Locations 6 and 7 – La Targette Memorial, Museum and French National Cemetery

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Directions – Continue south on the D937 towards Arras. Within minutes you’ll reach the La Targette crossroads with its memorial on the left and the La Targette Museum on the right. Park in the road to the left but, again, be very careful when crossing the road! When you have finished in the museum, drive a few hundred yards further on the D937 and turn right at the café - the French National Cemetery can be seen ahead of you.

The memorial at La Targette. Photo: Mark Sluman. Click on image for full size (1,044 KB).

The French National Cemetery at La Targette. Photo: Mark Sluman. Click on image for full size (583 KB).

Historical Notes – The French XX Corps took the village of La Targette and the adjoining village of Neuville-St-Vaast during the Second Battle of Artois in May 1915 after five days of heavy fighting. The Germans had constructed dugouts and trenches which connected the cellars of the houses in such a way that eventually the French artillery had to target each house one by one. Such was the German hold on Neuville-St-Vaast that even after the centre of the village was captured some German units managed to hold on in the north of the village into June.

The memorial was unveiled on 20th October 1932 and depicts a huge hand and wrist holding aloft the flame of life.

Further down the D937, the huge French National Cemetery contains over 12,000 graves comprising many of the isolated burials from the Arras region. It includes 3,882 unknowns in three ossuaries and over 850 French and Belgian soldiers from the Second World War. The smaller CWGC Cemetery next door was used from April 1917 to September 1918 – the majority of the burials being Canadians and Royal Artillery.