Arras Road Cemetery

Roclincourt was just within the British lines before the Battles of Arras, 1917; the 51^st (Highland) and 34^th Divisions advanced from the village on April 9, 1917, and the 1^st Canadian Division attacked on their left, across the Lens road. Arras Road Cemetery was begun by the 2^nd Canadian Infantry Brigade soon after April 9, 1917, and until the Armistice it contained only the graves (now at the back of the cemetery) of 71 officers and men of the 7^th Canadian Infantry Battalion (British Columbia Regiment) who fell in April, May and June, 1917; but in 1926-29, it was enlarged by the addition of 993 graves from a wide area, mainly North and East of Arras.

There are now over 1,000, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. The cemetery covers an area of 4,084 square metres. It is enclosed on three sides by a stone rubble wall, and against the road by a retaining wall. Old dug-outs exist under the North-East corner and on the South-West boundary.

There are 18 Canadians buried here from the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

Directions

Roclincourt is a village a little east of the road from Arras to Lens and Lille. Arras Road Cemetery is on the west side of the main N17 road from Arras to Lens, about 6 Kms north of Arras, and north of the village of Ecuries. GPS Co-ordinates: Latitude 50.341297, Longitude: 2.781467.

Date modified:: 2024-01-17