This article lists the memorials and cemeteries around the area of the river Somme.
Memorial to the Liverpool and Manchester Pals at Montauban Memorial to the Liverpool and Manchester Pals at MontaubanMontauban is a village about 10 kilometres east of Albert. It lay close behind the German front-line in 1916 and was strongly fortified. On 1 July 1916, the first day on the Battle of the Somme, the village was seized by the British 30th Division in one of the few successful British advances of the day and in the village there is a memorial to the Liverpool and Manchester 'Pals', who, as part of the 30th Division, were the first to reach the village. Montauban was to remain free until the end of March 1918, when it was retaken by the Germans in their "Spring Offensive", to be liberated again in August 1918. This memorial includes the inscriptionThis is written in English and French. The memorial stone was unveiled by Major General Peter Davies, Colonel of the King's Regiment, on 1 July 1994. On one face the memorial carries the Liverpool Service Battalions' cap badge and on the other that of the Manchester Battalions.Memorial to the Liverpool and Manchester Pals at Montauban World War One Website. Retrieved 11 January 2013Memorial to the Liverpool and Manchester Pals at Montauban Sacred Ground. Retrieved 11 January 2013
7th Yorkshire Regiment Memorial at Fricourt 7th Yorkshire Regiment Memorial at FricourtFile WO 32/5873 held at The National Archives at Kew covers the 7th Yorkshire Regiment memorial at Fricourt. The memorial stands in the grounds of the cemetery at Bray Road in Fricourt and remembers those of the 7th Battalion, Alexandra Princess of Wales Own Yorkshire Regiment who fell in the Fricourt area on 1 July 1916. 7th Yorkshire Regiment Memorial at Fricourt www.webmatters.net. Retrieved 17 January 2013
Statue of Marshal Foch at Bouchavesnes Statue of Marshal Foch at BouchavesnesThe village of Bouchavesnes, with its neighbour Rancourt, was of great strategic importance given their position on the main Baupaume to Péronne road. On 12 September 1916, the French Chasseurs Regiment, led by the former Minister of War Messimy, charged and took the German position with fixed bayonets. Their advance was checked the next day following an intense German Artillery bombardment but the French held this line until the end of the Battle of the Somme. They had in fact advanced almost 10 kilometres from their start position at Maricourt on 1 July 1916. It was the Australians who finally liberated the village on 4 September 1918.
There is a statue of Foch in the village. Firmin-Marcelin Michelet was the sculptor.
The French Army had done well in their sector and after the opening day they soon took Frise, Hérbecourt and Bernafay Wood as well as Assevillers. The 1st Colonial Corps took Flaucourt on 19 July and soon threatened Péronne. Biaches was taken then Barleux and the French Foreign Legion took Belloy-en-Santerre. Soon the plateau of Flaucourt had been conquered but none of these villages were taken without intense fighting and great loss of life. Bianchee, for example, was to change hands several times before being finally taken by the French on 19 July 1916. Once within sight of Péronne however, the French had to hold back, conscious that their left flank was exposed given the lack of progress on the British side. Rather than go for Péronne and head further northwards they moved in the direction of Chaulnes. Statue of Marshal Foch at Bouchavesnes Images de Picardie. Retrieved 17 January 2013
Memorial to 18th Division at Thiepval Memorial to 18th Division at ThiepvalThe British 18th Division had three memorials established in their honour. One is at "Clapham Junction" on the Menin Road in the Ypres Salient and the others are at Trônes Wood and Thiepval in the Somme. The memorial at Thiepval (which records the 18th Division's role in the Somme Offensive) and is shown here, is sited behind Thiepval's "Memorial to the Missing" monument and a short distance from the Ulster Tower and both Mill Road and Connaught cemeteries. It is a copy of the Trônes Wood memorial and bears the inscription . Memorial to 18th Division at Thiepval www.firstworldwar.com. Retrieved 16 January 2013
Memorial to the 46th Division at Bellenglise Memorial to the 46th Division at BellengliseFile WO 32/5858 held at The National Archives in Kew has information on this memorial to the 46th North Midland Division at Bellenglise which is dedicated to the men who fell on 29 September 1918, when the division attacked the canal between Riquerval Bridge and Bellenglise and broke through the Hindenburg Line taking over 4,000 prisoners and 70 guns.
The file opens on 25 February 1919 when the request to erect the memorial was made. The memorial lies north of St. Quentin near the canal. The land was in fact given free of charge by the owner Monsieur de Chauvenet. The file closes on 5 June 1923.
In the file there is a black-and-white photograph of the memorial and the inscription in English and French. We note that the memorial was sculpted by Harry Neme and Sons of Exeter. The unveiling took place on 4 October 1922. There are further memorials to the 46th Division at Vermelles, Gommecourt Wood and at the site of the Hohenzollern Redoubt.Memorial to the 46th Division at Bellenglise www.ww1cemeteries.com Retrieved 16 January 2013
Memorial at Flers Memorial at FlersFlers is the site of the memorial to the British 41st Division, the memorial featuring a sculpture of a fully equipped British infantry soldier, who faces towards the direction from which the 41st Division attacked.
This memorial was the work of the British sculptor Albert Toft. On the front of the memorial is inscribed The units comprising the division are then listed below; the 41st Division was a New Army Division and had only arrived in France some four months before their attack at Flers. There are no inscriptions on the sides or back of the memorial plinth, just the sculptor's name. The sculpture of the soldier replicates that which Toft executed for the war memorial at Holborn in London (Memorial to the Royal Fusiliers City of London Regiment). Flers www.firstworldwar.com. Retrieved 16 January 2013
The New Zealand Memorial at Longueval The New Zealand Memorial at LonguevalSited near the South African Memorial at Delville Wood, the New Zealand Memorial at Longueval commemorates the area from which the New Zealand Division started their attack during the Battle of Flers-Courcelette on 15 September 1916, an occasion that saw the first use of tanks in warfare. Along with the British 14th and 41st Divisions, the New Zealanders entered the reclaimed village of Flers in triumph, preceded by one of the tanks used in the battle. The memorial itself was unveiled in October 1922. The Memorial takes the form of a column standing on a projecting base in which are set four panels. On the front of the column itself are engraved the words and the same is engraved in French at the back of the column. On the front panel is an exquisite sculptured design of a Maori carving surrounding the words "New Zealand". On the back panel are engraved the words "New Zealand Division, Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury, Otago". On one side panel is engraved the following sentenceand these words are reproduced in French on the other side panel.New Zealand Memorial at Longueval www.firstworldwar.com. Retrieved 16 January 2013
At the base of the monument is engraved the phrase
File WO 32/5867 held at the National Archives in Kew gives us more background information on this memorial. We learn that the land on which this memorial stands was purchased from Vicomte Danger.
New Zealand Memorial to the Missing at Caterpillar Valley Cemetery Caterpillar Valley (New Zealand) MemorialThis memorial is situated on a terrace in the Caterpillar Valley Cemetery, which lies a short distance west of Longueval, on the south side of the road to Contalmaison. Caterpillar Valley was the name given by the army to the long valley which rises eastwards, past "Caterpillar Wood", to the high ground at Guillemont. The ground was captured, after very fierce fighting, in the latter part of July 1916. It was lost in the German advance of March 1918 and recovered by the 38th (Welsh) Division on 28 August 1918, when a little cemetery was made (now Plot 1 of this cemetery) containing 25 graves of the 38th Division and the 6th Dragoon Guards. After the Armistice, this cemetery was hugely increased when the graves of more than 5,500 officers and men were brought in from other small cemeteries, and the battlefields of the Somme. The great majority of these soldiers died in the autumn of 1916 and almost all the rest in August or September 1918. The cemetery now contains 5,569 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 3,796 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 32 casualties known or believed to be buried among them, and to three buried in McCormick's Post Cemetery whose graves were destroyed by shell fire. On 6 November 2004, the remains of an unidentified New Zealand soldier were entrusted to New Zealand at a ceremony held at the Longueval Memorial, France. The remains had been exhumed by staff of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission from Caterpillar Valley Cemetery, Longueval, France, Plot 14, Row A, Grave 27 and were later laid to rest within the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, at the National War Memorial, Wellington, New Zealand.
On the east side of the cemetery is the Caterpillar Valley (New Zealand) Memorial commemorating more than 1,200 officers and men of the New Zealand Division who died in the Battles of the Somme in 1916, and whose graves are not known.
Both cemetery and memorial were designed by Sir Herbert Baker. New Zealand Memorial to the Missing at Caterpillar Valley Cemetery Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 16 January 2013
Memorial to the 38th (Welsh) Division at Mametz Wood Mametz Wood was to be the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting of the opening days of the Battle of the Somme as taking the wood involved advancing uphill and over open ground whilst facing heavy machine gun fire and artillery. By 12 July the woods had been cleared of Germans but at a heavy cost with over 4,000 Welsh deaths and casualties. The Mametz memorial takes the form of a Welsh dragon challenging the wood to its fore. At one side of the base is carved the regimental cap badge of the South Wales Borderers. The sculptural work was by David Petersen.
The 38th (Welsh) Division was very much the result of personal initiatives by Lloyd George and was the Welsh equivalent of the "Pals" battalions from the North of England. So awful was the fighting here that a Welsh soldier, Wyn Griffith, described it as "the horror of our way of life and death and of our crucifixion of youth".
38th Division Memorial Mametz Wood Australian Government Website. Retrieved 11 January 201338th Division History www.1914–1918. net. Retrieved 11 January 2013
Joint Memorial to the Black Watch and Cameron Highlanders Joint Memorial to the Black Watch and Cameron HighlandersThis memorial at High Wood commemorates the action of the 1st Cameronians and 1st Black Watch there in the fighting in September 1916. File WO 32/5893 at the National Archives in Kew gives us some background information on the memorial. Originally these two units had erected a wooden cross on the spot in November 1916 but this was replaced in 1924 by the first of the permanent memorials at the edge of High Wood. This memorial can be seen today half-way along the south-eastern edge of the wood. We learn from the file that the spot chosen for the memorial was the position where the right of the 1st Black Watch joined the left of the 1st Cameronians when they both attacked High Wood on 3 September 1916Joint Memorial to the Black Watch and Cameron Highlanders WWI Battlefields. Retrieved 11 January 2013.