Givenchy Communal Cemetery

Location

Givenchy-lès-la-Bassée is a village some 27 kilometres north of Arras and about 5 kilometres west of La Bassée, a small town on the N41 road from Béthune to Lille. From the church in the centre of the village head north, after 300 metres turn right in front of the West Lancashire Division Memorial. The cemetery is a further 100 metres on the right. The Commonwealth burials are on the left.

From the main Béthune road take the turning into Cuinchy village. Continue over the canal and turn right at the junction where you see the panel directing Guards Cemetery off to your left. At the church in Givenchy (The junction is a: Stop) continue straight on. The memorial is in front of you and the cemetery to the right.

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Historical Information

It was at Givenchy during the 1914-1918 War that the 55th (West Lancashire) Division made its famous stand, maintaining its position intact when assailed by no less than three German divisions.

This was the only sector of the whole Allied front held inviolate during the great German offensive of 1918, and the stand made by the 55th Division on 9th-16th April 1918 was afterwards acknowledged by the German General Staff to have marked the ruination of the supreme German effort.

Devastated in the course of the First World War Givenchy was severely damaged during the 1939-1945 War when heavy fighting covered the withdrawal of the British Expeditionary Force to Dunkirk.

The Memorial Hall (given in 1924 by the City of Liverpool for orphans and aged inhabitants), the Mairie and the Schools were completely destroyed.

The cemetery is near the 10 metre. high granite cross standing in a small park which forms the 1914-1918 War Memorial of the 55th West Lancashire Division.

There are now over 30, 1939-45 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, nearly half are unidentified.

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Other cemeteries in the area

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