| Cemetery
Location |
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The Cemetery is about 5 kilometers
north of the town of Albert
and situated in woodland on the eastern side of the road from Albert to Hamel
(D50). The Cemetery is signposted in the village
of Aveluy
(D50) which you pass through on the way to the cemetery.
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| Cemetery
Information |
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| Aveluy Wood is bounded East and West by the
main railway line from Albert to Arras/Lille and extends almost from Mesnil village on the North to Aveluy village on
the South. The road from Albert to Hamel runs through the Wood; and by the side
of this road, just within the Northern boundary of the Wood, "Lancashire
Dump" was made, and this is where the cemetery now stands. The cemetery was
begun in June 1916, a few days before the Battles of the
Somme
, and it was used by fighting units and Field Ambulances until the German
retirement in February 1917. It then remained unused until the German advance in
the spring of 1918. On the night of the 26th-27th March, the Germans entered
Aveluy Wood; and by the 5th April it was mostly in their hands, in spite of the
stubborn defence of the 12th (Eastern), 47th (London) and 63rd (Royal Naval) Divisions. It was attacked in vain by several Divisions
before it was finally cleared at the end of August; and in September the V Corps
Burial Officer added to the cemetery Row H of Plot I, with its graves of
April-September 1918. After the Armistice, Plots II and III were added, by
concentrating 100 isolated graves from Aveluy Wood itself; and in 1923 Rows I to
M of Plot I (some 124 graves) were added by concentrations from a wider area.
The cemetery now covers an area of 2,268 square yards. It contains the graves of
334 soldiers (and sailors and Marines of the Royal Naval Division) from the
United Kingdom
and 26 from Australia. The unnamed graves number 175, and special memorials are erected to 20
sailors, soldiers and Marines known to be buried among them. |
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| Additional
Information |
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| The burials here are dominated by men
killed in the fighting around Hamel between July and September 1916; there are a
few from the later battles of Aveluy Wood as well. |
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| Photograph
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| Photo
Archive |
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| Among those
commemorated here are: |
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