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Aubers Ridge British Cemetery, Aubers

  • Country France
  • Total identified casualties 278 Find these casualties
  • Region Nord
  • Identified casualties from First & Second World War
  • GPS Coordinates Latitude: 50.58937, Longitude: 2.8364
AUBERS RIDGE BRITISH CEMETERY, AUBERS - CWGC
AUBERS RIDGE BRITISH CEMETERY, AUBERS - CWGC
AUBERS RIDGE BRITISH CEMETERY, AUBERS - CWGC
AUBERS RIDGE BRITISH CEMETERY, AUBERS - CWGC
AUBERS RIDGE BRITISH CEMETERY, AUBERS - CWGC

Location information

Aubers is a village about 8 Kms north of La Bassee and 3 Kms north-west of the main road from La Bassee to Lille. From Aubers take the RD173 at the 'T' junction. Turn left towards Fromelles and continue 500 metres to the next junction. Turn right towards Herlies and follow the road for 500 metres when the Cemetery can be found on the left hand side.

Visiting information

ARRIVAL

The cemetery is signposted, located on Rte. D’Herlies, between the villages of Herlies and Aubers.

PARKING

There are two parking bays within 10 metres of the main gate.

One is in front of the main entrance at the side of the main road.

The second on the right of the cemetery at the front, within 10 metres of a step-free entrance.

The ground is compacted gravel. Please note that there is a drainage ditch running the length of the cemetery and is on either side of the parking areas. There is a low-level wall topped with stone running the length of the cemetery, separating the parking areas and ditches located between the wall and the road.

ACCESS LAYOUT AND MAIN ENTRANCE

The main entrance consists of two, mid-level, thigh height, black metal gates at the top of a wide set of 3 stone steps on either side of a central stone wall.

Each of the two gates are 1 metre wide. For the left-side gate, the handle is on the innermost side at the top, next to the central wall where the cemetery name is engraved. For the right-side gate, the handle is on the innermost side at the top, next to the central wall where the cemetery name is engraved. Both handles lift up to open the gates into the cemetery. The grass inside the cemetery is approximately 25 mm higher than the paving inside the gates.

The Cross of Sacrifice is in the centre of the cemetery, close to the main entrance.

The Stone of Remembrance is located midway in the cemetery, on the right side.

There is an arched brick shelter at the rear of the cemetery in line with the Cross of Sacrifice and main entrance. Inside the shelter is a stone bench seating area. The paving inside and in front of the shelter is level with the grass.

There is a stone seat built into the rear of the central wall at the main entrance, with the Register Box mounted into the wall on the back of the stone seat.

All internal cemetery paths are grass, the ground is flat and firm.

ALTERNATIVE ACCESS

There is a disabled access sign at the front of the cemetery to the left of the main entrance steps pointing to the right.

On the far-right end of the cemetery along the main road there is a stone pillar with an opening in the brick wall running along right side of the cemetery. There is a black metal gate, approximately 1 metre wide, that opens inwards, allowing step-free access into the cemetery. The gate has a latch on the right side which lifts to open. The gate has a strip of paving underneath, level with the grass on either side.

The ground in the cemetery is grass and is flat and firm.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The cemetery is permanently open.

Download Cemetery Plan

History information

Aubers village was taken by the 9th Brigade on the 17th October, 1914, with Herlies and part of the Ridge, and on the 19th the 2nd Royal Irish took Le Pilly. These gains, however, were lost within a few days, and the Ridge, in spite of repeated attacks, was not captured by British forces for three years. Early in October, 1918, it was secured by the 47th (London) Division.

The cemetery was made after the Armistice, by the concentration of graves from the battlefields on all sides of Aubers and the following smaller burial grounds:-

CHATEAU-DU-FLANDRE BRITISH CEMETERY, BEAUCAMPS, at the Eastern exit of the great park between Beaucamps and Radinghem. Here were buried 17 men of the 47th (London) Division, who fell in the occupation of Beaucamps on the 4th October, 1918, or immediately after it.

WINCHESTER POST MILITARY CEMETERY, RUE-DU-BACQUEROT, LAVENTIE, on the East side of "Winchester Road", which lead from the Rue-du-Bacquerot to Mauquissart. This was one of the many cemeteries made by Indian Corps behind the line from Neuve-Chapelle North-Eastwards. It stood in front of a farm building ("Winchester Post") used as a Dressing Station and Battalion Headquarters. It contained the graves of 120 soldiers from the United Kingdom and one German prisoner, in two plots. It was begun by the 2nd Devons in November, 1914, and used until February, 1916; and three graves were added in 1918.

Plot I of Aubers Ridge British Cemetery consists almost entirely of the graves of unidentified Australian soldiers, killed in the Attack at Fromelles on the 19th-20th July, 1916, and Plot II almost entirely of the graves of soldiers of the 61st (South Midland) Division, killed in the same engagement. The succeeding Plots cover also the fighting in October, 1914 (the Battles of La Bassee and Armentieres); the Battle of Neuve-Chapelle (March, 1915); the Battles of Aubers Ridge and Festubert (May, 1915); and the final advance in October, 1918. The last graves (from WINCHESTER POST MILITARY CEMETERY) were brought here in 1925.

There are now over 700, 1914-18 and a small number of 1939-45 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, nearly 450 from the 1914-18 War are unidentified and a special memorial is erected to one soldier from the United Kingdom who is believed to be buried among them.

The cemetery covers an area of 2,476 square metres and is enclosed by a low curb.