Esnes Communal Cemetery

 

Location Information

Esnes is a village in the Department of the Nord, 8 kilometres south-east of Cambrai. The Cemetery is north-east of the village on the road to Longsart, connecting D118.

 

Visiting Information

Wheelchair access to this cemetery is possible with some difficulty. For further information regarding wheelchair access, please contact Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Enquiries Section, on 01628 507200.

 

Historical Information

Esnes witnessed fighting in the Battle of Le Cateau (26 August 1914), and it was captured by the New Zealand Division on the 8 October 1918.

In the corner of the Communal Cemetery, are five graves; one (marked also by a French memorial) contains the bodies of soldiers of the 4th Division who fell in August, 1914, and in the others are buried soldiers who died later in the War.

There are now over 100, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, over half are unidentified and a special memorial records the name of a soldier who fell in the Battle of Le Cateau and is buried in the cemetery, but whose grave cannot now be traced.

The British graves cover an area of 214 square metres.