Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial is an American military cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer in Normandy, France, overlooking Omaha Beach and the English Channel. It is one of the principal memorial sites associated with the Normandy landings of 6 June 1944 and contains the graves of 9,389 American military personnel, most of whom died during D-Day and the fighting that followed. The cemetery also has an unusual place in rock history: its rows of white grave markers were used for the original cover of Scorpions’ 1977 album Taken by Force.

The cemetery occupies the site of the temporary St. Laurent Cemetery, established by the U.S. First Army on 8 June 1944, only two days after the D-Day landings. It was the first American cemetery established on European soil during the Second World War. The permanent cemetery covers 172.5 acres and was dedicated in 1956. Most graves are marked by white Latin crosses, with Stars of David marking Jewish burials, arranged in long symmetrical rows across the grounds. The memorial also includes a semicircular colonnade, the bronze statue Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves and the Walls of the Missing, inscribed with the names of 1,557 missing American service members.

The distinctive cemetery landscape became part of Scorpions history when photographer Michael von Gimbut created the image used for the original Taken by Force cover. Released on 4 December 1977, the album was the band’s fifth studio record, the first to feature drummer Herman Rarebell and the final Scorpions studio album with guitarist Uli Jon Roth. The photograph shows two boys among the rows of military graves, apparently pretending to shoot one another with pistols. Paired with the title Taken by Force, the image creates a stark contrast between childhood play and the reality of war represented by the cemetery surrounding them.

The artwork proved controversial and was replaced in many markets by a black cover featuring individual photographs of the five band members. Uli Jon Roth later defended the original concept as an anti-war image rather than an attempt to disrespect those buried at the cemetery. The photograph was intended to contrast the innocence of children playing at war with the real consequences visible all around them. Although many original copies of Taken by Force were issued with the replacement artwork, the Normandy cemetery image later returned on reissues and has become closely associated with the album.

Taken by Force includes songs such as “Steamrock Fever”, “We’ll Burn the Sky”, “He’s a Woman – She’s a Man” and “The Sails of Charon”, and represents the final studio chapter of the Uli Jon Roth era before his departure from Scorpions in 1978. The original cover gives Normandy American Cemetery an unexpected connection to the history of hard rock and heavy metal, while also forming part of Scorpions’ long and often controversial history of album artwork.

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