Follow
Arras and Arras Flying Services Memorials
Pas de Calais, France
34766 Identified Casualties
Image right Arras Memorial
The Arras and Arras Flying Services Memorials are in the Faubourg-d'Amiens Cemetery, which is in the Boulevard du General de Gaulle in the western part of the town of Arras. The cemetery is near the Citadel, approximately 2 kms due west of the railway station.
including
Faubourg d'Amiens Cemetery, Arras (Right)
Image By Wernervc - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,
2647 Identified Casualties
The French handed over Arras to Commonwealth forces in the spring of 1916 and the system of tunnels upon which the town is built were used and developed in preparation for the major offensive planned for April 1917.
Arras Road Cemetery
The Commonwealth section of the FAUBOURG D'AMIENS CEMETERY was begun in March 1916, behind the French military cemetery established earlier. It continued to be used by field ambulances and fighting units until November 1918. The cemetery was enlarged after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the battlefields and from two smaller cemeteries in the vicinity.
The cemetery contains over 2,650 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, 10 of which are unidentified. The graves in the French military cemetery were removed after the war to other burial grounds and the land they had occupied was used for the construction of the Arras Memorial and Arras Flying Services Memorial.
Please link any relevant GENi profiles to this project.
If you have interesting anecdotes, information or details you would like to share here please do - you will need to join the project to do so.
Both the memorials and cemetery were designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, with sculpture by Sir William Reid Dick.
The memorial was unveiled by Lord Trenchard, Marshal of the Royal Air Force on the 31 July 1932 (originally it had been scheduled for 15 May, but due to the sudden death of French President Doumer, as a mark of respect, the ceremony was postponed until July).
References:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arras_Memorial
- Commonwealth War Graves Commission - Arras Memorial
- Faubourg d'Amiens Cemetery CWGC Wold War 1 Cemeteries
- https://www.ww1cemeteries.com/arras-memorial.html
- https://www.ww1cemeteries.com/faubourg--damiens-cemetery.html
- https://www.ww1cemeteries.com/arras-flying-service-memorial.html
- https://www.ww1cemeteries.com/arras-road-cemetery.html