In memoriam
Avesnes-sur-Helpe Communal Cemetery
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Avesnes-sur-Helpe Communal Cemetery, Nord, France. For some time, Avesnes was the Headquarters of the German Eighteenth Army. It was captured by the IX Corps on 8 November 1918. The communal cemetery was used and extended by the Germans during their occupation, and German soldiers, as well as French, Italian, Russian and British prisoners of war, were buried there. The German extension has now been removed. The cemetery now contains 82 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. Four of the burials are unidentified and special memorials commemorate five casualties, buried in the German Extension, whose graves could not be found. There are also 22 burials from the Second World War, most of them airmen, and 108 French and Russian war burials.
One man of the North Irish Horse, Private Thompson Harpur, is buried here. The location of his grave is shown on the CWGC cemetery plan below.
Images Copyright © Phillip Tardif with all rights reserved as set out in this Use of Material policy. Information and cemetery plan sourced from Commonwealth War Graves Commission www.cwgc.org.