Historical Information (Source: CWGC)

From January 1915 to October 1917, British and Indian Casualty Clearing Stations were posted at St. Venant. In April 1918, during the Battles of the Lys, the Germans advanced half-way between Merville and St. Venant, but the latter town remained in British hands. On the West side of St. Venant Communal Cemetery is the Indian Plot (I), used from January to July 1915; behind that is a French Military Plot; and behind the French Plot is Plot II, used from August 1915 to December 1916. Two British graves are in a civilian plot. During the 1939-45 War, St. Venant was the centre of heavy fighting when delaying actions covered the withdrawal of the British Expeditionary Force to the coast. In fact British troops continued fighting at St. Venant after the evacuation of Dunkirk, and 90 or more were buried in a mass grave in a field at St. Venant. The 1939-45 burials are in Plots III and IV.

There are 253 Commonwealth burials of the 1914-18 war, 10 of which are unidentified, and 177 of the 1939-1945 war, 40 of which are unidentified, in this site. The 1939-45 total includes the 90 originally buried in a mass grave and an officer who is commemorated by a special memorial inscribed "Believed to be".