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Cemetery:
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CAMBRAI
EAST MILITARY CEMETERY, Nord, France |
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Grave
Reference/ |
V. B.
5. |
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Location:
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Cambrai is a town about 32 kilometres south-east of
Arras on the main straight road to Le Cateau. From the Cambrai inner ring
road take the D942, Solesmes road, for approximately 1.5 kilometres to find
the Cemetery on the right hand side of the road. |
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Historical
Information: |
Cambrai
was occupied by German forces on the 26th August 1914, and it remained in
German hands until the 9th October 1918. The Battle of Cambrai, 1917 (20th
November to 3rd December), left the British line still eight kilometres from
the city on the South-West side, and the German offensive of March 1918,
drove it far to the West; but the Battle of Cambrai, 1918, the last of the
Battles of the Hindenburg Line, delivered the city into British hands. It was
very severely damaged, and the main square was still burning two days after
the fight. In October and November four Casualty Clearing Stations were
posted at Cambrai. The city was later "adopted" by the County
Borough of Birkenhead. Cambrai East Military Cemetery was made by the Germans
during their occupation (in addition to their plots in the Porte-de-Paris
Cemetery), and laid out with the greatest care, and monuments were erected in
it to the French, British, and German dead; and on the 11th August 1918, as
an inscription in the cemetery records, the Bavarian Commandant handed over
to the city the care and maintenance of the cemetery. The graves have now
been regrouped. The British Plots are numbered I to VI, in the South-East
corner, and VII, near the North side, on the left of the entrance. Plots I to
IV were made by British troops after the capture of Cambrai; V and VI contain
69 graves brought from the battlefields East and South of the city; and VII
contains the graves of British prisoners. There are now over 500, 1914-18 war
casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, nearly 30 are unidentified
and special memorials are erected to seven soldiers from the United Kingdom,
known to be buried among them. Another special memorial records the name of a
soldier from the United Kingdom, buried by the enemy in Cauroir Communal
Cemetery, whose grave could not be found. The cemetery covers an area of
about 20,066 square metres, of which 1,656 square metres are occupied by the
British plots. |
Notes from Ken Trotter about his father’s death and the letter from the Army.
The original is written in freehand on quite flimsy
lined paper.
Dear Mrs. Trotter,
It is my sad duty to write to you about your husband Private Trotter.
On the night of Oct 2nd,your husband went forward with his
officer and team to occupy a certain position. We had a report in the next day
saying that they had been surrounded by the enemy.
Attempts were made to rescue the party and it was not until
a few days after that we were able to reach them and there we found the body of
your husband.
I can assure you that death must have been instantaneous in
his case and his body was removed to a suitable burial place. I send you the
sympathy of his comrades and Officers of his company and we feel proud that he
and the men with him stuck to their guns as they did. It will be some comfort
to you to know that your husband died at his post doing his duty.
Yours faithfully
" Signature not clear"
Note.
And for that my mother was 'awarded' a princely sum of
approx' 25 shillings a week to bring up a family of three growing lads. Which
ceased on reaching the age of 14 .