Find French War Memorials and Cemeteries

Where are the War memorials in France?

We care for memorial sites and war graves in France in 2,945 locations across the country.

Located in the heart of the battlefields of the First World War, The CWGC Visitor Centre in Beaurains, near Arras, France is an easy drive away from some of the most recognisable locations on the Western Front.

How many war memorials does France have?

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission cares for graves, cemeteries and memorials in 2,945 locations across France.

How many WW1 memorials are there in France?

Our sites include 20 memorials commemorating more than 211,000 lives lost during the First World War.

How many WW2 memorials are there in France?

And 2 memorials remembering more than 6,300 war dead of the Second World War. 

How to find French war memorials

Use the search tool above to search for French memorial sites from the two World Wars. 

You can search by name, location, war, and even size. Country, location and war are drop-down lists from which you can select the desired country, location or war.

If you know the name of the CWGC location you wish to visit, you can enter it into the location field. An exact match is not required.

The number of casualties field can be used in combination with the above or on its own to search for and find different types of war memorials.

Famous French War Memorials

Discover more information about some of the well-known memorial sites and war graves in France under our care. 

Thiepval Memorial

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave.

The memorial also serves as an Anglo-French Battle Memorial in recognition of the joint nature of the 1916 offensive and a small cemetery containing equal numbers of Commonwealth and French graves lies at the foot of the memorial.

The memorial, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, was built between 1928 and 1932 and unveiled by the Prince of Wales, in the presence of the President of France, on 1 August 1932.

There is currently restoration work taking place at Thiepval memorial, however, the cemetery remains open. 

Arras Memorial

The Arras Memorial is one of two memorials to the missing at Faubourg D’Amiens Cemetery. It commemorates close to 35,000 casualties from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand who died in the Arras offensive of 1917 as well as German attacks in the area during 1918. 

It stands adjacent to the Arras Flying Services Memorial which commemorates almost 1000 airmen who were killed in action over the Western Front while flying for the Royal Flying Corps, the Royal Navy Air Service and the Royal Air Force. 

Both memorials were designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and were unveiled on 31 July 1932 by the then Marshal of the Royal Air Force Lord Trenchard. 

Canadian National Vimy Memorial

The Canadian National Vimy Memorial stands at the highest point of Vimy ridge, which was a key strategic point during the Battle of Arras. The ridge was won on 9 April 1917 by four divisions of Canadian corps and so became the perfect place to build a Canadian memorial following the war. 

The memorial is a memorial to all of the Canadians who served during the First World War and bears the names of each Canadian who died in France, and 60,000 in total. It also bears 11,000 names of Canadian soldiers who died in France and have no known grave. 

The memorial was unveiled in July 1936 by King Edward VIII.

Best war memorials in France

Discover some of the most important war memorial sites to visit commemorating the casualties of the two World Wars…

First World War Memorials in France

Other notable WW1 Memorials in France include;

Loos Memorial

Villers-Bretonneux Memorial

Le Touret Memorial

France World War 2 Memorials

Our French World War Two Memorials are;

Bayeux Memorial

Dunkirk Memorial

Famous French Battles

Many significant battles took place in France during the world wars, leading to many casualties for the French army and British armies. Learn about some of the battles and memorial sites remembering the fallen. 

Battle of the Somme

Fought between July and November 1916, the Battle of the Somme was one of the defining events of the Great War. An estimated 3.5 million men took part in the battle in 1916. By its end, well over one million had become casualties.

Somme war memorials in France include;

• Thiepval Anglo-French Cemetery
• Thiepval Memorial
• Caterpillar Valley Cemetery
• Serre Road Cemetery No.2

D-Day and the Battle of Normandy

6 June 1944 saw one of the key moments of World War Two. It was on this day that the Allies launched their invasion of mainland Europe: Operation Overlord. That day, and the days that followed, saw intense fighting on the beaches and then through the Normandy countryside where over 200,000 Allied soldiers lost their lives. 

Cemeteries include:

• Bayeux War Cemetery
• Bretteville-Sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery
• Ranville War Cemetery
• St. Manvieu War Cemetery

Evacuation of Dunkirk

The evacuation of Dunkirk is one of the most well known operations of World War Two. Known officially as Operation Dynamo, the mass evacuation of Allied forces from the port of Dunkirk carried out by military vessels and a flotilla of ‘Little Ships’ - a mixture of fishing boats, merchant vessels and privately owned ships - rescued more than 300,000 soldiers from beaches of France. 

Memorials and cemeteries include: 

• Dunkirk Memorial
• Hazebrouck Communal Cemetery
• Outtersteene Communal Cemetery Extension

Trips to war memorials in France

The CWGC Visitor Centre provides a great starting point for visiting some of the most recognisable memorials on the Western Front, thanks to its location in the heart of the battlefields of the First World War.

The CWGC Visitor Centre is a unique visitor attraction in Beaurains, near Arras in France that shines a light on the work of the remarkable organisation at the heart of remembrance of the war dead.

Find more war graves, war memorials and cemeteries around the world through our database.