Vis-En-Artois Memorial

• Country France
• Total identified casualties 9824 Find these casualties
• Region Pas de Calais
• Identified casualties from First World War
• GPS Coordinates Latitude: 50.2469, Longitude: 2.95038

Location information

Vis-en-Artois and Haucourt are villages on the straight main road from Arras to Cambrai about 10 kilometres south-east of Arras. The Memorial is the back drop to the Vis-en-Artois British Cemetery, which is west of Haucourt on the north side of the main road.

Visiting information

PARKING

There is parking in the layby area in front of the cemetery, where there is space for approximately six vehicles.

The layby is sloped and has a loose gravel surface.

ACCESS, MAIN ENTRANCE AND LAYOUT

The cemetery is laid out in a rectangular shape with the memorial located at the rear of the cemetery.

There are three steps on the right-hand side of the main entrance and six on the left-hand side. All steps lead up to the cemetery and require passing though stone bollards (approximately 500mm between each bollard) and lead to a raised stone platform. Further steps (2 to 4) lead to either the cemetery, Shelter Buildings or the Cross of Sacrifice, located on the central platform.

The two Shelter Buildings have seating areas inside, with the Register Box for the cemetery located in the left shelter. The raised platforms are up to 1 m above ground level.

All internal paths are flat and grass, with the ground sloping downwards towards the rear of the cemetery.

A Stone of Remembrance is located centrally at the rear of the cemetery on a raised platform in front of the memorial. The edge of the Stone of Remembrance structure is approximately 1 m above the ground level.

The Vis-en-Artois Memorial is a large, stone monument with engraved stone panels.

Access from the cemetery to the memorial is by climbing stone steps from two points which lead up to the memorial from the cemetery. There are additional steps leading up into either side of the Memorial.

The Register Box for the Memorial is located in the left-side shelter building of the Memorial.

An additional stone bench located in the left-side wall, close to the Memorial.

ALTERNATIVE ACCESS

At the main entrance and marked with a signpost, is the route to an alternative access entrance.

The route is along a firm, grass path which follows the boundary wall along the right-hand side of the cemetery.

At the end of the path is a metal gate approximately 1.5 m wide that opens into the cemetery.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Vis-En-Artois Memorial and Cemetery are permanently open.

History information

This Memorial bears the names of over 9,000 men who fell in the period from 8 August 1918 to the date of the Armistice in the Advance to Victory in Picardy and Artois, between the Somme and Loos, and who have no known grave. They belonged to the forces of Great Britain and Ireland and South Africa; the Canadian, Australian and New Zealand forces being commemorated on other memorials to the missing.

The Memorial consists of a screen wall in three parts. The middle part of the screen wall is concave and carries stone panels on which names are carved. It is 26 feet high flanked by pylons 70 feet high. The Stone of Remembrance stands exactly between the pylons and behind it, in the middle of the screen, is a group in relief representing St George and the Dragon. The flanking parts of the screen wall are also curved and carry stone panels carved with names. Each of them forms the back of a roofed colonnade; and at the far end of each is a small building.

The memorial was designed by J.R. Truelove, with sculpture by Ernest Gillick. It was unveiled by the Rt. Hon. Thomas Shaw on 4 August 1930.