô, bears the name of the
the name of the commune of Marigny, two kilometers to the southwest. At the cemetery
20. September 1961, 11,169 German soldiers are buried in the cemetery
buried there.
Description of the cemetery
The cemetery is divided into five elongated blocks of graves and surrounded by
Surrounded by ramparts. The structural design of the entrance building is based on the
the character of the old Norman village churches. Its quarry stone masonry
blends harmoniously into the landscape. Ceramic plaques above the graves
bear the names, ranks and dates of life and death of two war dead
War dead. The groups of symbolic crosses characteristic of German war cemeteries
Symbolic crosses are evenly distributed across the site. A stone wall
encloses the cemetery.
History
During the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944, the warring parties suffered heavy
Warring parties suffered heavy losses. In the Cherbourg region, many German soldiers
Soldiers lost their lives in bombing raids near Marigny, La Chapelle-en-Juger and the surrounding
surrounding villages. In the course of the fierce landing battles
3,070 American soldiers died in the sections of St. Mere-Eglise and
"Utah Beach". These war dead were buried by the American burial service
initially near Marigny. In 1945 and 1946, they were reburied at the Saint-James cemetery
the Saint-James cemetery (instead of St. Laurent-sur-Mer).
Special feature
There is a memorial stone near the entrance to the Marigny war cemetery
Memorial stone. It commemorates the soldiers of the VII US Corps who were initially buried there
buried there and later moved to the large American military cemetery in
Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer cemetery.
Photographs: Erhard Lauber
