Closest WWII memorials to Eco-Gites of Lenault
Throughout Normandy there are many memorials, museums and cemeteries remembering the brave soldiers who fought in this area in WWII after the D-Day Landings of June 6th 1944. There are specific driving routes you can follow to take you around many of the sites but if you just want to visit a few sites locally these are the places closest to Eco-Gites of Lenault.
British War Cemetery at St Charles-de-Percy
This British War Cemetery is the most southerly of all the war cemeteries in Normandy where 809 British soldiers have found their final resting place. They all died in late July or early August 1944 as the Allies pushed from Caumont L'Evente to the strategic town of Vire thus driving a wedge through the German 7th Army and Panzer Group West.
As with all war cemetries it is beautifully maintained and a place of real calm. More pictures of the graves and gardens can be found here on a blog post I wrote about the cemetery gardens. A register lists all the names of those buried and their grave numbers.
The cemetery is 16 kms to the west of Eco-Gites of Lenault, to the west of the village of St Charles-de-Percy.
Memorial at Monchamp to the Resistance Fighters
This part of Normandy had a very active Resistance movement in WWII, centred around the village of Montchamp. Sadly many of the resistance members were caught and did not survive the war but their work was invaluable in ultimately freeing Normandy and France from the Nazis. Those who died are remembered in a Monument to the Resistance, opened in 1953 by General de Gaulle in the village of Montchamp. It includes a large stone monument and stone plaques on a wall naming those who were killed. In front of the monument are buried bones taken from the furnaces at the Dachau concentration camp in Germany.
Montchamp is 14 kms west of Eco-Gites of Lenault and the monument is opposite the church.
Memorial on Mt Pinçon
Mt Pinçon is the highest point in Calvados on a ridge separating the flat plains that head towards the Calvaods/Normandy coast from the Bocage farmland where Lenault is situated. It was always going to be a difficult piece of Normandy to secure from the Nazis and fighting to do this was intense. After WWII the 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own) erected a memorial on the Mont to apologise for the loss of civilian life during the battle to secure this area.
Mont Pinçon is 10kms north of the gite and visible from the back of the gite with 2 telecommunications masts at it's peak. Turn left just before the main mast, park on the edge then walk along the track, turning left at the end until you get to the memorial.
Polish War Memorial at Le Plessis-Grimoult
Photo from Aérostèles.
Many polish airmen flew with the RAF in WWII and sadly many lost their lives. A small memorial outside the village of Le Plessis-Grimoult (the next village to Lenault which you drive through on your way to Mont Pinçon) honours Warrant Officer Aleksander Chudek who flew in No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron and died in battle on June 23rd 1944, just 17 days after the D-Day Landings. It was believed his plane was lost at sea but in 2009 it was found between Le Plessis-Grimoult and Roucamps close to where the monument now stands.
The memorial is 8 kms north of Eco-Gites of Lenault and was unveiled on June 23rd 2009, 65 years to the day after the crash.
Memorial Plaque in Lenault
Every village and town in Normandy has a plaque to commemorate their liberation after D-Day. The plaque in Lenault shows that the village was liberated on August 10th 1944 by 7th Battalion the Somerset Light Infantry part of the 43rd Wessex Division.
You will find the plaque on the wall of The Mairie in Lenault.
Do you have any connections with the soldiers who fought in this part of Normandy. I would love to hear their stories.
You can pin me!
