Rue-Petillon Military Cemetery in Fleurbaix, Nord-Pas-de-Calais

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Get directions Fleurbaix, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France

Coordinates: 50.63114, 2.83604
Cemetery ID:

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Fleurbaix is a village 5 kilometres south-west of Armentieres on the D22. Rue-Petillon Military Cemetery will be found by taking the D175 from Fleurbaix towards Fauquissart, then the D171 towards Petillon. The cemetery is on the south side of the road from Petillon to La Boutillerie.

The cemetery was begun in December, 1914, and used by fighting units until March, 1918. In April, 1918, it fell into enemy hands, although one further burial was added in September, 1918, after the German retreat. It consisted at the Armistice of twelve Battalion burial grounds, made by units which had occupied the Headquarters and Dressing Station at "Eaton Hall", adjoining the cemetery. It was enlarged later by the concentration of graves from other cemeteries and the battlefields over a wide area round Fleurbaix.

There are now just over 1,500, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, nearly half are unidentified and a special memorial is erected to one soldier from the United Kingdom, believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of two Indian soldiers; and a third group commemorates 15 Canadian soldiers, five from the United Kingdom one from Australia, buried in other cemeteries, whose graves were destroyed by shell fire. Rue-Petillon Military Cemetery is irregularly arranged, because of the conditions under which it was made and the groups of concentrated burials, are among the original groups of graves. It covers area is 5,983 square metres and is enclosed by a low red brick wall.