Lichfield Crater Cemetery

Lichfield Crater was one of two mine craters (the other being Zivy Crater) which were used by the Canadian Corps Burial Officer in 1917 for the burial of bodies found on the Vimy battlefield. The numerous groups of graves made about this time by the Canadians were not named as a rule, but serially lettered and numbered; the original name for Lichfield Crater was CB 2 A. The crater is essentially a mass grave and contains 57 First World War burials, 15 of them unidentified. All of the men buried here died on 9 or 10 April 1917 with one exception, a soldier who died in April 1916, whose grave was found on the edge of the crater after the Armistice and is the only one marked by a headstone.

The names of the rest of those buried in the crater are inscribed on panels fixed to the boundary wall. The cemetery was designed by W H Cowlishaw.

There are 40 Canadians buried here from the Battle of Vimy Ridge, including one recipient of the Victoria Cross.

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Date modified:: 2024-02-06