​​Saint-Inglevert Canadian Military Cemetery​

​​The Canadian troops who liberated France distinguished themselves immediately after landing in Normandy, where they fought fiercely during the capture of Caen and in the Falaise pocket. They then took part in the liberation of the whole territory with the objectives of taking out the V1 rocket launch sites and recapturing the Channel and North Sea ports.

On 6 September, the Canadian troops surrounded Boulogne, the two capes of Pas-de-Calais, Calais and Dunkirk. Heavy fighting broke out in Bourbourg in the following days as 10,000 German troops were entrenched in the Dunkirk pocket. On 17 September 1944, Operation Wellhit was launched: 800 Royal Air Force aircraft carried out a massive bombing attack on Boulogne, occupied by Lieutenant-General Heim and his 10,000 men, in preparation for its recapture. After intense fighting, the German troops surrendered on 22 September.

​The same pattern was repeated a few days later for the capture of Calais and the heavy batteries on both capes. A massive bombardment preceded the hard fighting by the Canadian troops. On 30 September, they forced 7,500 German soldiers to surrender before succeeding in annihilating the last pocket of resistance the following day. The Canadian troops paid a heavy price for retaking the area. Although Boulogne and Calais were in Allied hands, their ports had been wiped out by methodical German bombing and blasting.

​In Dunkirk, the town was held by the fanatical commander Frisius, who was still in command of 6,000 men. The liberation of Dunkirk was only effected after an 8-month siege, with Frisius refusing to surrender and maintaining a high level of morale and effectiveness in his troops. The Canadian troops who had taken part in the siege left for the Dutch front in October 1944, and were replaced by Czech and French units. The German troops in Dunkirk held out until 4 May 1945, and did not formally surrender until 9 May 1945.

594 Canadian soldiers who fell in the sieges of Boulogne and Calais in September 1944 were buried in St Inglevert Canadian Cemetery.​