Guards' Grave

[1] In 1914, the British Expeditionary Force fought a rearguard action here during the Retreat from Mons.

On 1 September, the British 4th (Guards) Brigade who were covering the withdrawal of 2nd Division, came into contact with the leading units of the German III Corps on the edge of woodland near Villers-Cotterêts.

who was working for the Missing and Wounded Department of the Red Cross (and whose nephew Lieut.

It is thought that had been made by wounded British prisoners of war, with the help of local people.

[3] Rudyard Kipling, who wrote the Irish Guards regimental biography of the First World War said it was "perhaps the most beautiful of all resting-places in France".