Orchard Dump
Webmatters : Nécropole nationale de Ambleny
Rough Map of Area

Ambleny

Location

Ambleny French National Cemetery is also known as the Bois Roger after the wood just behind it.

To confuse matters though, the wood is now known as Bois Robert.

It is situated on the north side of the Compiègne-Soissons main road: the N 31. It is about 10km from Soissons or 28 km from Compiègne.

GPSNEOSM
Decimal49.39483.1929 Map
Ambleny French National Cemetery

Historical Information

This is the largest of the French Military Cemeteries in the Département of the Aisne containing many of those who fell fighting for the Plateau of Confrécourt to the north of the river whilst also acting as a consolidation cemetery for the various smaller cemeteries to the south-west of Soissons.

Some of the Muslim graves

Muslim graves with their easily identifiable shape

Amongst the Great War graves there is one Russian and seventy six civilians casualties.

Following the Second World War a further 555 graves from that war were also regrouped here.

The plaque for Ossuaire A

The communal graves (ossuaires) show the names
known to be buried amongst the remains.

The cemetery has a surface of 36 400 sq m and now contains a total of 10 266 burials. There are 8 157 individual graves with a further 3 076 (mostly unknown — inconnu) buried in mass graves.

Originally there were also two British soldiers buried in the cemetery who fell on the 1st April 1918 but they have since been removed to Vauxbuin French Military Cemetery where there is a large CWGC plot.

The communal graves at the rear of the cemetery

The communal graves at the rear of the cemetery

Shot at Dawn

Within the cemetery there are a number of French soldiers who were executed during the battles for this area. Amongst them are six soldiers executed in the area.

The most famous of them is Léonard Leymarie (B 135) executed at Port-Fontenoy on 13th December 1914. There is a small plaque to him at Fontenoy. (See below).

Gaston Lefèvre (D 129), was one of the leaders behind a mutiny of the 109e RI, who was executed at Mercin on 16 June 1917.

Jean Boursaud (C 11), of the 238e RI, and Alphonse Brosse, were accused of trying to desert and executed at Ambleny (the village is on the far side of the road) on 10 October 1914.

Henri Jolbert (D 475) et Émile Guiraud (C 544), of the 42e RI, hid themselves amongst resting untits in order to avoid going to the front. They were executed at Saint-Christophe-à-Berry on 16 November 1914.

Jean Grataloux (D449), of the 238e RI, was accused of abandoning his post in the face of the enemy. He was executed on 12 December 1914. Prior to being shot he had attempted to cut his own throat.

A Danish Legionaire

You can also find the grave of a Danish member of the Légion Etrangère : Mogens Birck, Légion Etrangère, 1re Compagnie de mitrailleuses. Born at Bredholdt on 21st September 1895, died on 12th July 1918. (Grave H 600)

From the Pacific

In the area of Grave H345 you will find some burials from the Bataillon mixte du Pacifique which was made up of Tahitiens and Canaques. This unit fought over the ground now occupied by the cemetery at the beginning of August 1918.


Soldat Auguste Godey

Auguste Désiré Godey, 14849
Soldat 2è classe, 136e Régiment d’Infanterie
Born on 16th October 1882 at St Lô
He was recruited there in the Class of 1902
He was 35 years old when he was killed
on 8 July 1918 in the Forest of Retz during the build up to General Mangin’s great offensive on the 18th July.

All Frenchmen were liable for military service once they reached twenty years of age. They were formed into classes and this became part of who they were. They served for two years before passing through a system of going into the reserves and then the territorials as they got older.

On the outbreak of war each regiment had its reserve equivalent recognised by the addition of 200 to the regimental number. Thus Auguste’s Reserve Regiment would have been the 336e RIR.

Grave: F 549

An explanation of French Conscription.

Soldat Leonard Leymarie

Léonard Leymarie, 1466
Soldat 2è classe, 305e Régiment d’Infanterie
Born on 2nd January 1880 at Seilhac
He was recruited there in the Class of 1900
He was 34 years old when he was executed
on 12 December 1914 .

Grave B 135

Charles and Henri Communal, father and son

Father and son

Charles Communal
Capitaine, 298e Régiment d’Infanterie
Born on 1st June 1873 at Aurillac
He was recruited there in the Class of 1893
He was 41 years old when he was killed
on 17 September 1914 .

Henri Communal
Lieutenant, 24e Régiment d’Infantrie
Born on 6th December 1912 at Loyon
He was 27 years old when he was killed
on 9 June 1940 at Saint-Loup-en-Champagne,
Ardennes

Grave B 215

Henri Melville van Carnbee

James Melvill van Carnbee
Sergent, 12e REI (Régiment étranger d’infanterie)
Born on 11th December 1906 at Amsterdam
He was 33 years old when he was killed nearby
on 7 June 1940 .

The 12th REI were part of the French Foreign Legion. They were made up of reservists and foreign volunteers.

Forming part of the 8e Division d’Infanterie it was rushed up to the line near Soissons on the 25th May 1940. Its task was to defend the seven bridges over the Aisne between Venizel and Pommiers.

On the 4th June the 3rd Battalion was detached and sent to La Malmaison (an old 1917 battlefield). From there it launched a counter attack on the 6th. After ten hours of fighting without air support the battalion had been wiped out. Only a few dozen men rejoined their parent unit.

The following day, the remaining two battalions of the regiment were still trying to hold the Germans along the Aisne. They were eventually forced back to the River Ourcq where they held out until the evening of the 10th before having to fall back again.

By the end of the Battle for France the 12e REI had lost 90% of its original strength of three thousand men. The regiment was disbanded on 12 August 1940.

Grave N 4