additional description

Houdrigny ii a little village located West from Virton. The fighters of the 8th French division, especially those of the 117th IR passed by this locality during the terrible battles on the Bellvue plateau. This modest cemetery, the smallest military cemetery in Gaume, is located in the middle of the fields and meadows, in a wonderful nature. You can reach it from Virton by following the Rue de Rosière by taking a little path through this plateau of Behau. There are 323 graves, rearly all of soldiers from the 117th IR. Many of them have plates with the mention "unknown soldier dead for France" The best access for reaching these graves is the road that starts from the heart of the village of Houdrigny, read the plate "CIMETIERE MILITAIRE" explanation of these plates "UNKNOWN SOLDIER DEAD FOR FRANCE" After the battle sof August 1914, the bodies of the soldier who died on the plateau were burried by men of Houdrigny. Women had made some bags in which clocks, money, and personal souvenirs of the soldiers were put. These bags were put at the town hall in order to send them back to the faimiles after the war. The mistake was that the identificating plates were also put in the bags. Towards 1917, when the bodies got exhumed, it was no more possible to identify them. They just still had their vest, of the 117th regiment. But all the names are written on the monument in the back of the cemetery.

more about this