Bretteville-sur-Laize was created as a permanent resting place for Canadian soldiers who had been temporarily buried in smaller plots close to where they fell. At the time of the cemetery's creation, France granted Canada a perpetual concession to the land occupied by the cemetery.[1] Of the 2,958 burials, 2,782 are Canadian of whom 87 remain unidentified, together with 80 British, four Australian and one each from France and New Zealand.[2] There are records for 2,792 of the Canadian men.[3]
A large number of dead in the cemetery were killed late July 1944 around Saint-André-sur-Orne and in the battle for the Falaise Pocket in August 1944. Soldiers from nearly every unit within the II Canadian Corps are represented in the cemetery.
The cemetery is located on the N158 road between Caen and Falaise, about 14 km from Caen, in the commune of Cintheaux. However, there is no access directly from the roadway. The road into the cemetery, the Rue du Prieuré/D167 runs north out of the village of Cintheaux
