Cimetière Militaire de Tourgéville

Created in 1918, the Tourgéville war cemetery is the property of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, in charge of its maintenance. After World War I, France granted a concession in perpetuity for the plot of land and the British war cemetery in Tourgeville was inaugurated in 1920. It was initially designed to house the graves of the soldiers who died in the British Army hospitals established in Trouville-Deauville.
Its existence is the result of the establishment, as from June 1917, of a British medical camp on Mont-Canisy, and to the presence of the 14th Convalescent Depot in Trouville-sur-Mer (October 1917) and the concurrent trawler fleet in Deauville. It gained increased importance in February 1918, after the establishment of the Trouville-sur-Mer hospital sector, which comprised the 72nd, 73rd and 74th General Hospitals, and the 13th, 14th and 15th Convalescent Depots.
The war cemetery was created in 1920. At the time, it was home to the graves of 293 WWI soldiers who died in camp, either due to their wounds (over a third), due to Spanish flu (209 Commonwealth soldiers and 24 American soldiers – 1932 count), 57 German graves (prisoners) and 3 civilians.
Today, the cemetery also houses the graves of WWII soldiers, including both Allied and enemy troops. The total of 315 graves includes: 209 Commonwealth soldiers, among them 19 seamen, soldiers and aviators, together with 8 Australians, 8 Canadians, one New-Zealander (WWI), 13 Allied soldiers killed during WWII, 90 German prisoners and 3 civilians (one British nurse and two civilians).

Today, the cemetery is a calm, peaceful and well-maintained site. There is no residential housing around it – only the golf course. And if you take a closer look at the graves, you will note that some are rounded and others pointed, to distinguish the British graves from the German ones: soldiers from both camps laid to rest in the same cemetery, what better initiative in favour of peace, and well worth our admiration, in this heritage site not to be missed…