Chesterfield Sherwoods on the Somme
1st July - 18th November 1916
The Cemeteries in France and Flanders where men of the Sherwood Forester Regiment are buried
"The sun how it shines on the green fields of France
The warm wind blows gently, and the red poppies dance
And look how the sun shines from under the clouds
There's no gas, no barbed wire, there's no guns firing now
But here in this grave yard that's still No Man's Land
The countless white crosses in mute witness stand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man
And a whole generation who were butchered and damned."
[No Man's Land by Eric Bogle]
The Following extracts are taken from:-
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
For most of the War, Abbeville was the headquarters of the British Lines of Communication and three Hospitals were stationed here from 1915 to 1919. The first British burials in the communal cemetery took place from November 1914 to October 1915. Plots III., IV., V. and VI. are in the North corner next to the extension and include burials from October 1915 to September 1916.
The Memorial commemorates almost 35,000 casualties of the British, New Zealand and South African Forces who died between Spring 1916 and 7th August 1918, excluding casualties of the Battle of Cambrai in 1917, and who have no known grave.
Aveluy Communal Cemetery Extension
[Photograph courtesy of Davina Holmes]
Aveluy village was held by British forces from July 1915 to the 26th March 1918 and the Extension, originally begun by the French, was continued by British units and Field Ambulances from August 1915 to March 1917. There are now over 600, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site.
Bellacourt Military Cemetery was begun by French troops in October 1914 and carried on by the 46th (North Midland), 55th (West Lancashire), 58th (London), 49th (West Riding) and other Divisions.
The Cemetery was begun early in July 1916 and used until the following November by the troops taking part in the fighting on that front. It was not used again until after the Armistice when 784 graves were brought in from the battlefields and small cemeteries to the East. The majority of the officers and men thus reburied fell on the 1st July 1916. There are now just over 1,000 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, over half are unidentified and special memorials are erected to 24 soldiers from the United Kingdom known or believed to be buried among them. The 70th Infantry Brigade erected a wooden memorial in the cemetery to their dead of the 1st July 1916.
Boulogne was one of the three Base ports most extensively used by the British Armies on the Western Front throughout the 1914-18 War. It was closed and cleared on the 27th August 1914, in consequence of the retreat of the Allies; but it was opened again in October and from that month to the end of the war Boulogne and Wimereux formed one of the chief Hospital areas. The dead from the Hospitals at Boulogne itself were buried in the 'Cimetiere de L'Est', one of the Town Cemeteries. The British graves form a long, narrow strip along the right hand edge of the cemetery; they are arranged in seven plots, numbered I to IV and VII to IX. There are now nearly 6,000, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site.
CALAIS SOUTHERN CEMETERY, Pas de Calais
In April 1915, No 6 Base Supply Depot was started at Calais to help relieve the pressure on Boulogne and to provide a base nearer to the front than Le Havre or Rouen. The 30th, 35th and 38th General Hospitals, No 9 British Red Cross Hospital and No 10 Canadian Stationary Hospital were also stationed in the town.
A civilian cemetery.
CORBIE COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION
Corbie was about 20 kilometres behind the front when Commonwealth forces took over the line from Berles-au-Bois southward to the Somme in July 1915. The town immediately became a medical centre, with Nos 5 and 21 Casualty Clearing Stations based at La Neuville (the suburb across the Ancre) until October 1916 and April 1917 respectively. In November 1916 the front moved east, but the German advance in the Spring of 1918 came within 10 kilometres of the town and brought with it field ambulances of the 47th Division and the 12th Australian Field Ambulance. The communal cemetery was used for burials until May 1916, when the plot set aside was filled and the extension opened. The majority of the graves in the extension are of officers and men who died of wounds in the 1916 Battle of the Somme. The remainder relate to the fighting of 1918. The communal cemetery contains 249 First World War burials, the extension 918.
Dantzig Alley British Cemetery
Dantzig Alley British Cemetery was named from a German trench. Mametz was carried by the 7th Division on the 1st July 1916, after very hard fighting at Dantzig Alley and other points. The cemetery was begun later in the same month and was used by Field Ambulances and fighting units until the following November. The cemetery consisted, at the Armistice, of 183 graves, now in Plot I, but it was then very greatly increased by the concentration of graves (almost all of 1916) from certain smaller burial grounds and from the battlefields North and East of Mametz. There are now over 2,000, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site.
Daours Communal Cemetery Extension
The preparations for the Somme offensive of July 1916, involved a grouping of Casualty Clearing Stations (the 1st/1st South Midland, 21st, 34th, 45th and Lucknow, section "B") at Daours, and the Extension was opened on the South side of the Communal Cemetery. The burials of June-November 1916 are in Plots I and II and Row "A" of Plot III. There are now over 1,000, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site.
Dartmoor Cemetery, BECORDEL-BECOURT, Somme
Dartmoor Cemetery was begun (as Becordel-Becourt Military Cemetery) in August 1915 and was used by the Battalions holding that part of the line. In May 1916 its name was changed at the request of the 8th and 9th Battalions of the Devonshire Regiment. In September 1916 the XV Corps Main Dressing Station was established in the neighbourhood. In adjoining graves in Plot I, Row A, are buried a father and son, who served in the same Battery, and were killed in action on the same day. There are now over 750, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site.
Delville Wood Cemetery, LONGUEVAL
[Photograph courtesy of Davina Holmes]
The Bois Delville (or d'Elville) was a tract of woodland, nearly 1 kilometre square, the Western edge of which touched the village of Longueval in the Somme. The Cemetery was made after the Armistice, by the concentration of a few small cemeteries and of isolated graves (almost all of July, August and September, 1916) from the battlefields. There are now over 5,500 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site.
Dernancourt Communal Cemetery Extension
The Communal Cemetery was used for Commonwealth burials from September 1915 to August 1916 and again in the Retreat of March 1918. It contains the graves of soldiers from the United Kingdom and Australia, who were buried from Field Ambulances at Dernancourt. The XV Corps Main Dressing Station was formed at Dernancourt in August 1916 and in that month the Extension was opened. The 45th and 1st/1st South Midland Casualty Clearing Stations came in September 1916 and remained until March 1917. There are over 2,000, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site.
Etaples Military Cemetery, Pas de Calais
During the 1914-18 war, the neighbourhood of the Cemetery became the scene of immense concentrations of British reinforcement camps and of British hospitals, which included eleven General, one Stationary and four Red Cross Hospitals and a Convalescent Depot. There are now nearly 11,000, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site.
In December 1914, No. 1 General Hospital was established in the town and it remained there until December 1918.
Foncquevillers Military Cemetery
In 1915 and 1916 the Allied front line ran between Foncquevillers and Gommecourt. The cemetery was made by French troops and taken over by the British in the summer of 1915 and remained in use by units and Field Ambulances until March 1917, the burials in July 1916 (particularly in Plot I, Row L) being especially numerous. Seventy-four graves were brought in after the Armistice from the battlefields of 1916 and 1918 to the East of the village. There are now over 650, 1914-18 casualties commemorated in this site and of these, over 50 from the 1914-18 War are unidentified. Special memorials are erected to two soldiers from the United Kingdom known to be buried among them. The cemeteries included in this Part contain the graves of many officers and men of the Sherwood Foresters and the village of Foncquevillers was later "adopted" by the town of Derby.
Foncquevillers was in British hands in 1915 and 1916. On the 1st July 1916, Gommecourt Wood was attacked by the 46th (North Midland) Division and the Southern part of the village by the 56th (London) Division. Gommecourt Wood New Cemetery was made after the Armistice by the concentration of graves from certain smaller burial grounds and from the battlefields of July 1916. There are now nearly 750, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, nearly two-thirds are unidentified and special memorials are erected to ten soldiers from the United Kingdom, known or believed to be buried among them. The following were among the burial grounds from which British graves were brought to this cemetery:-
BASTION CEMETERY, FONCQUEVILLERS, in the old German line North of the Wood, where 55 men (nearly all unidentified) of the 46th Division were buried.
BRETENCOURT FRENCH MILITARY CEMETERY, on the West side of the bridge between Bretencourt and Blamont Mill in the commune of RIVIERE. Here were buried 38 soldiers from the United Kingdom
GOMMECOURT CHATEAU CEMETERY, at the North-East corner of the Chateau park was begun by the Germans. Here were buried 55 soldiers from New Zealand, who fell in July and August, 1918, and 14 from the United Kingdom.
GOMMECOURT WOOD CEMETERY No. 1, or THE SAP CEMETERY, FONCQUEVILLERS, between the old front lines, in which were buried 111 men of the 46th Division, almost all unidentified.
GOMMECOURT WOOD CEMETERY No. 4, or LITTLE Z CEMETERY (from a strong point on the old German front line),
FONCQUEVILLERS, which contained the graves of 22 men of the 46th Division and one other.
GOMMECOURT WOOD CEMETERY No. 5, on the North-West side of the Wood, containing the graves of 27 men of the 46th Division.
GOMMECOURT WOOD CEMETERY No. 6, close to No. 5, containing the graves of 40 men, almost all of the 46th Division.
GOMMECOURT WOOD CEMETERY No. 8, FONCQUEVILLERS, between the old front lines, containing the graves of 46 men of the 46th Division.
POINT 75 BRITISH CEMETERY, FONCQUEVILLERS, on the old German front line, containing the graves of 35 men of the 46th Division.
Gordon Dump Cemetery, OVILLERS-LA BOISSELLE
[Photograph courtesy of Kevin Dallyn]
On the 1st July 1916, Ovillers was attacked by the 8th Division and La Boisselle by the 34th; but the villages were not captured, although both Divisions gained ground. La Boisselle was taken by the 19th (Western) Division on the 3rd and 4th July. Ovillers was attacked again by the 12th (Eastern), 25th and 32nd Divisions, and on the 17th July, it was taken by the 48th (South Midland) Division. Plot I of the Cemetery was made by fighting units after the 10th July 1916 and closed in September. It contained the graves of 95 soldiers, mainly Australian. It was called variously Gordon (or Gordon's) Dump Cemetery or Sausage Valley Cemetery (from the name given to the broad, shallow valley that runs down from it to Becourt). The remainder of the cemetery was formed after the Armistice by the concentration of graves from the battlefields immediately surrounding the cemetery. The great majority of the soldiers thus reburied fell in July 1916. There are now over 1,500, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, over half are unidentified and special memorials are erected to 33 soldiers from the United Kingdom and one from Australia, known or believed to be buried among them.
GROVE TOWN CEMETERY, MEAULTE
In September 1916 the 34th and 2/2nd London Casualty Clearing Station were established at this point (called locally "la demie-lieue," and by the British Grove Town), to deal with casualties from the Somme battlefields. There are now over 1,000, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site.
GUARDS' CEMETERY, LESBOEUFS, Somme
GUILLEMONT ROAD CEMETERY, GUILLEMONT
Guillemont was an important point in the German defences in July 1916 and it was taken by the 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers on the 30th July, but the battalion was obliged to fall back; and it was again entered for a short time by the 55th (West Lancashire) Division on the 8th August. On the 18th August it was reached by the 2nd Division, and on the 3rd September (in the Battle of Guillemont) the village was captured and cleared by the 20th (Light) and part of the 16th (Irish) Divisions. The cemetery was begun by fighting units (mainly of the Guards Division) and Field Ambulances after the Battle of Guillemont and was closed in March 1917. It was greatly increased after the Armistice by the concentration of graves (almost all of July-September, 1916) from the battlefields immediately surrounding the village. There are now over 2,000, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, two-thirds are unidentified and a few others are identified as groups but not individually. Special memorials are erected to eight soldiers from the United Kingdom, known or believed to be buried among the unnamed graves.
HEILLY STATION CEMETERY, MERICOURT-L'ABBE
The 36th Casualty Clearing Station was at Heilly from the 1st April 1916, to April 1917. It was joined in May by the 38th Casualty Clearing Station and in July by the 2/2nd London. The cemetery was begun in May 1916 and was used by the three medical units until April 1917. There are now 3,000, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, a small number are unidentified and special memorials are erected to fifteen soldiers from the United Kingdom, whose graves could not be exactly located. The regimental badges, numbering 117, are carved on a cloister wall on the North side.
KNIGHTSBRIDGE CEMETERY, MESNIL-MARTINSART
The Cemetery, which is named from a communication trench, was begun at the outset of the Battles of the Somme, 1916. It was used by units fighting on that front until the German retreat in February 1917. After the Armistice, graves in Rows G, H, J were added by the concentration of bodies from isolated positions on the battlefields of 1916 and 1918 round Mesnil.
LA NEUVILLE BRITISH CEMETERY, CORBIE, Somme
In April 1916, No. 21 Casualty Clearing Station came to La Neuville, to remain there throughout the Battles of the Somme, and the British Cemetery was opened for it early in July 1916. Burials from this hospital, and during this period, form the great majority of the British and Dominion burials in the Cemetery, though a few graves were added during the fighting on the Somme in 1918.
Le Treport was an important hospital centre during the war. By July 1916 it contained three General Hospitals (the 3rd, 16th and 2nd Canadian), No. 3 Convalescent Depot, and Lady Murray's B.R.C.S. Hospital. The original Military Cemetery was nearly filled, and it became necessary to use the new site at Mont Huon.
LONDON CEMETERY AND EXTENSION, LONGUEVAL
The original London Cemetery, commenced with the burial in a large shell hole of men of the 47th Division during September 1916, and other graves were added later. It became necessary to enlarge the burial ground after the Armistice, to receive the dead from the surrounding battlefields. The original cemetery, with its 101 burials, is preserved intact within the larger cemetery, now know as the London Cemetery and Extension, which was specially designed to incorporate the existing cemetery. There are now over 4,000, 1914-18 and over 150, 1939-45 war casualties commemorated in this site.
Meaulte was held by British forces from 1915 to 26th March 1918. The military cemetery was begun in December 1915 and used until February 1917. There are now over 300, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site.
MERICOURT-L'ABBE COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION
In the early summer of 1915 the Somme front was taken over by the British forces, and Mericourt-Ribemont Station became a railhead. The Extension was begun in August, 1915. It was used chiefly by Field Ambulances until July 1916. There are now over 400, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site.
Millencourt Communal Cemetery Extension
The Communal Cemetery Extension was used by units, Field Ambulances and the III Corps Main Dressing Station in 1916. There are now over 300, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site.
The cemetery was begun as a battle cemetery behind a Dressing Station and it was used until March 1917. It then contained 143 graves, about half the present Plot I. It was increased after the Armistice by the concentration of graves from the battlefields of Pozieres, Ovillers, La Boisselle and Contalmaison. There are now 3,437 Commonwealth burials of the 1914-18 war commemorated here. Of these, 2,477 are unidentified and special memorials are erected to 23 soldiers from the United Kingdom and one from Australia, believed to be buried among them. Smaller burial grounds were concentrated into Ovillers Military Cemetery:-
MASH VALLEY CEMETERY, OVILLERS-LA BOISSELLE, was about 182 metres North of Ovillers Military Cemetery. It was named from one of two valleys (Mash and Sausage) which run from South-West to North-East on either side of La Boisselle. It contained the graves of 76 soldiers from the United Kingdom who fell in July-September, 1916.
Puchevillers British Cemetery
In June 1916 just before the opening of the Battles of the Somme, the 3rd and 44th Casualty Clearing Stations came to Puchevillers, and Plots I. to V., and almost the whole of Plot VI. were made by those hospitals before the end of March 1917. There are now nearly 2,000, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site.
QUARRY CEMETERY, MONTAUBAN, Somme
Montauban village was taken by the 30th and 18th Divisions on the 1st July 1916, and it remained in British hands until the end of March 1918. Quarry Cemetery was begun at an Advanced Dressing Station in July 1916 and used until February 1917. At the Armistice it consisted of 152 graves in the present plots V and VI. It was then increased by the concentration of graves (almost all of July-December 1916) from the battlefields and small burial grounds surrounding Montauban. There are now nearly 750, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site.
RIBEMONT COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION
This sector of the front was taken over by the British forces in the early summer of 1915, and Mericourt-Ribemont Station, on the railway line from Amiens to Albert, became a railhead; but burials at Ribemont did not begin until the end of March, 1918. It was greatly enlarged after the Armistice by the concentration of graves from other cemeteries and from the battlefields of 1918, East of Ribemont. There are now nearly 500, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, over 30 are unidentified and there are fifteen special headstones commemorating eight soldiers (five from the United Kingdom and three from Australia) buried in Henencourt Wood Cemetery, The more important cemeteries concentrated into Ribemont Communal Cemetery Extension were the following: HENENCOURT WOOD CEMETERY, about 800 metres West of Henencourt, in the Wood. It was used by units and Field Ambulances from June, 1916 to August 1918, and it contained the graves of 71 soldiers from the United Kingdom.
In June 1916, the "Serre Road" lead out of Mailly-Maillet, which was in British hands, and entered No Man's Land about 1,170 metres South-West of Serre, which was held by the Germans. In the spring of 1917 the battlefields of the Ancre were cleared by the V Corps and a number of cemeteries made, three of which are named from the Serre Road. In the cemetery, Plots I and II, containing 489 graves, were made by the V Corps in May, 1917; the remainder are due to the concentration of graves (mainly of 1916) from the battlefields of the Department of the Somme, and from certain other cemeteries during the years 1922 and 1926-34. There are now over 7,000 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, over two-thirds are unidentified.
The Hospitals at Rouen remained there in almost all cases for practically the whole of the war. They included eight General, five Stationary, one British Red Cross and one Native Labour Hospitals and No. 2 Convalescent Depot. A number of the dead from these Hospitals were buried in other cemeteries, but the great majority were taken to St. Sever and in September 1916 it was found necessary to begin an Extension.
[Photograph courtesy of Davina Holmes]
The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. The memorial, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, was built between 1928 and 1932 and unveiled by the Prince of Wales, in the presence of the President of France, on 31 July 1932.
VERMELLES BRITISH CEMETERY, Pas de Calais
Vermelles was in German hands from the middle of October to the beginning of December 1914, when it was recaptured by the French. The cemetery was begun in August 1915 and during the Battle of Loos (when the Chateau was used as a Dressing Station) Plot I was completed. It was laid out and fenced by the Pioneers of the 1st Gloucesters, and known for a long time as "Gloucester Graveyard". The remaining Plots were made by the Divisions (from the Dismounted Cavalry Division onwards) holding the line 1.6 kilometres East of the cemetery until April 1917 and they incorporated a few isolated French graves of October 1914. From April, 1917, to the Armistice, the cemetery was closed; but after the Armistice graves were brought in (to Plots II, IV and VI) from the battlefields to the East. There are now over 2,000, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site.
Warlincourt Halte British Cemetery
The site of the cemetery was chosen in May 1916. It was used from June 1916 to May 1917 by the 20th and 43rd Casualty Clearing Stations.
