Thiepval Memorial, Somme Battlefields, France
The Thiepval 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 WW1 in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90 percent of those commemorated died between July and November 1916.
The Thiepval memorial also serves as an Anglo-French Battle Memorial in recognition of the joint nature of the Somme 1916 offensive and a small cemetery containing equal numbers of Commonwealth and French graves lies at the foot of the memorial.
Thiepval memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was built between 1928 and 1932. It was unveiled by the Prince of Wales (later to become Edward VIII), in the presence of the President of France, on 31 July 1932. The dead of other Commonwealth countries who died on the Somme battlefields and have no known graves are commemorated on national memorials elsewhere.
The new Thiepval Visitor Centre is located a few hundred yards from the memorial.
Thiepval Visitor CentreSomme Battles Commemorated
On 1 July 1916, supported by a French attack to the south, thirteen divisions of Commonwealth forces launched an offensive on a line from north of Gommecourt to Maricourt. Despite a preliminary bombardment lasting seven days, the German defences were barely touched and the attack met unexpectedly fierce resistance. Losses were catastrophic and with only minimal advances on the southern flank, the initial attack was a failure.
In the following weeks, huge resources of manpower and equipment were deployed in an attempt to exploit the modest successes of the first day. However, the German Army resisted tenaciously and repeated attacks and counter attacks meant a major battle for every village, copse and farmhouse gained. At the end of September 1916, the village of Thiepval was finally captured. The village had been an original objective of the 1st July 1916 Somme offensive.
Attacks north and east continued throughout October and into November 1916 in increasingly difficult weather conditions. The Battle of the Somme finally ended on 18th November 1916 with the onset of winter. In the spring of 1917, the German forces fell back to their newly prepared defences, the Hindenburg Line, and there were no further significant engagements in the Somme sector until the Germans mounted their major offensive in March 1918.
Location
Acknowledgements
Some text extracted from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission register for the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing.