Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery, Military cemetery in Hautot-sur-Mer, France.
Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery holds over 900 graves arranged in an unusual back-to-back pattern rather than traditional rows. The burials include soldiers from Canada, Britain, and other Commonwealth nations who died in the 1942 Dieppe Raid and subsequent operations.
The cemetery was established after the 1944 liberation and holds those killed in the failed August 1942 assault on the coastal port. That operation resulted in one of the worst casualty rates of any Allied action in the early war years.
The cemetery reflects a deliberate choice to honor the original burial pattern established during occupation. This back-to-back headstone arrangement tells a story about how the space remembers both loss and the moment of liberation from German rule.
Visitors can walk through the grounds and examine individual graves and monuments at their own pace. The rural location means it is best reached by car, allowing time to reflect quietly among the memorials.
Architect Philip Hepworth chose to keep the burial arrangement created during German occupation rather than reorganizing graves after the war. This makes it the only Commonwealth cemetery designed with that distinctive back-to-back headstone pattern.
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