Cimetière militaire de Pihen les Guines
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Cimetière militaire de Pihen les Guines
Rue du Cimetière - 62340 PIHEN-LES-GUINES
There are graves of soldiers who fought in the British uniform in the local cemetery. Nearby, nearly 150 combatants rest in a military cemetery under the auspices of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Originally private land, it was requisitioned by the German occupiers in 1943 to bury Allied soldiers who fell in the region. The vast majority of these pilots were Royal Air Force pilots and crews. From May 1940 onwards, the skies over the Opal Coast were an aerial battleground between the RAF and the German Luftwaffe. Numerous missions, dogfights, and escorts flew over Great Britain, the English Channel, and the European continent. Many pilots fell and now rest in our cemeteries. The RAF included British crews, as well as those from other Allied countries. A memorial walk through the military cemetery at Pihen-les-Guînes makes this clear. Alongside the British, airmen from New Zealand, Australia, Czechoslovakia, and Poland rest. Did you know that, with their country attacked by the German army in September 1939, the Poles went to France and then England to continue the fight? Many Polish pilots, seasoned in aerial combat, fought in the RAF. Several of them are buried in the Pihen-les-Guînes cemetery. Among them is Piotr Laguna, whose plane crashed in Coquelles in June 1941. An audio-guided tour on wivisites.com retraces his steps.
