Hermonville Military Cemetery, Marne

HERMONVILLE MILITARY CEMETERY

Marne

France

GPS Coordinates: Latitude: 49.34061, Longitude: 3.90848

Location Information

Hermonville is a village 11 kilometres north-west of Reims in the direction of Laon.

From Reims take the N44 towards Laon. After 5 kilometres turn left at the road sign for Hermonville, along the D30, passing through the village of Villers Franqueux

Enter Hermonville along the Rue de Reims and at the village centre turn right (first CWGC direction sign) going along the Rue de L'Eglise on the D530, which leads onto the Rue de Sebastopol and then the Rue St Remy. At the following junction turn right into Rue Charles de Gaulle and 20 metres further on turn left up the Rue des Dourdonnes. The Cemetery is at the end of this 150 metre long narrow road.

Historical Information

Hermonville Military Cemetery originally contained, on the West side, 407 French and 99 German graves, but these were later removed. The British graves are those of soldiers from the United Kingdom, mainly of the 21st Division, who fell in May and June 1918, and were reburied here after the Armistice.

There are 244, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, 138 unidentified and special memorials are erected in Plot III, Row AA, to five Sappers of the Royal Engineers who fell on the 27th May 1918, and were buried in the German part of the cemetery, but whose graves could not be found.

Six United Kingdom soldiers believed to be buried among the unnamed graves are also commemorated on special memorial headstones, located to the left of the Register Box.

The Cemetery covers an area of 1,183 square metres and is enclosed (except on the roadside) by a low rubble wall.

The cemetery was designed by Arthur James Scott Hutton

Total Burials: 244.

Identified Casualties: United Kingdom 106.

Unidentified Casualties: United Kingdom 138.

Images in gallery below © Johan Pauwels

Images in this gallery © Werner Van Caneghem

Captain
Wilfrid Herbert Cecil Brownlow
2nd Bn. attd. 12th/13th Bn. Northumberland Fusiliers
28th May 1918, aged 28.
Plot III. F. 10.

Son of Col. Cecil Barry Brownlow and Minnie Blanche Brownlow, of The Old Well Cottage, Forest Row, Sussex; husband of Emily Phyllis Brownlow. Royal Humane Society's Certificate. Previously wounded at Ypres, Feb.,1915. Born at Murree, India.

His headstone bears the following inscription; "Tell Them I Died With A Smile In Thy Presence Is The Fullness Of Joy."

Second Lieutenant
Richard Lewis Cadell
98th Field Coy. Royal Engineers
28th May 1918, aged 20.
Plot II. F. 8.

Son of Lewis Irving Cadell and Mary Louisa Finlay Cadell, of Brae Lodge, Murrayfield, Edinburgh.

His headstone bears the following inscription; "Mors Janua Vitae." (Latin; "Death Is The Gate To Life."

44842 Private
Oswald R. L. Hopper
2nd Bn. Royal Berkshire Regiment
27th May 1918.
Plot II. I. 1.

137844 Pioneer
Charles George Alfred Piper
98th Field Coy. Royal Engineers
27th May 1918, aged 35.
Plot III. AA. 1/5.

Son of Alfred and Emma Piper, of 9, Anstey Rd., Reading.

Shot at Dawn

13612 Private Frank O'Neill of the 1st Bn. Sherwood Foresters, this soldier was executed for desertion on 16th May 1918. Plot III. G. 6. He had been previously sentenced to 2 years’ imprisonment for desertion, & 18 months for an offence of violence. O’Neill absconded whilst his unit was digging trenches, being arrested later wearing civilian clothes. Before execution, he refused the Doctor's customary offer of strong drink, & so died sober.(Putkowski, p.243)

Hermonville Military Cemetery, Shot at Dawn, O'Neill

Battle of Tardenois. Men of the 1/5th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment (62nd Division) resting in the Bois de Reims, 24 July 1918. © IWM (Q 11096)

Officers of the 2nd Battalion, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, 62nd Division, conferring with French and Italian officers in the Bois de Reims during the Battle of Tardenois, 24 July 1918. © IWM (Q 11113)