Here are all the places, cemetery's and memorial's I'll be visiting during my walk, along with the number of graves / memorials at each.
Glade of Armistice, Compiegne. (It was here that the Armistice was signed that would bring an end to the slaughter of the previous four years.)
The German supreme army command had advised the Kaiser that the German military position was hopeless on September 29th 1918, but negotiations towards a ceasefire were not started until 06th November.
The Armistice was signed by all parties at 05:00 AM on 11th November 1918 but, in order to allow time for the message to be sent to the front line troops, would not come into effect until 11:00 AM.
Allied commanders determined to ensure should the Armistice fail, they would be in the best position possible, continued to battle for further gains. An example of the determination of the Allies to maintain pressure until the last minute, but also to adhere strictly to the Armistice terms, was Battery 4 of the US Navy's long-range 14-inch railway guns firing its last shot at 10:57:30 am from the Verdun area, timed to land far behind the German front line just before the scheduled Armistice.
Between 05:00 AM and 11:00AM 2,738 men were killed and a further 8,206 were recorded as casualties.
My walk is dedicated to all those that died during the Great War, but especially those that died on November 11th 1918 and follows (as closely as possible) the final front line from Mons to Verdun as it’s was on the day of the Armistice
The next few days of the walk crosses the Somme battlefields. Around 1.1 million men died during the Somme offensive of 01st July 1916 to 18th November 1916. The battle is widely regarded as an Allied success driven by Kitchener’s Army (pal’s divisions) and heralded the start of warfare on an industrial scale.
Fouquescourt British Cemetery – 376 graves (118 UK; 84 Canadian; 44 Australian; 2 South African; 128 Unidentified)
French National Cemetery Maucourt – 5,300 graves
Vermandovilliers German Cemetery – 22,632 graves
Bronfay Farm Military Cemetery – 537 graves (508 UK; 14 Australian; 2 Indian; 1 South African; 12 Unidentified)
Devonshire Trench Cemetery – 163 graves (153 UK; 10 Unidentified)
Dantzig Alley British Cemetery – 2,053 graves (1493 UK; 18 New Zealand; 13 Australian; 10 Canadian; 3 South African; 1 Indian; 515 Unidentified)
Fricourt German Cemetery – 17,027 graves.
Lochnagar Crater – Last resting place of an unknown number of German, British and French Soldiers.
Gordon Dump Cemetery – 1,680 graves (534 UK; 87 Australian; 2 Canadian; 1 Indian; 1056 Unidentified)
Contalmaison Chateau Cemetery – 284 graves (220 UK; 21 Australian; 3 Canadian; 40 Unidentified)
2nd Canadian Cemetery, Sunken Road – 46 graves (44 Canadian; 2 UK)
Sunken Road Cemetery, Contalmaison – 213 graves (147 Canadian; 58 Australian; 8 UK)
Pozieres Memorial – 14,708 graves (14,384 UK; 324 South African)
Ovillers British Cemetery – 3,559 graves (913 UK; 27 Canadian; 17 Australian; 7 South African; 1 New Zealand; 120 French; 2474 Unidentified)
Blighty Valley Cemetery – 1,027 graves (490 UK; 2 Australian; 1 Canadian; 534 Unidentified)
Authuille Military Cemetery – 472 graves (417 UK; 14 Indian; 3 South African; 1 German; 37 Unidentified)
Lonsdale Military Cemetery – 1,542 graves (729 UK; 813 Unidentified)
Thiepval Memorial – 72,343 whose bodies have no known grave (71,511 UK; 832 South African)
Mill Road Cemetery – 1,305 graves (489 UK; 816 Unidentified)
Connaught Cemetery – 1,288 graves (646 UK; 642 Unidentified)
Ulster Tower – memorial to the Irish (Ulster) regiments that fought during the Somme offensive
Thiepval wood – Preserved trenches, Location from which, the 36th Ulster division launched its attack on the German lines on 01st July 1916.
Ancre British Cemetery – 2,543 graves (1184 UK; 24 Canadian; 2 New Zealand; 1 German; 1332 Unidentified)
Hamel Military Cemetery – 494 graves (413 UK; 1 German; 80 Unidentified)
Hawthorn Ridge Cemetery No. 2 – 214 graves (134 UK; 16 Canadian; 64 Unidentified)
Hawthorn Ridge Cemetery No. 1 – 153 graves (82 UK; 1 Canadian; 70 Unidentified)
Beaumont Hamel British Cemetery – 181 graves (96 UK; 2 Canadian; 83 Unidentified)
Redan Ridge Cemetery No. 2 – 279 graves (155 UK; 124 Unidentified)
Redan Ridge Cemetery No. 3 – 67 graves (33 UK; 34 Unidentified)
Redan Ridge Cemetery No. 1 – 154 graves (81 UK; 73 Unidentified)
Serre Road Cemetery No. 2 – 7,134 graves (1694 UK; 329 Australian; 115 Canadian; 44 New Zealand; 10 South African; 1 German; 4941 Unidentified)
Serre Hebuterne French Military Cemetery – 834 graves
Serre Road Cemetery No. 1 – 2,434 graves (574 UK; 64 Australian; 35 Canadian; 23 New Zealand; 3 South African; 1735 Unidentified)
Serre Road Cemetery No. 3 – 85 graves (36 UK; 49 Unidentified)
Sheffield Memorial Park – Jumping off area for many of the ‘Pals’ regiments (Barnsley / Accrington / Sheffield) on 01st July 1916
Railway Hollow Cemetery – 109 graves (63 UK; 2 French; 44 Unidentified)
Queens Cemetery – 311 graves (181 UK; 120 Unidentified)
Luke Copse British Cemetery – 72 graves (44 UK; 28 Unidentified)
Maroueil British Cemetery – 574 graves (532 UK; 30 Canadian; 10 German; 2 Indian)
Neuville Saint Vast German Cemetery – 44,833 graves
Vimy Ridge Museum
Givenchy Road Canadian Cemetery – 111 graves (109 Canadian, 1 UK, 1 Unidentified)
Canadian Cemetery No. 2 – 2,966 graves (467 Canadian; 344 UK; 6 Australian; 4 New Zealand; 1 Indian; 2144 Unidentified)
Vimy Memorial – 11,160 Canadians who have no known grave
Dud Corner Cemetery – 1,812 graves (670 UK; 16 Canadian; 1126 Unidentified) + 20,654 from UK with no known grave. including the memorial to my Great Uncle Corporal Frank Hallam 15649 10th Battalion Cheshire regiment and a Thomas Hedley Hatch and Frank Hoar who are commemorated on my village’s War Memorial. Frank Hoar was, like me a railwayman, who was employed at the village train station.
Train from Lens @12:10 changing at Lille Flandres to Mons (Belgium)
Mons (Bergen) Communial Cemetery – 464 graves (319 UK; 72 Russian; 57 Canadian; 8 Romanian; 4 Australian; 2 New Zealand; 1 German; 1 South African)
St. Symphorien Military Cemetery – 513 graves (244 German; 162 UK; 2 Canadian; 105 Unidentified) The first and last British Casualty of the Great war John Parr (Middlesex Regiment) Died August 21st 1914 aged 17 & George Ellison (Royal Irish Lancers) Died 09:30 AM 11th November 1918 aged 40. Also last Canadian Casualty of Great War George Lawrence Price died 10:58 AM and the last German Casualty Peter Bender.
Vrigne-Meuse Church – 18 graves (18 French) Grave of Augustine Trebuchon, the last French casualty of World War 1 – died at 10:50 AM on 11th November 1918 – The French government, embarrassed to have sent men into fight battle after the Armistice had been signed, recorded his date of death as 10th November 1918 (as they did for all final day casualties).
Romagne-sous-Montfaucon German Cemetery – 1415 graves (1407 German; 8 French)
Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery – 14,246 graves (Cemetery is named after the offensive that ran from September 28th 1918 to November 11th 1918 and is the most lethal ‘battle’ in terms of numbers of dead (26277) that America has ever fought in. The cemetery is the largest cemetery of American servicemen on Mainland Europe)
Henry Gunter Memorial – 1 memorial (Private Henry Gunter was the last soldier to have died in WW1. A 1st generation American of German decent, he had recently been demoted in rank from Sergeant. He left his position alone, near Chaumont-devant-damvilliers at 10:59 AM, and charged a German roadblock of two machine guns. The Germans, aware that the Armistice was upon them, motioned for Private Gunter to go back, Private Gunter continued to advance and fired a couple of shots at the Germans who replied with a short burst of machine gun fire. His unit citation states that he was shot at 10:59:45 and his body hit the ground at 11:00:00. It is believed that Gunter wished to redeem himself in the eyes of his colleagues after his reduction in rank, but no-one will ever know why he charged the roadblock, despite being told by his Sergeant and friend to stay down and wait for the Armistice to take effect.)
German Soldier Cemetery Azzannes II – 4750 graves
French battle of Verdun memorial – 146,142 graves / memorials / remains (There are graves or memorials to 16,142 French casualties from the Battle for Verdun here and a further 130,000 skeletal remains of both German and French unidentified casualties. The remains are sealed in chambers within the fort and can be viewed through windows. The Battle for Verdun was fought from 21st February 1916 to 18th December 1916 and was the longest battle of the war, lasting 303 days and resulting in an estimated number of dead between 700,000 and 1.2 million making it the bloodiest battle of the war)
In total, that's 412,232 Graves or Memorials - 259 of whom were employees of the Great Western Railway company (as was I). The eleven nationalities totals are:
UK 120,197 Canadian 12,352 South African 1,186 Australian 659 New Zealand 94 Indian 21 American 15,201 French 22,424 German 90,908 Russian 72 Romanian 8 Unidentified 149,110
Always Remembered.
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