| Historical Information: |
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 31 July 1932. The dead of
other Commonwealth countries who died on the Somme and have no known
graves are commemorated on national memorials elsewhere. |