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Guards' Grave
Guards' Grave is a military cemetery near Villers-Cotterêts in northern France, maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. In 1914, the British Expeditionary Force fought a rearguard action here during the Retreat from Mons. On 1 September, the British 4th ( Guards) Brigade who were covering the withdrawal of 2nd Division, came into contact with the leading units of the German III Corps on the edge of woodland near Villers-Cotterêts. The brigade lost more than 300 men in the encounter, but were able to break away and continue the withdrawal. The cemetery in its original form was created by Lord Killanin (the brother of Lieut-Col. George Henry Morris, who had been killed in the action on 1 September) along with Lord Robert Cecil M.P. who was working for the Missing and Wounded Department of the Red Cross (and whose nephew Lieut. George Cecil is also buried here) the Lord Elphinstone, and the Revd. H. T. R. Briggs who had together discovered a makeshift grave whe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Villers-Cotterêts (Aisne) CWGC-cemetery Guard's Grave Villers-Cotterets Forest (01)
Villers-Cotterêts () is a Communes of France, commune in the Aisne Departments of France, department in Hauts-de-France, France. It is notable as the signing-place in 1539 of the ''Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts'' discontinuing the use of Latin in official French documents, and as the birthplace in 1802 of French novelist Alexandre Dumas, Alexandre Dumas '' père''. Geography It is located NE of Paris via the Route nationale 2, RN2 facing Laon. Its nickname ''Petite villa sur la côte de Retz'' means ''Little villa by the coast of Retz'', as the town is situated next to the Forest of Retz, which covers of land. History Villers-Cotterêts is famous in French law because of the ''Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts'' of 1539 signed by king Francis I of France ('François Ier'), which made French language, French the official language in the kingdom instead of regional languages like Occitan language, Occitan or the elite European lingua franca of the time, Latin. In 1914, the Bri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |