Vauxbuin French National Cemetery - Aisne, France - WW1 Cemeteries.com - A photographic guide to over 4000 military cemeteries and memorials

VAUXBUIN FRENCH NATIONAL CEMETERY

&

VAUXBUIN GERMAN MILITARY CEMETERY

Aisne

France

GPS Coordinates: Latitude: 49.34866, Longitude: 3.27724

Location Information

Vauxbuin is a village 4 kilometres to the south-west of Soissons, and Vauxbuin French National Cemetery can be reached from the direction of Soissons via the N2, Soissons to Paris road. It is necessary to go around the Soissons ring road following the signs for Paris. On leaving the Soissons ring road via a large roundabout, continue to follow the signs for Paris via the N2. Vauxbuin French National Cemetery lies 3 kilometres along this road on the right side. Caution must be taken along this road as it is a very busy road with traffic travelling very fast. The Commission Plot forms a small part of this large French Cemetery which is situated adjacent to a German military cemetery.

Historical Information

The village was passed by British troops on the 31st August 1914, in the Retreat from Mons, and British troops fought in the neighbourhood in 1918.

The French National Cemetery was made by the French Graves Service in 1920-1924. The British plot, made after the Armistice, contains the graves of soldiers from the United Kingdom who fell in 1914 and 1918 who belonged to the 4th, 5th, 15th (Scottish) and 34th Divisions.

The following were among the burial grounds from which graves were transferred to this cemetery:-

AMBLENY FRENCH NATIONAL CEMETERY, a cemetery of 10,266 burials, on the North side of the Compiegne-Soissons main road. Here were buried two British soldiers who fell on the 1st April 1918.
DOMMIERS BRITISH CEMETERY, on the East side of that village, which contained the graves of 50 soldiers of the 15th Division who fell in July and August 1918.
LE PRESSOIR FRENCH MILITARY CEMETERY, AMBLENY, in which were buried 370 French soldiers, 33 German, and three British who died in French hospitals in April 1918.
LONGPONT FRENCH MILITARY CEMETERY, AISNE, (in a garden near La Grille Farm), where one British soldier was buried in July 1918 (the 628 French graves also were moved to Vauxbuin).
PARGNY-FILAIN COMMUNAL CEMETERY, used by the Germans in 1914-15, contained one British soldier, who was buried there in September 1914.
SOISSONS COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION, made by the French, on the West side of the Communal Cemetery. The graves of 88 British soldiers (who fell for the most part in 1914) were reburied here from the battlefields, but both French and British graves have been removed.
TERNY-SORNY FRENCH MILITARY CEMETERY (at the North-East end of the village), which contained the graves of 365 French soldiers and those of two R.G.A. Gunners who died in May 1917.
VAUXBUIN COMMUNAL CEMETERY, where two men of the 58th (London) Division were buried in April 1918.
VAUXBUIN (1870) FRENCH MILITARY CEMETERY ("Cimetiere des Fusilles") near the Church, where two British soldiers were buried, among French and German, in April 1918.
VEZAPONIN COMMUNAL CEMETERY FRENCH EXTENSION, which contained 80 French graves and those of five British soldiers who died in March 1918.
VILLERS-HELON FRENCH MILITARY CEMETERY, which contained 120 French graves and those of three British soldiers who fell in July 1918.

Commonwealth War Graves

There are 284, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, 123 are unidentified and special memorials are erected to three soldiers believed to be buried among them.

The British plot covers an area of 1,240 square metres.

Total Burials: 284.

Commonwealth Identified Casualties: United Kingdom 161.

Commonwealth Unidentified Casualties: 123.

Second Lieutenant
Gilbert Stratton Amos
"D"Company, 2nd Bn. King's Own Scottish Borderers
14th September 1914, aged 18.
Plot II. C. 16.

Son of Maj. Herbert Gilbert McLachlan Amos, D.S.O., and Kate Isabella Amos.

9226 Rifleman
James Card
1st Bn. Rifle Brigade
13th September 1914, aged 29.
Plot IV. D. 5.

Son of John and Caroline Card; husband of Florence Beatrice Card, of 20, Beaconsfield St., Barton Hill, Bristol. Born at Bristol.

42092 Private
W. Cornwall
1st/5th Bn. King's Own Scottish Borderers
30th July 1918, aged 18.
Plot II. A. 3.

Son of Mrs. Helen Cornwall, of 17, Lothian Bridge, Dalkeith.

His headstone bears the inscription "Until The Day Dawns"

2846 Private
John Cummings
2nd Bn. Manchester Regiment
14th September 1914, aged 22.
Plot III. C. 6.

Son of John and Margaret Ann Cummings. Born at Rochdale.

His headstone bears the inscription "In Loving Memory With Deepest Sympathy Mother"

7567 Private
Frederick Gibson
1st Bn. Bedfordshire Regiment
15th September 1914.
Plot IV. F. 10.

19940 Private
Alexander Grahamslaw
7th/8th Bn. King's Own Scottish Borderers
23rd July 1918.
Plot I. C. 3.

7864 Private
Ernest Gilbert Ham
1st Bn. Somerset Light Infantry
29th September 1914.
Plot IV. E. 5.

Lieutenant
Odber Augustus Knapton
Royal Warwickshire Regiment
18th September 1914, aged 21.
Plot II. C. 2.

Son of Capt. A. L. K. Knapton (R. N.), of Rope Hill, Lymington, Hants.

His headstone bears the inscription "Dear Eldest Son Of Captain Knapton, R. N. Boldre, Hants. Priez Pour Lui"

Second Lieutenant
Brian McGuire
2nd Bn. Royal Dublin Fusiliers
14th September 1914, aged 20.
Plot IV. F. 6.

Son of the late George McGuire, Town Clerk of Bradford, and of Florence Hannah, his wife, of The Bungalow, Freshwater Bay, Isle of Wight.

His headstone bears the inscription "Son Of The Late George McGuire Town Clerk Of Bradford Pro Patria"