Thiepval Memorial, France.
Photo: September 2006.
Source:
This File is licensed under the
Share Alike 2.0 Generic licence.
Author:
Amanda Slater, Coventry, England.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,
The Memorial was built approximately 200 metres (660 feet) to the South-East of the former Thiepval Château, which was located on lower ground, by the side of Thiepval Wood.
[Editor: “Accrington Bricks”, or “Nori”,[1] are a type of iron-hard Engineering Brick, produced in Altham, near Accrington, Lancashire, England, from 1887 to 2008 and, again, from 2015.[2] They were famed for their strength, and were used for the foundations of the Blackpool Tower and the Empire State Building.]
unless stated otherwise.
The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme is a
The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme is a
War Memorial to 72,337 missing British and South African Servicemen who died in the Battles of the Somme of the First World War between 1915 and 1918, with no known grave.[1]
Part of a set of photographs of the sixteen
Battle Roundels carved on the Thiepval Memorial
to The Missing of The Somme.
Photo: 7 September 2010.
Source: Own work.
This File is licensed under the
Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence.
Author: Carcharoth (Commons)
(Wikimedia Commons)
Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, Thiepval Memorial has
been described as “the greatest British work of monumental architecture of the 20th-Century”.[3]
The Memorial was built approximately 200 metres (660 feet) to the South-East of the former Thiepval Château, which was located on lower ground, by the side of Thiepval Wood.
The grounds of the original Château were not chosen as this would have required the moving of graves, dug during the War around the numerous Medical Aid Stations.
Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, the Memorial was built between 1928 and 1932 and is the largest Commonwealth Memorial to The Missing in the World.
Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, the Memorial was built between 1928 and 1932 and is the largest Commonwealth Memorial to The Missing in the World.
It was inaugurated by the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) in the presence of Albert Lebrun, the President of France, on 1 August 1932.[1]
The unveiling ceremony was attended by Lutyens.[4] It was the last of the Special Memorials in Flanders and Picardy to be unveiled.[5]
The Memorial dominates the rural scene and has sixteen Brick Piers, faced with Portland Stone. It was originally built using French Bricks from Lille, but was re-faced in 1973 with Accrington Brick.[2][6]
The Memorial dominates the rural scene and has sixteen Brick Piers, faced with Portland Stone. It was originally built using French Bricks from Lille, but was re-faced in 1973 with Accrington Brick.[2][6]
[Editor: “Accrington Bricks”, or “Nori”,[1] are a type of iron-hard Engineering Brick, produced in Altham, near Accrington, Lancashire, England, from 1887 to 2008 and, again, from 2015.[2] They were famed for their strength, and were used for the foundations of the Blackpool Tower and the Empire State Building.]
The Main Arch is aligned East to West.[7] The Memorial is 140 feet (forty-three metres) high above the level of its Podium.[7][8]
It has foundations nineteen feet (six metres) thick, which were required because of extensive Wartime tunnelling beneath the structure.
It is a complex form of Memorial Arch, comprising interlocking Arches of four sizes.
It is a complex form of Memorial Arch, comprising interlocking Arches of four sizes.
Thiepval Memorial lit up for the first time.
Available on YouTube
Each side of the Main Arch is pierced by a smaller Arch, oriented at a Right Angle to the Main Arch.
Each side of each of these smaller Arches is then pierced by a still smaller Arch, and so on.[9]
The Keystone of each smaller Arch is at the level of the Spring of the larger Arch that it pierces; each of these levels is marked by a Stone Cornice.[10]
This design results in sixteen Piers, having sixty-four Stone-Panelled Sides.[9] Only forty-eight of these are inscribed, as the Panels around the outside of the Memorial are blank.[11]
The Cross of Sacrifice and British graves (Left)
and French graves (Right) at the Thiepval Memorial.
Photo: 14 August 2013.
Source: Own work.
This File is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution-
Share Alike 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic,
2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic licence.
Author: Wernervc
(Wikimedia Commons)
According to the architectural historian Stephen Games, the Memorial is composed of two intersecting Triumphal Arches, each with a larger Central Arch and two smaller Subsidiary Arches.
The Main Arch is surmounted by a Tower.[9]
In the central space of the Memorial, a Stone of Remembrance rests on a three-stepped Platform.[10]
The Memorial is graven with the names of 72,246 Officers and Men (see below) and Lutyens’s ingenious geometry arises out of the attempt to display these names in compact form, rather than in the longer, lower, and linear form, taken by other Memorials to The Missing of the War, such as those at Loos, Pozières, and Arras.[1][12][13]
The inscription of names on the Memorial is reserved for those missing or unidentified Soldiers who have no known grave.
The Memorial is graven with the names of 72,246 Officers and Men (see below) and Lutyens’s ingenious geometry arises out of the attempt to display these names in compact form, rather than in the longer, lower, and linear form, taken by other Memorials to The Missing of the War, such as those at Loos, Pozières, and Arras.[1][12][13]
The inscription of names on the Memorial is reserved for those missing or unidentified Soldiers who have no known grave.
A large inscription on an internal surface of the Memorial reads:
On the Portland stone piers are engraved the names of
Here are recorded names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme Battlefields July 1915 — February 1918, but to whom the fortune of War denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.
On the Portland stone piers are engraved the names of
over 72,000 men who were lost in the Somme Battles between July 1915 and March 1918. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission states that over ninety per cent of these soldiers died in the First Battle of the Somme between 1 July and
18 November 1916.[1]
Thiepval Memorial 1916 — 2016.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Available on YouTube
The names are carved using the standard Upper-Case lettering designed for the commission by MacDonald Gill.[11]
Over the years since its inauguration, bodies have been discovered on the former Battlefield and are sometimes identified by various means.
Over the years since its inauguration, bodies have been discovered on the former Battlefield and are sometimes identified by various means.
The decision was taken that to protect the integrity of the Memorial as one solely for those who are missing or unidentified, that if a body were found and identified, the inscription of their name would be removed from the Memorial by filling in the inscription with cement.
For those who are found and identified, they are given a funeral with full Military Honours at a Cemetery close to the location at which they were discovered.
Canadian Corps Troops. Battle of Vimy Ridge, 1917. Mark II “Female” Tank, Number 598, advancing at Vimy Ridge.
[Editor: Copilot states that: Some First World War Tanks were called “Female” because of the type of weapons they carried. The distinction came from the British Army during the introduction of the Mark I Tank in 1916.
A Female Tank carried only Machine Guns, while a Male Tank carried two 6‑Pounder Naval Guns, plus Machine Guns. This classification was created by Lt‑Col. Ernest Swinton, one of the key figures behind the development of the Tank.
Swinton feared that Tanks armed with big Guns might struggle to defend themselves against close‑range Infantry attacks. So, in April 1916 (just before The First Battle of The Somme), he proposed that half of the first 150 Tanks should be built with Machine‑Gun‑only armament. These would accompany the Heavy-Gun‑armed Tanks into Battle, providing mutual support. The idea was that the two types would operate in pairs: The Male Tank would attack hardened positions and enemy strongpoints. The Female Tank would suppress enemy Infantry with rapid Machine‑Gun fire.
Both Male and Female Tanks fought in the Battle of Flers‑Courcelette, on The Somme, on 15 September 1916, the first time Tanks were ever used in combat].
Date: April 1917.
Source: This image is available from Library and Archives Canada under the reproduction reference number PA-004388 and under the MIKAN ID number 3522713.
Author: Canada. Dept. of National Defence
(Wikimedia Commons)
This practice has resulted in numerous gaps in the lists of names.
On top of the Archway, a French inscription reads “Aux armées Française et Britannique l’Empire Britannique reconnaissant” (“To the French and British Armies, from the grateful British Empire”). Just below this, are carved the years 1914 and 1918. On the upper edges of the side Archways, split across left and right, is carved the phrase: “The Missing — of The Somme”.[14]
On top of the Archway, a French inscription reads “Aux armées Française et Britannique l’Empire Britannique reconnaissant” (“To the French and British Armies, from the grateful British Empire”). Just below this, are carved the years 1914 and 1918. On the upper edges of the side Archways, split across left and right, is carved the phrase: “The Missing — of The Somme”.[14]
Included on this Memorial are sixteen Stone Laurel Wreaths, inscribed with the names of Sub-Battles that made up the Battle of The Somme and subsequent actions, in which the men commemorated at Thiepval fell.
One is simply titled “Somme 1916”.
Thirteen Battles so-named on the other Roundels, are:
The final two Roundels are for “Bapaume” and “Miraumont”, most likely referring to Battles or Actions on the Somme Front in 1917, as the Thiepval Memorial includes the Missing Dead that fell before 20 March 1918.
The Actions of Miraumont took place from 17 February 1917 to 18 February 1917 and Bapaume was occupied by the British on 17 March 1917 (see Operations on The Ancre, January – March 1917).
Seven Victoria Cross recipients are listed on the Memorial, under their respective Regiments.[15] All British, unless otherwise noted:
English: French Soldiers moving into attack
from their trench during the Battle of Verdun, 1916.
Français: Soldats français à l’assaut sortent
de leur tranchée pendant la bataille de Verdun, 1916.
Date: 1916.
Source: www.docpix.fr
Author: Collection DocAnciens/docpix.fr
(Wikimedia Commons)
Eric Norman Frankland Bell;
William Buckingham;
Geoffrey St. George Shillington Cather;
William McFadzean;
William Mariner;
Thomas Orde Lawder Wilkinson;
Alexander Young (South African).
William Buckingham;
Geoffrey St. George Shillington Cather;
William McFadzean;
William Mariner;
Thomas Orde Lawder Wilkinson;
Alexander Young (South African).
Also commemorated are:
English First-Class Cricketer, Alban Arnold[16];
English First-Class Cricketer, Sydney Thomas Askham[17];
Composer, George Butterworth[18];
Irish First-Class Cricketer, William Crozier[19];
Scots Rugby International, Rowland Fraser[20];
English First-Class Cricketer, John Gregory[21];
England Rugby International and Clergyman, Rupert Inglis[22];
Irish Economist, Poet and former British Member of Parliament, Thomas Michael Kettle[23];
England Rugby International, John Abbott King[24];
Irish International Footballer, Jimmy Maxwell[25];
England Rugby International, Alfred Maynard[26];
Scots Rugby International, Eric Milroy[27];
Welsh International Footballer, Leigh Richmond Roose[28];
English Writer, Saki (Hector Hugh Munro)[29];
English First-Class Cricketer, Ernest Shorrocks[30];
Welsh Rugby International, Dick Thomas[31];
Welsh Rugby International, Horace Thomas[32];
Musician and Composer, Francis Purcell Warren[33];
Welsh Rugby International, David Watts[34];
English River Plate Footballer, Arthur Herbert Thompson[35].
English First-Class Cricketer, Sydney Thomas Askham[17];
Composer, George Butterworth[18];
Irish First-Class Cricketer, William Crozier[19];
Scots Rugby International, Rowland Fraser[20];
English First-Class Cricketer, John Gregory[21];
England Rugby International and Clergyman, Rupert Inglis[22];
Irish Economist, Poet and former British Member of Parliament, Thomas Michael Kettle[23];
England Rugby International, John Abbott King[24];
Irish International Footballer, Jimmy Maxwell[25];
England Rugby International, Alfred Maynard[26];
Scots Rugby International, Eric Milroy[27];
Welsh International Footballer, Leigh Richmond Roose[28];
English Writer, Saki (Hector Hugh Munro)[29];
English First-Class Cricketer, Ernest Shorrocks[30];
Welsh Rugby International, Dick Thomas[31];
Welsh Rugby International, Horace Thomas[32];
Musician and Composer, Francis Purcell Warren[33];
Welsh Rugby International, David Watts[34];
English River Plate Footballer, Arthur Herbert Thompson[35].
The Thiepval Memorial also serves as an Anglo-French Battle Memorial to commemorate the joint nature of the 1916 Offensive.[1]
In further recognition of this, a Cemetery, Thiepval Anglo-French Cemetery, containing 300 British Commonwealth and 300 French graves, lies at the foot of the Memorial.
8-inch Howitzers of the 39th Siege Battery,
Royal Garrison Artillery, open fire in the Fricourt-Mametz Valley, August 1916, during The Battle of The Somme.
Español: La artillería británica bombardea
las filas alemanas durante el mes de agosto de 1916.
Photo: August 1916.
Source: This photograph Q 5818 comes from the
Imperial War Museums (collection no. 1900 - 13).
Author: John Warwick Brooke (1886 – 1929).
(Wikimedia Commons)
Most of the Soldiers buried here — 239 of the British Commonwealth and 253 of the French — are unknown, the bodies having been reburied here after discovery between December 1931 and March 1932, mostly from the Somme Battlefields, but some from as far North as Loos, and as far South as Le Quesnel.[36]
The British Commonwealth graves have rectangular headstones made of White Stone, while the French graves have Grey Stone Crosses.
For those unidentified, the British headstones bear the inscription: “A Soldier of The Great War — Known unto God”; the French Crosses bear the single word “Inconnu” (“Unknown”).
The Cemetery’s Cross of Sacrifice bears an inscription that acknowledges the joint British and French contributions:
German Submarine U-155 exhibited near Tower Bridge, London, after the 1918 Armistice, which ended World War I.
Date: 1918.
Source: Flickr the Commons,
Author: Unknown.
(Wikimedia Commons)
That the World may remember the common sacrifice of
two and a half million dead, here have been laid,
side by side, Soldiers of France and of the British Empire
in eternal comradeship.
Each year on 1 July (the anniversary of the First Day on The Somme) a major ceremony is held at the Memorial.[1]
There is also a ceremony on 11 November (Remembrance Day), beginning at 1045 hrs.
