Cemeteries in French Flanders and Artois, France

The cemetery contains the remains of 39,985 First World War French military burials. This number includes the remains of 19,998 casualties who are laid to rest in seven ossuaries.

This is the largest French military cemetery in the world, with a total number of 40,057 casualties.

Ablain St. Nazaire French Military Cemetery “Notre Dame de Lorette”

The cemetery contains a total of 921 casualties. 894 are First World War casualties from the Commonwealth Forces. There are also some French and German graves. There are also 21 graves of Second World War casualties, most of whom were killed during the British Army's withdrawal to Dunkirk in May of 1940. The town of Aire was a corps headquarters from March 1915 to February 1918. Medical units were also stationed here, including the 39th Stationary Hospital.

The first military burials as an extension to the town's civilian cemetery were those of French soldiers in 1915. The British 1st and 2nd Divisions moved to this location in February 1916 and it was used as a burial ground by the British Army until October 1918. After the First World War remains were brought into the cemetery extension from the surrounding battlefields. There are 1190 identified casualties buried here now. 500 of the graves are for French soldiers. Almost 750 Commonwealth Forces casualties are buried here, including more than 50 who are unidentified. This is most likely because they were brought to the cemetery from battlefield burials and their identification was lost.

There are 144 casualties of the First World War buried or commemorated in the cemetery. 15 of these casualties are known to be buried in the cemetery but have no identified graves. In April 1917 the British 2nd Division occupied the village and the cemetery was started from that time. It was used until November of that year. After the war casualties were brought into the cemetery from battlefield burials and small plots in the surrounding area. There is one German grave in the cemetery.

German burials were started as an extension to the civilian village cemetery from October 1915. The cemetery was enlarged after the end of the war by the French, who brought in German burials from small plots or individual graves from around the area. At that time there were 23 British graves removed from the cemetery to Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Souchez. The German cemetery extension contains 1,627 German graves.

One British 1914-1918 war grave remained at this site and that is the grave of of Captain Albert Ball, VC. He was flying with 56 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps when his plane came down near the village of Annoeullin. He is buried at grave reference Grave 643.

There are also three Commonwealth casualties from the 1939-1945 war commemorated in this cemetery. 7 Russian casualties are also buried at this site.

There are 320 First World War casualties buried in the cemetery, 62 of whom are unidentified. There are also memorials to seven casualties who were believed to have been buried in the churchyard next to the church, but whose graves could not be found after the war. The village of Sailly-sur-la-Lys suffered damage in fighting that took place in the area in October 1914 between French cavalry and British and German infantry. From that time until the German Army launched its Spring Offensive in this area in 1918 the area was quiet. On 9^th April 1918 the German Army occupied the village and the Germans stayed in the village for the next few months until September 1918. Australian troops were the first casualties to be buried in this cemetery from 19^th July 1916, hence the name ANZAC Cemetery. Their casualties buried here were those who died in the Battle of Fromelles. Later in 1918, when the German Army was in occupation of the village, Commonwealth casualties were buried in the cemetery by the Germans.

There are 358 First World War burials in the cemetery. 145 of the casualties were serving with artillery units when they were killed. The cemetery was started by the 51st Highland Division in April 1917 and was subsequently used by other units until October 1917 when the Highlanders had moved away from the area. A year after the 51st Highland Division had started the cemetery the division returned in April 1918 and the cemetery was used until September of that year. There are also four Second World War casualties buried in the cemetery.

There is a total of 568 casualties buried in this cemetery. 435 of the burials are First World War Commonwealth burials. This cemetery was started in October 1917 by the 13th Casualty Clearing Station (CCS). The 10th and 44th Casualty Clearing Stations moved here in April 1918 to deal with Allied casualties during the the German Spring Offensive in this area. Burials were made here until the end of May 1918. From July to September 1918 the 62nd Casualty Clearing Station was based here. 126 French soldiers are buried in the cemetery from the period of April to June 1918. There are five German military graves.

There are two Commonwealth burials in Arneke churchyard. They are Private F Costigan of the 19th (Queen Alexandra's Royal) Hussars, who died on 6^th September 1915 and Private A J Palmer of the Bedfordshire Regiment, who also died on 6^th September but exactly two years later in 1917.

The cemetery was started in April 1917, when the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade (of the 1st Canadian Division) began burying their dead after the attack on 9^th April as part of the Battle of Arras. These burials were 71 officers and men of the 7th Canadian Battalion (British Columbia Regiment) dating from April to June 1917. After the war 993 individual graves from the surrounding area and from 13 other small military burial sites in the outlying area were brought to this cemetery. Of the 1,064 graves there are, however, only 263 identified burials.

At the end of the war and in 1919 there were medical units located here: 229th Field Ambulance, 13th and 63rd Casualty Clearing Station and 39th Stationary Hospital. There are over 50 First World War casualties and a small number of Second World War casualties buried here.

There is one casualty buried in the Communal civilian cemetery: Private S C Philip of the Royal Army Medical Corps. He died on 12^th April 1917.

The village of Athies was captured by the 9th (Scottish) Division, which included the South African Brigade, on 9^th April 1917. The Communal Cemetery Extension was started after the village was captured. There are 312 British and Commonwealth burials and commemorations. There are also 41 Second World War burials.

The French burials were started next to the civilian communal cemetery in 1915 during the Third Battle of Artois in September of that year. There are 323 French graves. British Field Ambulance units were located in the area from march 1916 to May 1918. There are 28 British and Commonwealth graves, including nine men of the Indian Labour Corps.

There are 32 Commonwealth burials in the communal cemetery, including 10 known 1914-1918 burials and 20 1939-1945 burials.

There are almost 3,000 First World War casualties buried in this cemetery, which is located in the Canadian National Vimy Memorial Park.

Canadian Cemetery No. 2, Neuville-St.-Vaast

Canadian National Vimy Memorial Park

See:

Canadian National Vimy Memorial Park

There are 1,800 burials of British and Commonwealth officers and men at Dud Corner Cemetery, Loos. Over 1,000 of these casualties are unidentified British and Commonwealth soldiers. Most of the casualties buried here were exhumed in 1919 from battlefield burials and small cemetery plots on the Loos battlefield.

Dud Corner Cemetery

Loos Memorial

The Loos Memorial to the Missing is also located at the Dud Corner Cemetery.

Loos Memorial

There are over 2,600 burials at the cemetery, situated in the centre of Arras. The Arras Memorial and Arras Flying Services Memorial are also on the site of the Faubourg d'Amiens Cemetery.

Faubourg d'Amiens Cemetery

The cemetery, dedicated on 19^th July 2010, is the first war cemetery to have been constructed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission for fifty years. The remains of 250 Australian and British soldiers killed and missing in action at the Battle of Fromelles (19^th to 20^th July 1916), were discovered in 2008. A major project is underway to identify the remains where possible. By the time of the official dedication of the cemetery and the reburial of the last of the 250 soldiers on 19^th July, almost 100 soldiers have been identified.

Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery

The cemetery has 109 Canadian casualties killed during the Battle of Vimy Ridge in April 1917. It is located in the Canadian National Vimy Memorial Park.

Givenchy Road Canadian Cemetery

Canadian National Vimy Memorial Park

See also:

Canadian National Vimy Memorial Park

There are 1,397 German casualties buried in the cemetery.

In 1916 Hesdin became General Headquarters (2nd Echelon); the 47th Casualty Clearing Station was placed near the town in July-November, 1916, and the 59th in April, 1917-August, 1918. The British burials found in this cemetery were carried out mainly by two hospitals, by G.H.Q. Troops, or by units posted in the neighbourhood. The Cemetery was begun in April, 1918 and used until March, 1919. There are now over 50, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. One grave, which cannot be exactly located, is represented by a special memorial.

The Cemetery was begun by the Indian Corps (and in particular by the 2nd Leicesters) in November, 1914, and it was used continuously by Field Ambulances and fighting units until March, 1918. It passed into German hands in April, 1918 and after its recapture a few further burials were made in Plot IV in September and October. The grave of one Officer of the London Regiment was brought in in 1925 from a position on the Estaires-La Bassee road near "Port Arthur", and the 264 Portuguese graves of March, 1917 and April, 1919 were removed to Richebourg-L'Avoue Portuguese National Cemetery after the Armistice.

There are now over 900, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. The graves of three men of the King's Liverpool Regiment, which were destroyed by shell fire, are now represented by special headstones. The Cemetery covers an area of over 7,000 square metres and is enclosed by a low brick wall.

The cemetery contains 15,646 German casualties from the 1914-1918 war. There are also two Russian graves in the cemetery.

The cemetery was begun in the autumn of 1914 by German troops. It was soon named “Lorettofriedhof” - “Loretto Cemetery” or the “Cemetery of the XIV. (Badische) Armee Korps”. This Army Corps was involved in the fighting against the French for the Loretto Ridge north of Arras and most of the casualties who were brought out of the fighting zone were buried in the area of Lens. In 1917 and 1918 the cemetery was almost completerly destroyed by Allied artillery shelling. After the First World War the French authorities reconstructed the cemetery in the period before the German War Graves Agency could begin its work on cemeteries in France. German casualties from over 39 burial sites in the area were reinterred in Lens-Sallaumines.

The cemetery was begun during the First World War and contains the remains of French casualties from the Battles of Artois. There are 585 First World War French burials and two memorials to the 156 and 160 Régiment d'Infanterie.

There are two First World War graves located in the churchyard on the north-east side of the church. One is Private J G Hardy of the Sherwood Foresters, who died on 30^th March 1917. The other grave is for Brigadier General Frank Wormald, serving with the General Staff. He died on 3^rd October 1915.

The cemetery was created in 1919 when French casualties killed during the Battles of Artois in the surrounding area were brought here for burial. The cemetery contains the remains of 11,443 First World War French casualties. This figure includes 3,882 who are laid to rest in two ossuaries. There are also 593 French, 4 Polish and 170 Belgian graves dating from the Second World War, which were brought to the cemetery from their burial places in the Pas-de-Calais area.

There are 44,833 German casualties from the 1914-1918 war buried in this cemetery. It is the largest German military cemetery in France for casualties of the First World War.

Neuville-Saint-Vaast German Military Cemetery “La Maison Blanche”

Ablain St. Nazaire French Military Cemetery “Notre Dame de Lorette”

Point-du-Jour was the name of a house on the St. Laurent-Blangy - Gavrelle road. By 1917 it was turned into a German redoubt. The redoubt was captured by 34th Division on 9^th April 1917 during the Battles of Arras. At the end of the war there were 82 graves in the cemetery, having been in use from April to November 1917 and again in May 1918. These are now in Plot I. More than 650 graves were brought into the cemetery from the surrounding area and other small burial sites after the war. There are now 794 British and Commonwealth burials, 399 of whom are identified.

Over 1,800 Portuguese soldiers are buried in the cemetery.

The cemetery contains 724 French and one Belgian burial. The cemetery was used by the French Tenth Army during its occupation of the sector until March 1916.

The cemetery was constructed in 1921 and 1922 by the French authorities as a collecting cemetery for the German casualties buried in the southern area of the Arras battlefront. There were reburials made here also from the north and east of Arras. In 1956 the German cemetery in Comines was closed and over 4,000 graves were reinterred at St. Laurent-Blangy. There are now 31,339 German burials in St. Laurent-Blangy, 24,873 of whom are buried in a Comrades Grave (mass grave).

There are almost 2,000 casualties in this cemetery, made after the Armistice. Graves were brought in from the Loos battlefield and most of the graves are for soldiers who fell in action in September and October, 1915.

One grave is confirmed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as that of Lieutenant John Kipling, only son of Rudyard Kipling, the author famous for writing “The Jungle Book”.

St. Mary's A.D.S. Cemetery, Haisnes

The town of St. Pol-sur-Ternaise was an military administrative centre held by French forces until March 1916 when British forces took over the sector. The British No. 12 Stationary Hospital took up a position on the racecourse close to the town from 1^st June 1916 to 1^st June 1919. The British cemetery was started in March 1918 because the civilian cemetery extension had no more room for burials. There are 258 First World War Commonwealth burials in the cemetery. There are also four Second World War Commonwealth burials and two French military graves.

The British No. 12 Stationary Hospital was located at St. Pol-sur-Ternaise from 1^st June 1916 to 1^st June 1919. The British and Commonwealth burials were laid to rest between March 1916 and April 1918 in an extension to the civilian cemetery, called “Cimitière Thuillier”. The civilian cemetery is over 500 years old. There are 225 identified British casualties buried in the cemetery.

The only cemetery on the Western Front in which only Australian soldiers are interred. The cemetery contains the remains of 402 unknown Australian soldiers, unmarked by headstones but named on a memorial wall.

V.C. Corner Australian Cemetery & Memorial