Cesena War Cemetery
- Country Italy
- Total identified casualties 773 Find these casualties
- Identified casualties from Second World War
- GPS Coordinates Latitude: 44.14868, Longitude: 12.25976
Location information
Cesena War Cemetery lies in the Commune of Cesena, in the Province of Forli. Take the autostrada A14, Bologna-Ancona, exiting at Cesena. Proceed along this road for about 4 kilometres arriving at a roundabout. Turn left and then take the second road on the right hand side. After 500 metres, turning left, enter into a parking area and take a little road leading to the cemetery main entrance. Cemetery address: Via Spinelli - 47023 Cesena (FC) Emilia Romagna. GPS Co-ordinates: Latitude: 44.149269, Longitude: 12.260512.
Visiting information
ARRIVAL
Routes to the cemetery are signposted.
PARKING
There is parking for vehicles close to Cesena Rugby Club car park.
From the car park follow a long, flat tarmac path approximately 180 metres to the main entrance of the cemetery.
ACCESS, LAYOUT AND MAIN ENTRANCE
The cemetery is rectangular shaped.
The main gate is approximately 2.5 metres wide. A single section of gate, approximately 800m wide opens inwards onto a brick pathway leading towards the cemetery. A shallow stone step leads from the asphalt car park to the entrance gate.
From the main gate follow a cobbled aisle for 3 metres then pass through two pillars onto a grass area that leads to the memorial shelter, approximately 50 metres from the pillars.
A memorial shelter is offset to the side of the cemetery and houses the Register Box and stone benches inside. There is a step up from the grass onto a paved area, and another step up into the shelter.
A Cross of Sacrifice positioned in the centre of the cemetery.
All internal cemetery paths are flat and either grass or cobble surfaces.
There is a stone seating area located opposite the Sacrifice at the lower end of the cemetery, with two trees providing shade seasonally.
There are visitor information panels at the main entrance.
ALTERNATIVE ACCESS
Access is only possible through the main entrance; the route is wide and flat.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The cemetery is permanently open.
History information
On 3 September 1943 the Allies invaded the Italian mainland, the invasion coinciding with an armistice made with the Italians who then re-entered the war on the Allied side.
Following the fall of Rome to the Allies in June 1944, the German retreat became ordered and successive stands were made on a series of defensive lines. In the northern Appenine mountains the last of these, the Gothic Line, was breached by the Allies during the Autumn campaign and the front inched forward as far as Ravenna in the Adratic sector, but with divisions transferred to support the new offensive in France, and the Germans dug in to a number of key defensive positions, the advance stalled as winter set in.
Most of those buried in this cemetery died during the advance from Rimini to Forli and beyond in September-November 1944, an advance across one flooded river after another in atrocious autumn weather. The cemetery site was selected in November 1944 and burials were brought in from the surrounding battlefields.
Cesena War Cemetery contains 775 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War.