CWGC Cemetery: LA VILLE-AUX-BOIS BRITISH CEMETERY

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Local Information

La Ville-aux-Bois British Cemetery lies south of Laon and north of the city of Reims. La Ville-aux-Bois British Cemetery can be reached from the direction of Laon via the N44, Laon to Reims road. After about 18 kilometres from leaving the Laon ring road, the road goes through the village of Corbeny. After a further 4 kilometres, La Ville-aux-Bois British Cemetery is visible on the right side of this busy road. A CWGC sign gives an early indication several metres before the cemetery. Alternatively, the cemetery can be reached from Junction 14 of the A26 motorway (Berry Au Bac). Take the D925 and continue for 3 kilometres and then join the N44 and follow above instructions, but noting that the cemetery approach will be from the opposite direction.

Historical Information

La-Ville-Aux-Bois-Les-Pontavert village was captured by the French, after severe fighting, in April, 1917; and on the 27th May, 1918, the 50th Division was driven from the high ground behind it, in the Battle of the Aisne. The 2nd Devons and the 5th Battery, 45th Brigade, R.F.A., won the Croix de Guerre for their devoted courage on this occasion, and a granite cross, erected by the Devonshire Regiment, stands on the main road near the place where the Battalion was annihilated. The village was completely destroyed. The British Cemetery was made after the Armistice by the concentration of isolated graves from a wide area and from two cemeteries named below, and one further burial was made in 1920. There are now 564 Commonwealth burials of the 1914-18 war commemorated here, of which 413 are unidentified. There is also 2 burials of the 1939-45 war, 1 being an airman of the United Kingdom and 1 being a French Foreign National. Special memorials are erected to four United Kingdom soldiers, known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of 18 others, buried in certain German Cemeteries, whose graves could not be found. The cemetery covers an area of 1,700 square metres and is enclosed on three sides by a low rubble wall. The following burial grounds are represented here either by graves brought in or by special memorials:- PONTAVERT, SISSONNE, and NOTRE DAME-DE-LIESSE GERMAN CEMETERY; PROUVAIS COMMUNAL CEMETERY GERMAN EXTENSION; BOUVANCOURT FRENCH MILITARY CEMETERY.