BOURLON WOOD CEMETERY
Pas De Calais
France
GPS Coordinates - Latitude: 50.1756, Longitude: 3.12162
Location Information
Bourlon is a village approximately 6 kilometres west of Cambrai. It lies between the main Cambrai to Bapaume road (N30) and the Cambrai to Arras road (D939). From Arras the preferred route is to take the D939, direction Cambrai. Take the right turn into the village of Bourlon after the black and white Canadian signs with a maple leaf. Follow the D16e1 or "Route de la Gare" into the village and then follow the Commission's green and white cemetery direction signs for Bourlon Wood Cemetery. These will lead you along Rue de l'Abbaye and Rue des Mouches to the bottom end of a track that leads directly to the Cemetery. Vehicular access to the cemetery is limited and it is recommended that visitors park at the bottom end of Rue des Mouches and walk up the track to the Cemetery.
It is also possible to access Bourlon Wood Cemetery from the top of the track which starts at the Bourlon Wood Memorial. The Memorial is signposted from the centre of the village by the traditional Canadian black and white signs with a maple leaf. On approaching the Memorial the road can be followed to the left where a track descends about 200 metres to the cemetery. However, as this track is unsurfaced, unsuitable for road vehicles and difficult to use during wet periods it is recommended that visitors wishing to visit Bourlon Wood Cemetery take the preferred route detailed above.
Visiting Information
The location or design of this site makes wheelchair access impossible.
Historical Information
On its South-East side, stretching nearly to Fontaine-Notre Dame, is Bourlon Wood, and the village and the wood were the scene of desperate fighting in the Battle of Cambrai 1917; the 40th Division, which with the Guards and the 62nd Division bore the brunt of this fighting, has placed a memorial altar in Bourlon Church. At the end of the Battle the British troops were withdrawn from Bourlon, and the wood and the village were ultimately retaken by the 3rd Canadian and 4th Canadian Divisions on the 27th September 1918.
The village was later "adopted" by the Borough of Hove.
Bourlon Wood Cemetery was made by the Canadian Corps Burial Officer in October 1918. Three Chinese labourers were buried in it in 1919, and later five graves from the battlefields were brought into Plot II, Row F.
There are 245, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, eleven are unidentified.
The cemetery covers an area of 874 square metres and is enclosed by a rubble wall on three sides.
274 metres South-West of the cemetery is a Battlefield Memorial erected by the Canadian Government to recall the forcing of the Canal du Nord by the Canadian Corps on the 27th September 1918 and the subsequent advance to Mons and the Rhine.
The cemetery was designed by Captain William Clement Von Berg, M. C.
Total Burials: 245.
Identified Casualties: Canada 221, United Kingdom 13. Total 234.
Unidentified Casualties: United Kingdom 6, Canada 5. Total 11.
Bourlon is a village approximately 6 kilometres west of Cambrai. It lies between the main Cambrai to Bapaume road (N30) and the Cambrai to Arras road (D939). From Arras the preferred route is to take the D939, direction Cambrai. Take the right turn into the village of Bourlon after the black and white Canadian signs with a maple leaf. Follow the D16e1 or "Route de la Gare" into the village and then follow the Commission's green and white cemetery direction signs for Bourlon Wood Cemetery. These will lead you along Rue de l'Abbaye and Rue des Mouches to the bottom end of a track that leads directly to the Cemetery. Vehicular access to the cemetery is limited and it is recommended that visitors park at the bottom end of Rue des Mouches and walk up the track to the Cemetery.
It is also possible to access Bourlon Wood Cemetery from the top of the track which starts at the Bourlon Wood Memorial. The Memorial is signposted from the centre of the village by the traditional Canadian black and white signs with a maple leaf. On approaching the Memorial the road can be followed to the left where a track descends about 200 metres to the cemetery. However, as this track is unsurfaced, unsuitable for road vehicles and difficult to use during wet periods it is recommended that visitors wishing to visit Bourlon Wood Cemetery take the preferred route detailed above.
Visiting Information
The location or design of this site makes wheelchair access impossible.
Historical Information
On its South-East side, stretching nearly to Fontaine-Notre Dame, is Bourlon Wood, and the village and the wood were the scene of desperate fighting in the Battle of Cambrai 1917; the 40th Division, which with the Guards and the 62nd Division bore the brunt of this fighting, has placed a memorial altar in Bourlon Church. At the end of the Battle the British troops were withdrawn from Bourlon, and the wood and the village were ultimately retaken by the 3rd Canadian and 4th Canadian Divisions on the 27th September 1918.
The village was later "adopted" by the Borough of Hove.
Bourlon Wood Cemetery was made by the Canadian Corps Burial Officer in October 1918. Three Chinese labourers were buried in it in 1919, and later five graves from the battlefields were brought into Plot II, Row F.
There are 245, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, eleven are unidentified.
The cemetery covers an area of 874 square metres and is enclosed by a rubble wall on three sides.
274 metres South-West of the cemetery is a Battlefield Memorial erected by the Canadian Government to recall the forcing of the Canal du Nord by the Canadian Corps on the 27th September 1918 and the subsequent advance to Mons and the Rhine.
The cemetery was designed by Captain William Clement Von Berg, M. C.
Total Burials: 245.
Identified Casualties: Canada 221, United Kingdom 13. Total 234.
Unidentified Casualties: United Kingdom 6, Canada 5. Total 11.
718256 Corporal
William James Anderson, M. M.
1st Canadian Mounted Rifles Battalion
30th September 1918
Plot I. C. 4.
William James Anderson, M. M.
1st Canadian Mounted Rifles Battalion
30th September 1918
Plot I. C. 4.
145439 Private
Herbert James Bradshaw
38th Bn. Canadian Infantry
29th September 1918
Plot II. B. 16.
Herbert James Bradshaw
38th Bn. Canadian Infantry
29th September 1918
Plot II. B. 16.
187071 Private
Roy Hatfield
1st Canadian Mounted Rifles Battalion
30th September 1918, aged 21.
Plot I. C. 3.
Son of Walter J. and Kate Hatfield, of 110, Roberts Avenue East, Rildonan, Winnipeg.
Roy Hatfield
1st Canadian Mounted Rifles Battalion
30th September 1918, aged 21.
Plot I. C. 3.
Son of Walter J. and Kate Hatfield, of 110, Roberts Avenue East, Rildonan, Winnipeg.
3106377 Private
Norman Alexander Markle
102nd Bn. Canadian Infantry
27th September 1918, aged 27.
Plot I. B. 5.
Son of Alex and Jennie Markle, of 18, Myrtle Avenue, Galt, Ontario. Native of Paris, Ontario.
Norman Alexander Markle
102nd Bn. Canadian Infantry
27th September 1918, aged 27.
Plot I. B. 5.
Son of Alex and Jennie Markle, of 18, Myrtle Avenue, Galt, Ontario. Native of Paris, Ontario.
Cambrai Area, France. c. 1917. Canadian Army troops on the outskirts of Bourlon village and wood.
Cemetery pictures in this gallery © Johan Pauwels
An aerial photograph of part of the battle area from the British Front to Bourlon Wood
where the British advance was halted. It shows the intact condition of the countryside in the wake of the British advance.
© IWM (Q 47963)
Aerial photograph of Bourlon Wood. Sheet 57c, E24. Date 2 December 1917. © IWM Q 63739
Ruins of village and church, Bourlon. © IWM Q 37375
Bourlon Wood, showing part of Bourlon village, 1920. © IWM Q 37254
