London Cemetery Neuville-Vitasse

Neuville-Vitasse was attacked by the 56th (London) Division on 7 April 1917 and captured by the same Division on 9 April. The village was almost entirely lost at the end of March 1918 but regained at the end of the following August. It was later "adopted" by the Metropolitan Borough of Paddington. The London Cemetery was made by the 56th Division in April 1917 and greatly extended after the Armistice when graves were brought in from other burial grounds and from the battlefields between Arras, Vis-en-Artois and Croisilles.

London Cemetery contains 747 burials and commemorations of the First World War. 318 of the burials are unidentified and on a screen wall are panels bearing the names of casualties buried in the following four cemeteries, whose graves were destroyed by shell fire:- WANCOURT ROAD CEMETERY No.2, just East of NEUVILLE-VITASSE; NEUVILLE0-VITASSE MILL CEMETERY, close to a German strong point on the road to Mercatel; BEAURAINS ROAD CEMETERY No.2, just North-West of NEUVILLE-VITASSE; BEAURAINS GERMAN CEMETERY; and ERCHIN GERMAN CEMETERY (Nord).

The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

The pictures shown here were taken on 16 July 2024 using a Sony A7R IV camera body and Sony FE16-35mm GM and Laowa 10mm F2.8 Zero-D FF lenses.

The music is Second Dirge Anthem (Thou Knowest Lord the Secrets of our Hearts) by Thomas Morley as performed by Voces8.

The trench map is courtesy of the National Library of Scotland.

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