Brittany American Cemetery

GPS Coordinates: 48.518970, -1.303980
Location: Montjoie-Saint-Martin, Manche
Record count: 4,908

Ownership: American Battle Monuments Commission

Directions: Montjoie, 50240 Saint-James, France. Brittany American Cemetery lies one and a half miles southeast of the village of St. James (Manche), France, 12 miles south of Avranches, and 14 miles north of Fougères.

The cemetery is located in the commune of Montjoie-Saint-Martin.

Background: The cemetery is located on the site of the temporary American St. James Cemetery, established on August 4, 1944 by the U.S. Third Army. It was officially dedicated in 1956.

The cemetery marks the point where the American forces made their breakthrough from the hedgerow country of Normandy into the plains of Brittany during the offensive around Avranches, France.

After weeks of intensive offensive operations against German forces following the D-Day landings in Normandy, U.S. forces captured St. Lô on July 18. General Omar Bradley, commander of First U.S. Army, planned Operation COBRA to break out of Normandy and into Brittany.

COBRA succeeded. Allied forces broke out of German lines in Normandy, liberated most of Brittany, reached the Seine, and liberated Paris before moving east toward Germany.

Burial Records

• ABMC Burial Records, by Interment.net, October 29, 2019, (4,908 records)

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