CAUDRY OLD COMMUNAL CEMETERY
Nord
France
GPS Coordinates - Latitude: 50.12404, Longitude: 3.4143
© Johan Pauwels
Location Information
Caudry is a town about 13 kilometres east of Cambrai on the south side of the main road (D643) to Le Cateau.
The Old Communal Cemetery is near the centre of town, but is best accessed from the eastern by-pass road (a dual carriageway). At the first set of traffic lights on this road turn right and head into town. The Cemetery is about 1 kilometre down this road (Rue Aristide Briard) on the right (rue du Souvenir Français).
The Memorial dedicated to the First World War and erected by French Local Authorities is located place Charles de Gaulle in the Centre itself.
Visiting Information
Wheelchair access to the cemetery possible via main entrance.
Historical Information
Caudry town was the scene of part of the Battle of Le Cateau on the 26th August 1914, and from that date it remained in German hands until the 10th October 1918, when it was captured by the 37th Division. It had been a German centre for medical units, and during October 1918 and the following five months the 21st, 3rd, 19th, and 49th Casualty Clearing Stations passed through it.
There are now over 100, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, one-third are unidentified and three, which cannot now be exactly located, are represented by special memorials. Five, identified as a group but not individually, are marked with headstones bearing the additional words "Buried near this spot". This cemetery contained also French, German and Russian graves.
The low curb on which the names of the British soldiers are inscribed was erected by the people of Caudry (whose War Memorial includes a representation of the entrance of British troops into the town); it has been supplemented by recumbent headstones.
Casualty Details: UK 128, Canada 2, Australia 9, Total Burials: 139
Dedications
2960 Lance Corporal Horace Edwin Gordon, 1st/6th Bn. South Staffordshire Regiment, 28th July 1916, aged 28.
Remembered by great nephew, Malcolm Gordon
Caudry is a town about 13 kilometres east of Cambrai on the south side of the main road (D643) to Le Cateau.
The Old Communal Cemetery is near the centre of town, but is best accessed from the eastern by-pass road (a dual carriageway). At the first set of traffic lights on this road turn right and head into town. The Cemetery is about 1 kilometre down this road (Rue Aristide Briard) on the right (rue du Souvenir Français).
The Memorial dedicated to the First World War and erected by French Local Authorities is located place Charles de Gaulle in the Centre itself.
Visiting Information
Wheelchair access to the cemetery possible via main entrance.
Historical Information
Caudry town was the scene of part of the Battle of Le Cateau on the 26th August 1914, and from that date it remained in German hands until the 10th October 1918, when it was captured by the 37th Division. It had been a German centre for medical units, and during October 1918 and the following five months the 21st, 3rd, 19th, and 49th Casualty Clearing Stations passed through it.
There are now over 100, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, one-third are unidentified and three, which cannot now be exactly located, are represented by special memorials. Five, identified as a group but not individually, are marked with headstones bearing the additional words "Buried near this spot". This cemetery contained also French, German and Russian graves.
The low curb on which the names of the British soldiers are inscribed was erected by the people of Caudry (whose War Memorial includes a representation of the entrance of British troops into the town); it has been supplemented by recumbent headstones.
Casualty Details: UK 128, Canada 2, Australia 9, Total Burials: 139
Dedications
2960 Lance Corporal Horace Edwin Gordon, 1st/6th Bn. South Staffordshire Regiment, 28th July 1916, aged 28.
Remembered by great nephew, Malcolm Gordon
4096 Private
Arthur Charles Couchman
8th Bn. Royal Warwickshire Regiment
25th July 1916, aged 29.
Row A. 6.
Son of Charles N. and Harriet Couchman, of Birmingham; husband of Alice Couchman, of 146, Albert Rd., Aston, Birmingham.
Arthur was wounded and captured on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, at the Heidenkopf (Quadrilateral Redoubt)
"Remembered with Honour"
Picture courtesy of Ross Taylor
Arthur Charles Couchman
8th Bn. Royal Warwickshire Regiment
25th July 1916, aged 29.
Row A. 6.
Son of Charles N. and Harriet Couchman, of Birmingham; husband of Alice Couchman, of 146, Albert Rd., Aston, Birmingham.
Arthur was wounded and captured on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, at the Heidenkopf (Quadrilateral Redoubt)
"Remembered with Honour"
Picture courtesy of Ross Taylor
PS/5070 Private
Harry Holdsworth
20th Bn. Royal Fusiliers
27th July 1916
Row A. 4.
Resident of "Meadowbank" 274 Manchester Road, Burnley, Lancs.
Harry Holdsworth
20th Bn. Royal Fusiliers
27th July 1916
Row A. 4.
Resident of "Meadowbank" 274 Manchester Road, Burnley, Lancs.
2687 Private
Frank Johnstone
51st Bn. Australian Infantry, A. I. F.
17th September 1916, aged 39.
Row C. 9.
Son of Isabella Johnstone, of 52, Byron St., Footscray, Victoria, Australia, and the late Francis Johnstone.
Died of wounds whilst a Prisoner of War.
Frank Johnstone
51st Bn. Australian Infantry, A. I. F.
17th September 1916, aged 39.
Row C. 9.
Son of Isabella Johnstone, of 52, Byron St., Footscray, Victoria, Australia, and the late Francis Johnstone.
Died of wounds whilst a Prisoner of War.
1761 Sergeant
Arthur Ernest Reed
51st Bn. Australian Infantry, A. I. F.
1st October 1916, aged 25.
Row C. 13.
Son of William and Emma Reed, of Bayley St., Coolgardie, Western Australia. Born at Newcastle, New South Wales.
A grocer from Coolgardie, Western Australia, prior to enlistment in the 11th Battalion he embarked from Fremantle on 2 November 1914 aboard HMAT Ascanius for Egypt. While in Gallipoli he was promoted to Corporal, appointed Lance Sergeant and Promoted to Sergeant. Sgt Reed returned to Australia in late October 1915 and was transferred to the 51st Battalion on 10 April 1916 before re-embarking a week later aboard HMAT Aeneas for England. He joined his new battalion on the Western Front, France, during August 1916.
He died as a prisoner of War in Kriegslazarett, Caudry. He was captured on September 3rd near to Mouquet Farm after he had been badly wounded in the left buttock and kidneys.
Arthur Ernest Reed
51st Bn. Australian Infantry, A. I. F.
1st October 1916, aged 25.
Row C. 13.
Son of William and Emma Reed, of Bayley St., Coolgardie, Western Australia. Born at Newcastle, New South Wales.
A grocer from Coolgardie, Western Australia, prior to enlistment in the 11th Battalion he embarked from Fremantle on 2 November 1914 aboard HMAT Ascanius for Egypt. While in Gallipoli he was promoted to Corporal, appointed Lance Sergeant and Promoted to Sergeant. Sgt Reed returned to Australia in late October 1915 and was transferred to the 51st Battalion on 10 April 1916 before re-embarking a week later aboard HMAT Aeneas for England. He joined his new battalion on the Western Front, France, during August 1916.
He died as a prisoner of War in Kriegslazarett, Caudry. He was captured on September 3rd near to Mouquet Farm after he had been badly wounded in the left buttock and kidneys.
Lieutenant
Roger Owen Birbeck Wakefield
1st Bn. Royal Irish Fusiliers
28th August 1914, aged 22.
Plot A. 7.
Son of Edward Wakefield, of Farnagh, Moate, Co. Westmeath.
Roger Owen Birbeck Wakefield
1st Bn. Royal Irish Fusiliers
28th August 1914, aged 22.
Plot A. 7.
Son of Edward Wakefield, of Farnagh, Moate, Co. Westmeath.
Caudry, France. September 1918. A German Army column preparing to bivouac in the town.
Battle of the Drocourt-Queant Line. A man of the 6th Kings Liverpool Regiment and a German signboard "Kronprinzenstr." in Inchy, 13 September 1918 © IWM (Q 7065)
German prisoners taken by the 4th Canadian Division during its crossing of the Canal du Nord on 27 September 1918. The prisoners are near Inchy, which was just behind the Canadian sector of the front, to the west of the canal. © IWM (CO 3302)
Scene at a Canadian Forward Dressing Station near Inchy during the 4th Canadian Division's crossing of the Canal du Nord, 27 September 1918. © IWM CO 3292
