Historical Information: |
Villers-Bretonneux became famous in 1918, when
the German advance on Amiens ended (on the 23rd April) in the capture of
Villers-Bretonneux by German tanks and infantry. On the following day the
4th Australian and 5th Australian Divisions, with units of the 8th and
18th Divisions, recaptured the whole of the village; and from its Eastern
outskirts the 2nd Australian and 5th Australian Divisions advanced on the
8th August, 1918, in the Battle of Amiens. The village was later "adopted"
by the City of Melbourne, and the village school was rebuilt in 1923 at
the cost of the children attending Government schools in Victoria. The
cemetery was made after the Armistice by the concentration of graves from
other burial grounds and from the battlefields. Plots I to XX were made by
1920, and contain a majority of Australian graves; Plots IIIA, VIA, XIIIA
and XVIA and Rows in other Plots lettered AA were made by 1925, and
contain a much larger proportion of unidentified graves brought from a
wider area; and later still the graves from Dury Hospital Military
Cemetery were brought in. Almost all the graves in Plots I to XX are of
the period March-August, 1918. There are now over 2,000, 1914-18 and a
small number of 1939-45 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of
these, just over 600 from the 1914-18 War are unidentified and special
memorials are erected to four soldiers from the United Kingdom and one
from Australia, known or believed to be buried among them. Other special
memorials record the names of seven soldiers from the United Kingdom, six
from Australia and two from Canada, buried in other cemeteries, whose
graves could not be found. One American grave and one French have been
removed to other burial grounds. At the back of the cemetery is the site
of the Australian National Memorial. The following were among the burial
grounds from which British graves were taken to Villers-Bretonneux
Military Cemetery:- CARD COPSE CEMETERY, MARCELCAVE, on the road to
Fouilloy, where 35 Australian soldiers were buried by the 2nd Australian
Division in July and August, 1918. DURY HOSPITAL MILITARY, CEMETERY, under
the wall of the Asylum near the West side of the Amiens-Dury road. From
August, 1918, to January, 1919, this building was used intermittently by
British medical units, and a cemetery was made next to an existing French
Military Cemetery. The British cemetery contained the graves of 195
Canadian and 185 United Kingdom soldiers and airmen; 63 Australian
soldiers; one man of the Cape Auxiliary Horse Transport Corps; and one
French and one American soldier. HIGH CEMETERY, SAILLY-LE-SEC, on the road
to Ville-sur-Ancre, where 18 United Kingdom and eleven Australian soldiers
were buried in June-August, 1918. KANGAROO CEMETERY, SAILLY-LE-SEC (on the
Ville-sur-Ancre road, but nearer Sailly), where 13 Australian soldiers
were buried by the 41st Battalion in March-April, 1918, and 14 of the 58th
(London) Division by their comrades in August, 1918. LAMOTTE-EN-SANTERRE
COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION. The village was captured by Australian troops
on the 8th August, 1918, and the Extension contained the graves of 56
Australian and twelve United Kingdom soldiers who fell in August and
September. LA NEUVILLE-LES-BRAY COMMUNAL CEMETERY, containing the grave of
one Australian soldier who fell in August, 1918. LE HAMELET BRITISH
CEMETERY (behind the Church), containing the graves of 25 Australian
soldiers who fell in April-July, 1918; and the COMMUNAL CEMETERY
EXTENSION, in which 27 Australian soldiers and one from the United Kingdom
were buried in July and August, 1916. MIDWAY CEMETERY, MARCELCAVE, 1,371
metres North-West of Marcelcave Church, made by the Canadian Corps and
containing the graves of 53 Canadian and three United Kingdom soldiers who
fell in August, 1918. VAUX-SUR-SOMME COMMUNAL CEMETERY, containing three
Australian graves of March-April, 1918, and two United Kingdom of 1916 and
1917; and the EXTENSION, made in May-August, 1918, and containing the
graves of 130 Australian soldiers and 104 soldiers (mainly 58th Division
and Artillery) and one airman from the United Kingdom. WARFUSEE-ABANCOURT
COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION, in which five Australian soldiers were buried
by the 12th Australian Field Ambulance in August, 1918.
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