Cerisy-la-Forêt (French pronunciation: [səʁizi la fɔʁɛ]) is a commune in the Manche department of Normandy in north-western France.

The area has been occupied since ancient times and is linked to the sixth-century founding of the Saint-Vigor Abbey which flourished in the eleventh century.

The village is located 13.4 km northeast of Saint-Lô, as the crow files, overlooking the valley of the Elle and offering an unobstructed panorama of Cerisy Forest a kilometer away.

[3] The small hill called "Vieux Graviers", located at the edge of Cerisy-la-Forêt, is the highest point.

[5] Rains are fairly frequent throughout the year but more abundant in autumn and winter due to disturbances from the Atlantic Ocean.

The northwest wind also brings rapid climate changes in which sunshine and heavy showers can succeed one another separated by only a few hours.

They plundered Bayeux in 891 and King Charles III the Simple gave Rollo the countries of the lower Seine in the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte in 911, and then Bessin in 924.

Dependent on the Holy See, Cerisy maintained close relations with monasteries in Mont-Saint-Michel, Saint-Ouen, Jumièges, Le Bec-Hellouin, Fécamp and of course Caen.

In 1337, the dynastic rivalries between the Valois and the king of England precipitated the Hundred Years' War, plunging the country into misery aggravated by epidemics of plague.

However, after the victory of the constable de Richemont over the English at the Battle of Formigny in 1450, Normandy returned definitively to the kingdom of France.

The lower indicating that in the 16th century the prisoners actually did wear "heavy iron chains" which allowed them to only carve simple shapes at a low height.

[18] On 2 July 1944 General Eisenhower and Omar Bradley came to encourage the 2nd Infantry Division at the Château de la Boulaye [fr].

When they reached the east bank, they encountered German resistance, which foreshadowed the end of the rapid advance begun on 7 June 1944.

The total losses of the 2nd Infantry Division during the two days of combat amounted to 540 killed, wounded or missing in action.