Nothing
can prepare you for your first sight of the Thiepval Memorial. Set
on the top of a hill, it can be seen from many miles away, and the
nearer you get the more awesome it becomes. It is almost impossible
to comprehend that here are commemorated over 73,000 people, lost
without trace in the Flanders mud. The Thiepval Memorial will be
found on the D73, next to the village of Thiepval, off the main
Bapaume to Albert road (D929). Each year a major ceremony is held
at the memorial on 1 July. There is a visitor
centre at the Memorial.
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, Thiepval was finally captured. The village had been
an original objective of 1 July. Attacks north and east continued
throughout October and into November in increasingly difficult weather
conditions. The Battle of the Somme finally ended on 18 November
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. 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 also serves as
an Anglo-French Battle Memorial in recognition of the joint nature
of the 1916 offensive and a small cemetery containing equal numbers
of Commonwealth and French graves lies at the foot of the memorial.
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 1 August 1932 (originally it had been
scheduled for 16 May, but due to the sudden death of French President
Doumer, as a mark of respect, the ceremony was postponed until August).
The dead of other Commonwealth countries, who died on the Somme
and have no known graves, are commemorated on national memorials
elsewhere. [Source: Commonwealth
War Graves Commission]
