Jo’s-Monday-Walk-Wk36_Thiepval-2

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Jo’s Monday Walk

Week-36

Thiepval Memorial-1

Authuille, France

 Last week I left the Thiepval Memorial…

with this shot.

 

 a view of the Anglo-French Cemetery at the Memorial.

300 French soldiers’ graves…

and 300 British Army graves.

In that era the term ‘British Army’ covered

all member nations of the British Commonwealth.

Most of the bodies interred at Thiepval

have been reburied here

after discovery on Somme Battlefields

between December 1931 and March 1932

South Africa, as a British Empire member nation

was mentioned in several sources during

my research into this post.

High up on the walls of the memorial

these wreaths may be found.

This one refers to the Battle of Ginchy

which occurred on September 9, 1916.

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 Maybe this doorway lead to a stairway

to the top of the Memorial.

 

As mentioned last week,

the Thiepval Memorial

was the first of its kind we visited.

Prior to this we had visited cemeteries

with ornate, at times, entrances,

but nothing to compare with Thiepval.

I was still coming to terms with this type

of memorial left by relatives or visitors.

From a distance I thought they were something

someone had dropped, however upon closer

inspection each and everyone contained

the name of a soldier…

 

and a brief message from a visiting relative…

community member or organisation.

The Thiepval Memorial stands on one of the strongest

parts of the German front line, which was attacked

by 32nd Division on 1 July 1916 and held by 99th Reserve Infantry Regiment.

Thiepval was eventually taken by 18th Division

on 26 September 1916 in a well-planned operation

commanded by Major General Ivor Maxse.

The Thiepval Memorial is approximately 150 feet high

and was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and is the

largest of the Memorials built by the

Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

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Jo’s Monday Walk