Delville Wood Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves, and places of commemoration, of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars...

 cemetery located near Longueval, France and the third largest in the Somme battlefield area.

Overview

Sited opposite the Delville Wood South African Memorial and designed by Sir Herbert Baker, Delville Wood cemetery is located just off the D20 that runs between Longueval

Longueval

Longueval is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.-Geography:Longueval is located 24 miles northwest of Amiens on the D919 road, at the junction with the D8....

 and Guillemont

Guillemont

Guillemont is a commune roughly 8 miles east of Albert in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.It, like much of the surrounding area, is primarily an agricultural community, but is known for its large cemetery, which has become a tourist attraction...

 (11 km east of Albert), France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and contains 5,523 burials of which two-thirds are unknown.

The cemetery was constructed after the Armistice and mainly contains bodies recovered from the battlefields. A smaller number of graves were moved in from nearby French and German cemeteries.

Almost all of the casualties date from July-September 1916 and are from the various Battles of Delville Wood

Delville Wood

The Battle of Delville Wood was one of the early engagements in the 1916 Battle of the Somme in the First World War. It took place between 14 July and 3 September, between the armies of the German Empire and allied British and South African forces...

. The high proportion of unknown graves probably reflects lengthy period which elapsed before many of the bodies were removed from the battlefield and buried.

German

The German cemeteries from which remains were moved were:

• Bazentin-Le-Petit German Cemetery, from which were taken five British soldiers killed in March/April 1918.
• Courcelette Communal Cemetery German Extension contained the remains of three British and one Canadian soldier, as well as 1,040 German soldiers. Three of the four Commonwealth graves had been destroyed by artillery fire, and so Delville Wood Cemetery contains special memorials to these three soldiers.
• Guillemont German Cemetery No. 1, in which were buried 7 British soldiers killed between May and July 1918 in addition to 221 German soldiers.
• Maricourt (De La Cote) German Cemetery, from which were moved the five British soldiers and airmen which had been buried in it
• Martinpuich German Cemetery No. 1, contained the remains of one British sailor and six soldiers, all killed in March 1918;
• Martinpuich German Cemetery No. 2, contained the grave of one British soldier.

Allied

Allied cemeteries from which remains were moved were:

• Angle Wood Cemetery, Ginchy, in which 27 British soldiers, largely London Regiment, were buried in an "excavated shell-hole" in Angle Wood
• Battery Copse Cemetery, Curlu contained 17 British graves as well as French graves.
• Ferme-Rouge French Military Cemetery, near to Battery Copse Cemetery contained one British soldier killed in March, 1917;

The cemetery contains special memorials to the 27 casualties believed to be buried amongst the 3,593 unidentified burials.

Sergeant Albert Gill

Albert Gill

Albert Gill VC was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces....

, of the 1st Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps

King's Royal Rifle Corps

The King's Royal Rifle Corps was a British Army infantry regiment, originally raised in colonial North America as the Royal Americans, and recruited from American colonists. Later ranked as the 60th Regiment of Foot, the regiment served for more than 200 years throughout the British Empire...

, is buried in the cemetery. He was killed on 27 July 1916 during the fighting in Delville Wood whilst standing up under fire to direct his troops, an act for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross

Victoria Cross

The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....

.

Three bodies found during the building of the Delville Wood South African Memorial opposite the cemetery were interred in it in 1984.

External links

• WW1 Battlefields entry
• WW1 Cemeteries Entry
• http://delvillewood.com : the official website of the South African Memorial of Delville Wood
• 360° Panoramic