Lives of the First World War

Laventie Military Cemetery, La Gorgue, Nord, France. The men of the 61st (2nd South Midland) Division of the British Army began burying their fallen comrades at this site in the latter half of June 1916. Over 80 members of the Division who were killed or mortally wounded during the Battle of Fromelles (July 19 1916) were laid to rest here, and the cemetery was used by British units holding this part of the line throughout 1916 and ’17. From June 1917 until April of the following year, the cemetery was also used by the Portuguese Corps. After the Armistice, the remains of over 170 Portuguese soldiers were removed and re-interred at the Portuguese National Cemetery at Richebourg L’Avoué. During the 1920s, the graves of British, Indian, and Chinese servicemen killed at different stages during the war were brought here from the surrounding battlefields. There are now almost 550 casualties of the First World War buried or commemorated at Laventie Military Cemetery.

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