Guards' Grave is a

military cemetery A war grave is a burial place for members of the armed forces or civilians who died during military campaigns or operations. Definition The term "war grave" does not only apply to graves: ships sunk during wartime are often considered to be ...

near

Villers-Cotterêts Villers-Cotterêts () is a commune in the Aisne 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 ...

in northern France, maintained by the

Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...

. In 1914, the British Expeditionary Force fought a rearguard action here during the

Retreat from Mons The Great Retreat (), also known as the retreat from Mons, was the long withdrawal to the River Marne in August and September 1914 by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the French Fifth Army. The Franco-British forces on the Western Fr ...

. 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 III Army Corps was a corps level formation of the German Army during World War II. III Army Corps The III Corps was formed in October 1934 as III. Armeekorps. The corps took part in Fall Weiss, the 1939 invasion of Poland as a part of Army Gr ...

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 Baron Killanin, of Galway in the County of Galway, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. History It was created in 1900 for the Irish lawyer and politician Michael Morris, Baron Morris, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland The Cour ...

(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 when they visited in November 1914. It is thought that had been made by wounded British prisoners of war, with the help of local people. The group decided to have the bodies disinterred with the help of the town's doctor, Dr. Henri Moufflier, in an attempt to identify as many as they could, and after three days they found 98 men in total, though they were unable to identify 20 of them. They enlarged what they referred to as the 'pit' and reburied the men. This layout can still clearly be seen today, with the later headstones arranged around the edge. Originally the four officers were buried in a plot in the

town cemetery, but after the war when the

carried out a reconciliation they were put back with the others in the Guards' Grave.

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

, who wrote the

Irish Guards The Irish Guards (IG), is one of the Foot Guards regiments of the British Army and is part of the Guards Division. Together with the Royal Irish Regiment, it is one of the two Irish infantry regiments in the British Army. The regiment has parti ...

regimental biography of the First World War said it was "perhaps the most beautiful of all resting-places in France".''The Irish Guards in the Great War – The First Battalion'' by Rudyard Kipling, Doubleday, Page & Company, 1923

References

External links

Commonwealth War Graves Commission page
* {{Find a Grave cemetery Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries in France