World War I War Memorials in France
Canadian National Vimy Memorial
The Canadian National Vimy Memorial is a war memorial site in France dedicated to the memory of Canadian Expeditionary Force members killed during the First World War. It also serves as the place of commemoration for Canadian soldiers of the First World War killed or presumed dead in France who have no known grave. The monument is the centrepiece of a 100-hectare (250-acre) preserved battlefield park that encompasses a po ...
Founded: 1936 |
Location:
Vimy, France
Thiepval Memorial
The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme is a war memorial to 72,337 missing British and South African servicemen who died in the Battles of the Somme of the First World War between 1915 and 1918, with no known grave. A visitors' centre opened in 2004. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, Thiepval has been described as the greatest executed British work of monumental architecture of the twentieth century. The Memorial ...
Founded: 1932 |
Location:
Thiepval, France
Notre Dame de Lorette
Notre Dame de Lorette, also known as Ablain St.-Nazaire French Military Cemetery, is the world"s largest French military cemetery. It is the name of a ridge, basilica, and French national cemetery northwest of Arras at the village of Ablain-Saint-Nazaire. The high point of the hump-backed ridge stands 165 metres high and - with Vimy Ridge - utterly dominates the otherwise flat Douai plain and the town of Arras. The ...
Founded: 1914 |
Location:
Ablain-Saint-Nazaire, France
Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial
The Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial is a memorial site in France dedicated to the commemoration of Dominion of Newfoundland forces members who were killed during World War I. The 74-acre (300,000 m2) preserved battlefield park encompasses the grounds over which the Newfoundland Regiment made their unsuccessful attack on 1 July 1916 during the first day of the Battle of the Somme. The Battle of the Somme was the regi ...
Founded: 1925 |
Location:
Beaumont-Hamel, France
Pozières Memorial
The Pozières Memorial is a World War I memorial, located near the commune of Pozières, and unveiled in August 1930. It lists the names of 14,657 British and South African soldiers of the Fifth and Fourth Armies with no known grave who were killed between 21 March 1918 and 7 August 1918, during the German advance known as the Spring Offensive, and the period of Allied consolidation and recovery that followed. The final d ...
Founded: 1930 |
Location:
Pozières, France
Faubourg d'Amiens Cemetery
The French handed over Arras to Commonwealth forces in the spring of 1916 during the World War I and the system of tunnels upon which the town is built were used and developed in preparation for the major offensive planned for April 1917. The Commonwealth section of the Faubourg d"Amiens Cemetery was begun in March 1916, behind the French military cemetery established earlier. It continued to be used by field ambulan ...
Founded: 1916 |
Location:
Arras, France
Australian National Memorial
The Australian National Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux is the main memorial to Australian military personnel killed on the Western Front during World War I. It is located on the Route Villiers-Bretonneux (D 23), between the towns of Fouilloy and Villers-Bretonneux. The memorial lists 10,773 names of soldiers of the Australian Imperial Force with no known grave who were killed between 1916, when Australian forces arrived i ...
Founded: 1938 |
Location:
Villers-Bretonneux, France
Delville Wood South African National Memorial
The Delville Wood South African National Memorial is a World War I memorial, located in Delville Wood, near the commune of Longueval. It is opposite the Delville Wood Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery, on the other side of the Longueval–Ginchy road. The memorial was unveiled on 10 October 1926. It was designed by Sir Herbert Baker, assistant architect was Arthur James Scott Hutton, with a sculpture by Alfred ...
Founded: 1926 |
Location:
Longueval, France
Wellington Quarry
20 metres below the pavements of Arras is the Wellington Quarry, a site immersed in memory and emotion. In November 1916, the British started preparing for the 1917 spring offensive. Their stroke of genius: to have the New Zealand tunnellers connect up the town’s chalk extraction tunnels to create a real network of underground barracks large enough to accommodate up to 24,000 soldiers. After a 20-metre descent in a glas ...
Founded: 1916 |
Location:
Arras, France
Soissons Memorial
The Soissons Memorial is a World War I memorial located in the town of Soissons. The memorial lists 3,887 names of British soldiers with no known grave who were killed in the area from May to August 1918 during the German spring offensive. The battles fought by those commemorated here include the Third Battle of the Aisne and the Second Battle of the Marne. This is a free-standing memorial (one without an associated ceme ...
Founded: 1928 |
Location:
Soissons, France
Neuve-Chapelle Indian Memorial
The Neuve-Chapelle Indian Memorial is a World War I memorial in France, located on the outskirts of the commune of Neuve-Chapelle, in the département of Pas-de-Calais. The memorial commemorates some 4,742 Indian soldiers with no known grave, who fell in battle while fighting for the British Indian Army in the First World War. The location of the memorial was chosen because of the participation by Indian tro ...
Founded: 1927 |
Location:
Neuve-Chapelle, France
Somme American Cemetery and Memorial
The 14.3-acre (58,000 m2) Somme American Cemetery and Memorial is a war cemetery established in October 1918 on ground which saw heavy fighting just before and during the Battle of St Quentin Canal. It contains the graves of 1,844 of the United States" military dead from World War I. Most lost their lives in the assault on the Hindenburg Line while serving in American II Corps attached to the British Fourth Army. Oth ...
Founded: 1918 |
Location:
Bony, France
Courcelette Memorial
The Courcelette Memorial is a Canadian war memorial that commemorates the actions of the Canadian Corps in the final two and a half months of the infamous four-and-a-half-month-long Somme Offensive of the First World War. The Canadians participated at the Somme from early September to the British offensives end in mid-November 1916, engaging in several of the battles-within-the-battle of the Somme, including acti ...
Founded: 1916 |
Location:
Courcelette, France
Oise-Aisne American Cemetery and Memorial
The Oise-Aisne American Cemetery and Memorial is an American military cemetery in northern France. Plots A through D contains the graves of 6,012 American soldiers who died while fighting in this vicinity during World War I, 597 of which were not identified, as well as a monument for 241 Americans who were missing in action during battles in the same area and whose remains were never recovered. A graveyard for former s ...
Founded: 1918 |
Location:
Fère-en-Tardenois, France