MONS COMMUNAL CEMETERY

UK - 329
CANADA - 57
AUST - 4
NZ - 2
SA - 1
UNIDENTIFIED - 11

HISTORY

Mons (in Flemish, 'Bergen') is the capital of the Province of Hainaut, with a railway station on the line from Valenciennes to Charleroi and Namur, and also to Lille. The Battle of Mons (23rd August 1914) was fought along of the Mons-Conde Canal, and the town was occupied by the Canadian Corps on the 11th November 1918. There is a Canadian Memorial in the porch of the Town Hall; and the Royal Irish Regiment and the 5th (Royal Irish) Lancers have erected memorials to recall their connection with the battlefield of Mons. The Communal Cemetery was extended by the Germans on its North side; and in this extension, now part of the town cemetery, were buried 74 Russian soldiers, 24 French, 14 Italian, 9 Romanian and 2 Belgian soldiers, as well as Germans and British. The 4th Canadian and 1st Casualty Clearing Stations, besides Field Ambulances, were posted in the town after the Armistice, and they opened a new cemetery (Mons British Cemetery) across the road from the East gate of the Communal Cemetery; but the graves made there were later removed to the Communal Cemetery. The Italian graves were removed to Liege Communal Cemetery, and fourteen of the French graves have been moved. The Communal Cemetery now contains the graves of 329 soldiers, sailors (of the 63rd Division) and airmen from the United Kingdom, and 57 Canadian soldiers, 4 Australian, 2 New Zealand and one South African. French, Belgian, Romanian, Russian and German graves are mingled with the British. The unnamed British graves are 11 in number, and special memorials are erected to 3 soldiers from the United Kingdom known to be buried among them. There is one WW2 casualty buried in this cemetery.

LOCATION

Mons Communal Cemetery is located in the north east of the town of Mons, on the Chemin de la Procession a road leading from the N56 connecting Mons to Brussels. 600 metres after the N56 leaves the R50 ring road lies the Chemin de la Procession. The cemetery is located 1 km along the Chemin de la Procession on the left hand side of the road.