Caudry British Cemetery

CWGC – History Information

Caudry town was the scene of part of the Battle of Le Cateau on the 26th August 1914, and from that date it remained in German hands until the 10th October 1918, when it was captured by the 37th Division. It had been a German centre for medical units, and during October 1918 and the following five months the 21st, 3rd, 19th and 49th Casualty Clearing Stations passed through it. The British Cemetery (originally called the German Cemetery Extension) was begun in October 1918 by the New Zealand Division and carried on by the Casualty Clearing Stations. It was completed after the Armistice by the concentration of graves from the German Cemetery and from the following cemetery:- AUDENCOURT BRITISH CEMETERY, which lay between the villages of Audencourt and Beaumont, in the middle of fields. It was made by the Germans after the Battle of Le Cateau, and Plot 1 contained the graves of 66 soldiers from the United Kingdom (mainly of the 2nd Royal Scots and the 1st Gordons) who fell in that battle. Plot II was made in the middle of October 1918 when the place was captured and contained the graves of 18 soldiers from the United Kingdom and four Germans. The bodies of two French soldiers and one Italian were removed to other burial grounds after the war. There are now over 700, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, over 50 are unidentified and special memorials are erected to four soldiers and one airman from the United Kingdom known to be buried among them. Another special memorial records the name of a soldier from the United Kingdom, buried in FONTAINE-AU-PIRE Communal Cemetery, whose grave could not be found. The cemetery covers an area of 2,770 square metres and is enclosed partly by a rubble wall.

Source © Commonwealth War Graves Commission – Cambrin Military Cemetery

Local men buried in this cemetery

Herbert Gubbins – Aslackby Memorial

William Sisson Hyde – Dunsby Memorial