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Lihons National Cemetery

La nécropole nationale de Lihons. © ECPAD

 

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Lihons National Cemetery was founded in 1915 by the French military authorities. It is home to 6,587 French soldiers who died in WWI. Of these, 1,671 lie in ossuaries alongside the remains of six Britons and two Armenians. The cemetery was redeveloped in 1919 and then in 1935-1936. It also holds bodies that were exhumed from other temporary cemeteries in the surrounding area, such as Belloy-en-Santerre and Framerville cemeteries.

The American poet Alan Seeger died during this assault. After growing up in Mexico, the former Harvard student moved to Paris where mobilisation took him by surprise. Sensitive and romantic, he  enlisted alongside fifty other American volunteers in the Foreign Legion. On 4 July 1916, the day of the US national holiday, the poet died after singing popular French songs throughout the night. Today, in all likelihood, his remains lie in the ossuary with many other volunteers who joined the Foreign Legion. The young writer’s grave was destroyed by subsequent bombings. He is the author of the poem “I have a rendezvous with death”, which he wrote on 1 July 1916. His body could not be identified with certainty. In 2006, a monument commemorating the writer and soldier was erected. It is a symbol of the military engagement of young people and Americans.

There is an imposing monument where Prince Louis Murat lies on the northeast edge of the village of Lihons. He was the great-great-nephew of Napoleon I and grandson of the Empire Marshall Joachim Murat. This young man of 19, a volunteer, was killed by the enemy on 21 August 1916. The imperial eagle atop the monument is now kept in Lihons town hall.

Furthermore, the Somme’s largest German cemetery, containing the bodies of 22,665 German soldiers, is located in Vermandovillers, and includes the grave of four pilots from Baron Manfred von Richthofen’s squadron.

 

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Lihons
Au nord de Roye, D 337

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Eléments remarquables

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The national necropolis of Dompierre-Becquincourt

La nécropole nationale de Dompierre-Becquincourt. © ECPAD

 

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The national necropolis of Dompierre-Becquincourt contains the remains of soldiers who died for France during the fighting on the Somme during the First World War. Created in 1920, it was redesigned in 1935 and 1936 to receive soldiers’ bodies exhumed from other military cemeteries in the region.

The necropolis contains 7,033 bodies, including 5,362 in individual or collective graves. Four ossuaries contain the remains of 1,671 unknown soldiers. The cemetery also contains the remains of one German, one Russian, one Swede, one Belgian and many Foreign Legion volunteers of various origins (including Denmark, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Spain) who died during the Great War. There are also many colonial soldiers, infantrymen from Senegal and Algeria, cavalrymen and also troops from Indochina, who were heavily involved in the fighting on the Somme.

From the Second World War there is just one soldier, Olivier Kohn, who died on 9th June 1940 and rests in grave number 3815.

At the entrance to the cemetery is a monument paid for by the Italian community in the region, a symbol of Franco-Italian friendship that was inaugurated on 11th October 1923.

 

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Dompierre-Becquincourt
Au sud-ouest de Péronne, D 71

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The Villers-Carbonnel national cemetery

La nécropole nationale de Villers-Carbonnel. © ECPAD

 

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The Villers-Carbonnel national cemetery holds the remains of soldiers who died for France during the various battles that took place in the Somme during the First World War. Created in 1920, it was developed in order to bring together the bodies of other soldiers exhumed from the temporary cemeteries in Barleux and Flaucourt. 2,285 bodies are buried in this cemetery, including 990 in individual graves. Two ossuaries hold the mortal remains of 1,295 unknown soldiers. The bodies of 18 soldiers who died for France in the Somme during the French campaign of May-June 1940 are also buried by their sides.

 

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Villers-Carbonnel
Au sud de Péronne, N 17

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Eléments remarquables

Monuments aux morts 1914-1918

The Biaches national cemetery

La nécropole nationale de Biaches. © ECPAD

 

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The Biaches national cemetery holds the remains of soldiers who died for France during the various battles that took place in the Somme during the First World War. Created in 1920, this cemetery was developed until 1936 in order to bring together the bodies of other soldiers exhumed from the temporary cemeteries in Biaches and Curlu. This cemetery holds 1,362 bodies, 1,040 of whom are buried in individual graves. Two ossuaries hold the mortal remains of 322 unknown soldiers.

 

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Biaches
À l’ouest de Péronne, D 1

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The Cléry-sur-Somme national cemetery

La nécropole nationale de Cléry-sur-Somme. © ECPAD

 

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The Cléry-sur-Somme - or "Bois des Ouvrages" - national cemetery holds the remains of soldiers who died for France during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Created in 1920, this cemetery was developed in 1936 in order to bring together the bodies of other soldiers exhumed from former temporary military cemeteries or from isolated graves on the former front line of the Somme. This cemetery holds the bodies of 2,332 Frenchmen, of whom 1,203 lie in individual graves and 1,129 are buried in two ossuaries.

Close to the cemetery is a monument erected "in memory of the glorious dead of the 363rd infantry regiment (RI) and of their victorious battles of 7 August and 3 September 1916".

 

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Cléry-sur-Somme
Au nord-ouest de Péronne, D938

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Moislains National Cemetery

La nécropole nationale de Moislains. © ECPAD

 

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Known as the Cimetière des Charentais, the Moislains National Cemetery holds the remains of soldiers who died for France during the fighting which took place on 28 August 1914, in the area around this village. Established after the battle, this national cemetery was further developed in 1923-1924 and in 1944. The cemetery holds the bodies of 465 French soldiers, including 99 in individual graves and 366 in an ossuary.

In 1924, a memorial was built in the cemetery, paying tribute to these soldiers, most of whom came from Angoulême and Bergerac. An oak chest from Puy-de-Nelle (in the Charente) was placed at the foot of this memorial in 1960. Made by Gaston Rofidal, a veteran who served as an NCO in the 307th French Infantry Regiment during the war, the chest symbolically contains samples of earth from towns in the Charente. Damaged by the weather over the years, it was replaced in 2014.

 

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Moislains
Au nord de Péronne, D 43

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Monument aux morts de la Charente 1914-1918

Rancourt National Cemetery

Nécropole nationale de Rancourt. © ECPAD

 

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Rancourt National Cemetery holds the remains of soldiers who died for France during the Battle of the Somme. Established at the end of the war, this cemetery was developed from 1921 to 1988 to accommodate the bodies exhumed from the temporary cemeteries all along the former front lines, as well as from isolated graves, military communal graves and bodies found on the battlefields. More than 8,500 French soldiers are buried here, including 3,200 in four ossuaries. The cemetery also contains the graves of three civilian casualties and a French soldier killed during the Second World War.

 

To one side of the cemetery there is a votive chapel dedicated to the memory of servicemen killed in action in the area of Rancourt–Bouchavesnes and Sailly-Saillissel. This building, inaugurated in 1923, was founded by Madame Du Bos, mother of Jean Du Bos, a Lieutenant in the 94th Infantry Regiment, killed in action on 26 September 1916 during the attack on Rancourt. Now administrated by Souvenir Français, the chapel stands as a symbol of the sadness felt by so many parents who lost a beloved son.

Nearby there is a German military cemetery containing the graves of 10,422 German soldiers, including 7,492 in ossuaries, and a British cemetery containing 83 graves. Such proximity makes this a particularly symbolic memorial site for all three nationalities during commemoration ceremonies in remembrance of the Battle of the Somme.

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Rancourt
Au nord de Péronne . D 44

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Chapelle votive dédiée au souvenir des combattants, à proximité immédiate de la nécropole

The Maurepas national cemetery

La nécropole nationale de Maurepas. © ECPAD

 

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The Maurepas national cemetery holds the remains of soldiers who died for France during the Franco-British Somme offensive (1916). Created following this offensive, it was developed in 1921 and then in 1936 to bring together the bodies of soldiers exhumed from other temporary military cemeteries in Maurepas, Suzanne and the Albert area. This cemetery holds 3,657 bodies, 2,069 of whom are buried in individual graves. Two ossuaries hold the mortal remains of 1,588 unknown soldiers. The bodies of a French civilian victim, a Romanian and 19 Russian prisoners are buried by their sides.

 

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Maurepas
Au nord-ouest de Péronne, D 146

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The Etinehem national cemetery

La nécropole nationale d’Etinehem. © ECPAD

 

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The Etinehem - or Cote 80 - national cemetery holds the remains of soldiers who died for France during the various battles that took place in the Somme during the First World War. Created after the fighting of 1916, on the very site of the cemetery of the temporary hospital set up in Etinehem, it was developed in 1923 in order to bring together the bodies of soldiers exhumed from other temporary military cemeteries in the area.

Among the 955 soldiers buried here lies the body of Abbé (or Father) Thibaut. Chaplain of the 1st infantry regiment, he was one of the 150 chaplains who died between 1914 and 1918. Seriously wounded during the attack on Frégicourt on 26 September 1916, he died the following day at Etinehem's temporary hospital. The bodies of 49 British soldiers also lie within this remembrance site.

 

 

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Etinehem
À l’ouest de Péronne, D 1

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Tombe de l’abbé Thibault, aumônier militaire catholique du 1er RI, mort pour la France le 26 septembre 1916

The Cerisy national cemetery

La nécropole nationale de Cerisy. © ECPAD

 

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The Cerisy national cemetery holds the remains of soldiers who died for France during the Battle of the Somme offensive in 1916. Created during these battles, close to the temporary hospital, this cemetery was again developed in 1923 in order to bring together the bodies of other soldiers exhumed from the military plot at the Cerisy communal cemetery. This cemetery holds the bodies of 990 Frenchmen in individual graves.

A few hundred metres away is a British military cemetery, which brings together the bodies of 745 Commonwealth soldiers who died between 1914 and 1918, including 499 Britons, 60 Canadians, 70 Australians, 2 South Africans and 114 unknown soldiers.

 

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Cerisy
À l’ouest de Péronne, D 71

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