The First World Warclaimed the lives of 530,000Commonwealth servicemenand women in France.Commonwealth forces foughtthere continuously from thearrival of the BritishExpeditionary Force in August1914 until the Armistice of 11November 1918. Following afew weeks of sweepingmovement by both sides, theWestern Front settled into thestagnation of trench warfare,punctuated by many costlyoffensives with little gain. Thestalemate ended only with theGerman breakthrough in thespring of 1918 and thesubsequent Allied advance tovictory.

One of the earliest actions of the Western Frontinvolving the British Expeditionary Force was thebattle of Le Cateau on 26 August 1914. The townremained in German hands and many of the 698burials in Le Cateau Military Cemetery were madeby the Germans from the battleground of 1914. The3,740 members of the British Expeditionary Forcewith no known grave who died between August andearly October 1914 are commemorated on the LaFerte-sous-Jouarre Memorial.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

THE WORK OF THE COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION IN FRANCE

Thiepval Memorial andAnglo-French Cemetery

The regular soldiers ofthe BEF suffered heavilyin the early months ofthe war and as the needfor more men increasedTerritorial and NewArmy units began toarrive on the WesternFront. The British weresoon joined by otherCommonwealth nationstoo, the first time thatthe Empire, as it was atthe time, had foughttogether as a whole.

Indian troops arrived on the Western Front in October1914 and famously fought at Neuve Chapelle in March1915. The harsh climate of Northern France causedmuch illness amongst their troops and they werewithdrawn from the Western Front in December 1915to fight elsewhere, having suffered 6,000 deaths, over4,700 of whom are commemorated on the NeuveChapelle Memorial.

The Battle of Loos which took place on the 25September to the 8 October 1915 was a disaster for theBritish who fought there; thousands of men were lost injust two weeks. Over 20,000 of the dead have no knowngrave and are commemorated on the Loos Memorialwhich forms the side and back of Dud CornerCemetery. This cemetery contains over 1,800 casualtiesof which over 60% are unidentified. Loos BritishCemetery contains 2,849 British and Canadiancasualties. St Mary's A. D. S. Cemetery is a post-warbattlefield clearance cemetery, established on the site ofan Advanced Dressing Station, it contains the graves of1,810 soldiers, of whom the majority are unidentified.

The main Allied attack onthe Western Front during1916, the Battle of theSomme, is famous chieflyon account of the deaths ofalmost 20,000 Britishsoldiers on the first day ofthe battle, 1 July. Theattack, on a 23 kilometrefront east of Albert, ranfrom 1 July until 18November.

The area is dotted withCommonwealth cemeteriesas well as the imposing

Thiepval Memorial which commemorates over 72,000casualties who died in the Somme prior to 20 March1918 and who have no known grave. Over 90% of thosenamed on the memorial died between July andNovember 1916. At the foot of the Thiepval Memoriallies Thiepval Anglo-French Cemetery which wascreated to represent the losses of the French andCommonwealth nations. 300 French and 300Commonwealth casualties rest here, the vast majority ofwhom are unidentified.

The South African Brigade arrived in France in 1916 andfirst saw action at the Battle of the Somme. Theirgreatest trial was at Delville Wood where they fought inJuly 1916 with heavy losses. Delville Wood is now thesite of the South African National Memorial. DelvilleWood Cemetery was created after the Armistice whengraves were brought in from a few small Sommecemeteries and isolated sites. Almost all the burials datefrom July to September 1916 and there are now 5,523burials of the First World War in this cemetery, mostlyunidentified.

The Somme battlefield at Thiepval

Dud Corner Cemetery andLoos Memorial

IWM Q1073

The Battle of Arras was fought by Commonwealth troops from the 9 April untilthe end of May 1917. Commonwealth losses were immense. Faubourg-d'Amiens Cemetery contains 2,651 Commonwealth casualties, largely fromthis offensive. The Arras Memorial which stands within the cemeterycommemorates almost 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom, SouthAfrica and New Zealand who died in the Arras sector between the spring of1916 and 7 August 1918. Also within this cemetery is the Arras FlyingServices Memorial which commemorates 992 Commonwealth airmen whowere killed on the Western Front and have no known grave.

On the opening day of the Battle of Arras, 9 April 1917, the Canadian Corpswho had been fighting on the Western Front since January 1915, scored a hugetactical victory; the capture of the German fortress of Vimy Ridge. After the warthe highest point of the ridge was chosen as the site of the Vimy Memorial,commemorating all Canadians who served their country in battle during theFirst World War. It also bears the names of over 11,000 Canadians who died inFrance, many of them in the fight for Vimy Ridge, who have no known grave.At Thelus, Zivy Crater Cemetery and Lichfield Crater Cemetery are twomine craters used by the Canadians for the burial of bodies found on the Vimybattlefield. The craters are essentially mass graves and contain 53 and 57 FirstWorld War casualties respectively whose names are inscribed on thecemeteries' boundary walls.

In 1918 all Australian divisions on the Western Front were brought together inthe Australian Corps. Perhaps their most famous engagement was at Villers-Bretonneux in April 1918, now the site of the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial,the Australian National Memorial erected to commemorate all Australiansoldiers who fought on the Western Front. The 10,700 Australian servicemenactually named on the memorial died on the battlefields of the Somme, Arras,the German advance of 1918 and the Advance to Victory. Villers-BretonneuxMilitary Cemetery contains 2,141 United Kingdom, Australian and NewZealand casualties and was made after the Armistice when graves were broughtin from other burial grounds in the area and from the battlefields.

Vimy Memorial

Zivy Crater Cemetery

Horticultural D

The cenoperationstandardsto keep fitting me

Today theFrance horticultuby a Senioup to 1average These gwhere all

In May 1918 Commonwealth forces faced an overwhelming Germanattack which pushed the Allies back to the Marne. Huge casualtieswere suffered before the Allied counter-attack in early August whichdrove the Germans back and led to the eventual advance to victory.The Soissons Memorial commemorates almost 4,000 casualties whodied during these actions and have no known grave.

Throughout the First World War the area around Etaples was thescene of immense concentrations of Commonwealth camps andhospitals. Etaples Military Cemetery is the largest Commonwealthcemetery in France and contains 10,773 Commonwealth burials of theFirst World War. The majority of these died in the hospitals and only35 are unidentified. During the Second World War hospitals were onceagain stationed here until the evacuation of May 1940. There are also119 Second World War casualties buried in Etaples Military Cemetery.

The Commission'It was in France that the Commonwealth WWare, had the idea to commemorate the perpetuity. Since the Commission was founwith France.

The Commission's commitment in France isare almost 3,000 cemeteries and 22 memalthough most are concentrated in the northwars. Almost 575,000 Commonwealth caFrance.

The care of graves and memorials in France in Beaurains, south of Arras, which employsbeing gardeners. In a country as large as Franpractice is the use of mobile groups, each rmemorials within a region. About 20 adminmakes up one third of the Commission's wo

Tending the borders atBayeux War Cemetery

W.A.A.C tending graves at Abbeville, 1918.

Etaples Military Cemetery, France

IWM

Q84

68

Department

ntral role of the horticulturalns is to ensure that the originals and quality are maintained and

the cemeteries attractive asemorials to the dead.

e cemeteries and memorials inare tended by 33 mobile

ural groups, the majority headedor Head Gardener supported by3 members of staff with anof 20,000 graves to care for.roups work from base sitesl their equipment is stored.

Works Department

The main role of the Works Departmentis to ensure that the grave markers,memorials and cemetery structures,which were designed by some of themost eminent architects, are maintainedto the highest standard. This is achievedthrough regular inspection andmaintenance cycles. The work is carriedout by the Commission's team of highlyskilled craftsmen together with the bestlocal and international contractors.

Within the Beaurains facility arethe central workshops of theCommission which producehigh quality replacements of,and repairs to, many of thestructural elements in wood,metal and masonry. Theworkshops also house state ofthe art equipment formanufacturing replacementheadstones, memorial panelsand road direction signs bothfor France and other countriesthroughout the world.

s Work in FranceWar Graves Commission's founder, FabianCommonwealth's war dead equally and in

nded in 1917 it has had a close association

s the largest anywhere in the world. Thereorials to the missing all over the country,h, the scene of bitter fighting in both world

asualties are buried or commemorated in

is directed from the Commission's complex around 425 members of staff, the majoritynce the Commission has found that the bestesponsible for a number of cemeteries andnistrative staff service the operation, whichorldwide task.

PPaass ddee CCaallaaiiss 625 180,000 4,500

NNoorrdd 340 61,000 3,000

SSoommmmee 410 128,000 1,300

CCaallvvaaddooss 116 200 25,000

PPaass ddee CCaallaaiiss 7 96,000 -

NNoorrdd 4 8,500 4,500

SSoommmmee 6 99,500 -

CCaallvvaaddooss 1 - 1,800

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Central stores,Beaurains. A Senior HeadGardener selects tools for his team. Engraving headstones in the workshops.

Hand engraving the Neuve Chapelle Memorial

The Second World War claimed far fewer livesin France and 45,000 Commonwealth war dead areburied or commemorated there. The majority rest inlarge cemeteries in the north of the country, where mostof the fighting took place. However the air war claimedmany lives over remote parts of the country and manysailors were washed up in coastal areas, giving rise to thelarge number of communal cemeteries and churchyardscontaining one or a few burials.

The Second World War in France claimed only a tenth ofthe lives that had been lost there in the First. The lossesof the British Expeditionary Force were few until theGerman’s unleashed their Blitzkrieg, or 'Lightning War' atthe beginning of May 1940 when they went on to subdueHolland, Belgium and France in little over six weeks.British and Allied troops were forced to fall back on thechannel ports for evacuation, most being taken off by seafrom Dunkirk.

The dead of the Dunkirk withdrawal are buried inhundreds of cemeteries and churchyards all overNorthern France. The front swept over much of theground which had been fought over during the FirstWorld War and many graves were added to cemeteriesof that conflict. Terlincthun British Cemetery,Wimille was a substantial First World War cemetery.Wimille was devastated when the British garrison atBoulogne held back the Germans, giving vital cover tothe withdrawal at Dunkirk. 149 Second World Warcasualties are buried here, alongside 4,377 First WorldWar dead.

More than 4,500 soldiers were killed during the scrambleback to the Channel ports and have no known grave.They are commemorated on the Dunkirk Memorial.Dunkirk Town Cemetery in which the memorialstands also contains a plot of 793 Second World Wargraves.

Many airmen of all Commonwealth nationalities losttheir lives over France during the air war for NorthernEurope. Most lie buried in communal cemeteries andchurchyards all over France. Choloy War Cemetery

Allemont (Le Rivier)Communal Cemetery

was created after the war for the burial of 461 casualties,mostly air force, whose graves had been recovered fromisolated sites where they could not be maintained.

Between their dramatic evacuation from Dunkirk in May1940 and the Normandy landings of June 1944,Commonwealth activity in France was limited to coastalraids and special operations. Following a successful raidon the port of St. Nazaire in March 1942, it was decidedthat a large scale raid on the port of Dieppe wouldunsettle the Germans and provide valuable experiencefor the future invasion. A mainly Canadian force of over6,000 men attacked on 19 August. However theGermans had been alerted and the element of surprisewas lost. Casualties were extremely heavy. The majorityof the dead lie in Dieppe Canadian War Cemeterywhich contains 948 burials and commemorations, mostlyfrom August 1942.

The Dieppe Raid, although costly, was valuable inensuring the later success of the D-Day landings of 6 June1944, the largest air, land and sea operation which had

ever been undertaken. Despite the losses, D-Day went largely as planned and by theevening of 6 June it was clear that it had beena success and would secure the eventualliberation of France. There are 18Commonwealth cemeteries in Normandycontaining 22,000 casualties of the invasion.Many more can be found in communalcemeteries and churchyards.

Choloy WarCemetery

Dieppe CanadianWar Cemetery

Dunkirk Memorial

Contact Information

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is responsible for marking and maintaining the graves of those membersof the Commonwealth forces who died during the two world wars, for building and maintaining memorials to the deadwhose graves are unknown and for providing records and registers of these 1.7 million burials and commemorationswhich are found in most countries throughout the world.

Enquiries about the location of individual burials and commemorations may be directed to the office below or to theDebt of Honour Register- a search by surname database at the Commission's web site at www.cwgc.org.

Acknowledgements

Map kindly provided by Malcolm Brown from his book, The Imperial War Museum Book of the Western Front.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission2 Marlow RoadMaidenheadBerkshireSL6 7DX

Tel: +44 (0) 1628 507200Fax: +44 (0) 1628 771208Email: casualty.enq@cwgc.org

Commonwealth War Graves CommissionFrance AreaRue Angèle Richard62217 BeaurainsFrance

Tel: +33 (0) 3 21 21 77 00Fax: +33 (0) 3 21 21 77 10Email: france.area@cwgc.org

For further information contact:

The largest Second World War cemetery in France isBayeux War Cemetery which contains 4,144 burials,mostly of the Battle of Normandy. Opposite thiscemetery stands the Bayeux Memorial whichcommemorates over 1,800 casualties of theCommonwealth forces who died in Normandy and haveno known grave. One of the smallest Second World WarCommonwealth cemeteries in France is Jerusalem WarCemetery, Chouain which contains only 47 burials. Thetiny hamlet of Jerusalem was the scene of bitter fighting

when a German armoured column sought to retakeBayeux shortly after its liberation.

Calais was liberated by the Canadians in September 1944as they advanced up the French coast into Belgium inpursuit of retreating German forces. Calais CanadianWar Cemetery contains the graves of 704Commonwealth casualties, mostly from this period offighting.

Bayeux Memorial