Croisilles British Cemetery
Location
Croisilles is a village about 13 kilometres south-east of Arras. Croisilles British Cemetery is 300 metres along Rue Eugene Hornez, to the south west of the village centre, off the road to St. Leger (D9).
| GPS | N | E | OSM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decimal | 50.194807 | 2.877399 | Map |
Historical Information
The 7th Division attacked Croisilles in March 1917 and took it on 2nd April. It was lost on 21st March 1918 and recaptured by the 56th (London) Division on the following 28th August, after heavy fighting.
Plots I and II of the cemetery, were made between April 1917 and March 1918 and the rest was formed after the Armistice, when graves were brought in from the neighbouring battlefields and from some smaller burial grounds.
The majority of the soldiers buried in the cemetery belonged to the Guards, 7th and 21st Divisions. Croisilles British Cemetery now contains 1,171 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 647 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 14 casualties buried among them. Other special memorials commemorate casualties buried in Hendecourt-les-Cagnicourt Communal Cemetery in 1917, whose graves were destroyed by shell fire.
The cemetery also contains the graves of six Commonwealth airmen of the Second World War and 18 German war graves.
German Graves
Private Thomas Kearney 25420
7th Bn Royal Irish Regiment
South Irish Horse
Died on 25th November 1917 aged 22
Son of the late Thomas and Mary Kearney
of Omagh, Co. Tyrone
Grave: II D 12
Serjeant Albert Leeson 43150
6th Bn Northamptonshire Regiment
Died on 20th March 1917 aged 21
Son of Francis William and Eliza Leeson
of 70, Hartington St., Leicester
Grave: III A 8
Also in memory of
13064 Act. Sergt. F.W. Leeson
Oxford & Bucks. L.I.
Missing Sept. 25th 1915
Frederick Leeson,
who died on the 25th September 1915 aged 23,
is commemorated on the Menin Gate.