War Grave Sites
A range of war and memorial grave sites ranging from CWGC sites through to French & German
Headstones
Below you will find a collection of headstones from a variety of war cemeteries. All victims of the decisions of others, in conditions which are unimaginable. Lest we forget.
War Cemeteries
The Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France
When considering iconic national images, the memorial at Villers-Bretonneux is one that springs to mind. The memorial itself was opened in 1938 by King George VI and features 10,729 names of Australian soldiers, killed on the Western Front between 1916-18 who have no known graves. The epitaph on the tombstone of Private William Rae sums up perfectly the tragedy of WWI, “Another life lost hearts broken for what”.
Pheasant Wood Cemetery, Fromelles, France
The most recent of Australian War cemeteries, Pheasant Wood is home to Australian soldiers who fell at the Battle of Fromelles in July of 1916. It was the first war cemetery I visited on the Western Front, the place where so many friendships have been forged and the one that will keep bringing me back.
V.C. Corner Australian Cemetery, Fromelles, France
V.C. Corner Cemetery was made after the Armistice. It contains two mass graves containing the remains of 410 Australian soldiers who died in the Attack at Fromelles and whose unidentifiable bodies were found on the battlefield at the end of the war. The memorial at the site contains the names of all the Australian soldiers who were killed at the Battle of Fromelles and whose graves were not known. The memorial originally commemorated nearly 1,300 Australian casualties which is now down to 1,100 due to subsequent identification through excavation operations at places such as Pheasant Wood in 2009.
Adelaide Cemetery, Villers-Bretonneux, France
Home to the unknown soldier entombed in Canberra, Adelaide Cemetery is tucked away on the outskirts of Villers Bretonneux. First begun in June, 1918 by the 2nd & 3rd Divisions of the AIF, 960 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War are buried or commemorated in the cemetery, of which 266 of the burials are unidentified.
Tyne Cot, Belgium
Quite simply, Tyne Cot Cemetery truly epitomises the futility of mechanised warfare. It is the largest Commonwealth War Cemetery in the world, containing 11,965 graves, of which 8,695 are unidentified. The area was captured by Australian and New Zealand soldiers in October 1917 and originally contained 343 graves before being retaken by the Germans.
Essex Farm, Belgium
First established during the Second Battle of Ypres in early 1915, Essex Farm sits within the John McCrae Memorial Site. The Canadian born doctor composed the poem “In Flanders Field” while posted at the dressing station in 1915. The cemetery commemorates 1,204 soldiers who lost their lives between 1915 through to 1918, of which 104 are unidentified.
Annoeullin, Rue Petillon, La Trou Aid Station, Polygon Wood
A small collection of CWGC cemeteries in Annoeullin, Le Trou Aid Post, Rue-Petillon and Polygon Wood. The last two are situated in the Fleurbaix region and are linked to Battles such as Neuve Chappelle (1915) and Fromelles (1916). Annoeullin will be featured in the section featuring German sites as it spent much of the war behind German lines. Polygon Wood is located in Belgium and is known for the fighting that occurred there during the Battle of Passchendaele.
Don Communal Cemetery, Annoeullin, France
Annoeullin was held by the Germans from an early date in the War until shortly before the Armistice. Don Communal Cemetery was used to bury casualties from the No.15 & 32 Casualty Clearing Stations, and later a number of bodies were brought in from the neighbouring fields. There are 132 soldiers, predominately from WWI, commemorated in this site.
Phalempin Communal Cemetery, France
A small CWGC site is situated in the Phalempin Communal Cemetery. Home to 44 victims of both World Wars, the 1914-18 casualties were those buried by the Germans as Phalempin was behind their lines for much of the war.
Sutton Veny Churchyard, England
Sutton Veny is a small village near the Salisbury Plain military training area in southern England. A large number of Australian troops were based at a nearby camp in WW1. The Sutton Veny churchyard contains the graves of many Australian soldiers who died in nearby military hospitals, most notably during the influenza epidemic of 1918.
Newfoundland Regiment Memorial, Beaumont Hamel
Contained within the Newfoundland Regiment Memorial at Beaumont Hamel are a collection of small cemeteries such as the Y Ravine site. Soldiers from Newfoundland, Scotland & the US are among those whose final resting place is in this particular French field.
Notre Dame De Lorette, France
To walk into Tyne Cot and try and take in approx. 12,000 graves is one thing, but to try and absorb nearly 40,000 war dead in one place is beyond comprehension. Add the 580,000 names that appear in the accompanying “L’Anneau de la Mémoire” (Ring of Memory) memorial and you have a very humbling experience. The panels in the memorial with no defined nationality associated with any of the names, highlighted the futility of war and avoided trying to apportion blame.
D'Amiens Saint-Achuel, Amiens, France
Amiens St. Acheul National Cemetery is located north-east of Amiens. It is home to soldiers who died for France during WWI and, more especially, those killed during the fighting in the Somme. The cemetery holds 2,774 bodies, including those of 2,740 French soldiers, twelve Britons, nine Belgians, one Russian, one Chinese worker, as well as Indo-Chinese and Malagasy soldiers from 1914-1918.
Langemark German War Cemetery, Belgium
The Langemark German cemetery has an unique atmosphere all of its own. Officially inaugurated in 1932, it contains the remains of 44,294 German soldiers. One of the site’s distinguishing features are the black headstones which was a provision in the Treaty of Versailles, stating that German war graves were not to be in white. Adolf Hitler famously visited the cemetery in 1940 as he had fought in the region south of Ypres during WWI.
Annouellin Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof
The German Extension on the South-East side of the Communal Cemetery was begun in October, 1915 following the heavy fighting west of the village during the The Battle of Loos. The site was enlarged by the French after the Armistice. In all, there are over 1,600 German graves as well as 7 Russian POW’s and the grave of WWI Ace, Capt. Albert Ball VC.
“All war is a symptom of man's failure as a thinking animal.”
John Steinbeck