Vailly British Cemetery

Vailly-sur-Aisne village was the point at which the 3rd Division crossed the river on 12 September 1914 in the advance from the Marne. It fell to the Germans in 1915. It was retaken by the French on 18 April 1917, lost again in June 1918 and finally captured by the French on 15 September 1918. Vailly British Cemetery was made after the Armistice when graves were brought in from other burial grounds and from the battlefields. The majority of those buried here died in September 1914, but many graves of 1918 are in Plot I, Row AA, Plot II, Rows AA, G and H, and Plots III and IV. The following were among the burial grounds from which graves were taken to Vaillly British Cemetery:- AIZY FRENCH MILITARY CEMETERY, North-East of the village, where 17 British soldiers were buried. BAZOCHES COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION (Aisne), where 172 French soldiers and six British (of 1914) were buried. BRAINE FRENCH MILITARY CEMETERY (not the present French National Cemetery), in which the bodies of ten British soldiers and an unknown Canadian airman were reburied by the French. BRENELLE CHURCHYARD FRENCH EXTENSION, which contained about 500 graves. Here were buried nine men of the R.G.A., killed in September 1914, by the bursting of a gun, and one Lancer who fell in the same month. BUCY-LE-LONG CHURCHYARD, in which one British and a number of French soldiers were buried in 1918. CHATEAU THIERRY COMMUNAL CEMETERY, where one British soldier from 1914 was concentrated in 1936. Two other British soldiers were moved from this cemetery to Montreuil-Aux-Lions British Cemetery, in June 1934. CHAVONNE COMMUNAL CEMETERY, where seven British soldiers (five 2nd Coldstream Guards, one Dragoon Guard and one Queen's Bay) were buried in 1914. COURCHAMPS CHURCHYARD, in which eight British soldiers were buried in the North-West corner of the churchyard. Two of the soldiers were unidentified. COURCELLES COMMUNAL CEMETERY, where two British soldiers were buried, one of which was unidentified. COURCELLES COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION (Aisne), where 177 French soldiers, 104 German, 17 Italian and (in July 1918) three British were buried. GLENNES CHURCHYARD EXTENSION, where three British soldiers were buried by the Germans in May 1918, and eight (of 1914) reburied by the French; it also contained 803 French and 400 German graves. LA COUR-DE-SOUPIR FARM, SOUPIR, where 66 British soldiers (mainly 3rd Coldstream, 2nd Connaught Rangers and 2nd O.B.L.I.) were buried in two plots in September and October 1914. LAFFAUX GERMAN CEMETERY (on the main road 800 meters South-West of the Mill), where one British soldier was buried in July 1918. LA NOUE GERMAN CEMETERY, CHAVONNE, where two Scottish soldiers were buried in July 1918. MONT-NOTRE DAME MILITARY CEMETERY (near the road to Quincy), where 46 British soldiers and two members of the Friends' Ambulance Unit were buried in 1918. PAARS CHURCHYARD, where one British soldier was buried. SOUCY COMMUNAL CEMETERY, South of the village, where one British soldier was buried in the South-West corner. VASSENY FRENCH MILITARY CEMETERY (near the road to Couvrelles), where one British soldier was buried in 1918. VIEIL-ARCY BRITISH CEMETERY, near the Ferme Chauveau, where 27 British soldiers were buried in September and October 1914. Vailly British Cemetery contains 675 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 306 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 40 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of three soldiers know to have been buried in other cemeteries whose graves could not be found.