GAVRELLE ARRAS Battleground Europe

Somewhat forgotten in the saga of the First World War, Gavrelle, a small North Eastern French village positioned at the eastern end of the Arras battlefield, had nevertheless, been the scene of some of the most vicious fighting of the Arras Offensive. Lost between the battlefields of Ypres and Passchendaele to the north and the Somme to the south, and overshadowed by Vimy Ridge a few kilometres to the north, the village is rarely visited by the thousands of pilgrims who flock each year to the Western Front even though many hundreds of soldiers, airmen, civilians, and especially Royal Marines and sailors of the 63RD [Royal Naval] Division had lost their lives there.