Pozières Memorial

Pozières, France

The Pozières Memorial is a World War I memorial, located near the commune of Pozières, and unveiled in August 1930. It lists the names of 14,657 British and South African soldiers of the Fifth and Fourth Armies with no known grave who were killed between 21 March 1918 and 7 August 1918, during the German advance known as the Spring Offensive, and the period of Allied consolidation and recovery that followed. The final date is determined by the start of the period known as the Advance to Victory on 8 August.

The memorial forms the perimeter walls of a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery, which principally contains the bodies of men killed during the Battle of Pozières and the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

Memorial

The memorial was designed by William Harrison Cowlishaw, with sculpture by Laurence A. Turner. It consists of a colonnade of wall panels forming three sides of the perimeter of a cemetery, and incorporating a Cross of Sacrifice. The names of the missing are inscribed on the panels, arranged by regiment or other unit. The fourth side of the cemetery, on the road frontage, is formed by an open arcade, with the entrance archway at its centre: the inscription is over this. The memorial was unveiled on 4 August 1930 by Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, who had served as a general commanding the British II Corps and the British Second Army during the war.

Cemetery

The memorial encloses a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery, in which 2,758 Commonwealth servicemen are either buried or commemorated. Plot II (occupying less than one sixth of the site) is an original plot of 1916–18, containing 272 burials. The rest of the cemetery contains graves moved here from surrounding areas following the Armistice, the majority being those of soldiers killed during the Battle of Pozières and the latter stages of the Battle of the Somme in 1916. A few belong to men killed in August 1918 during the Advance to Victory. Approximately half the graves are those of unidentified bodies: of those identified, the majority belong to Australian soldiers. 57 Germans were buried here in 1918, but most of their remains were moved after the war, leaving just a single German grave.

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Address

Pozières, France
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Details

Founded: 1930
Category: Cemeteries, mausoleums and burial places in France

More Information

en.wikipedia.org

Rating

4.8/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Rudy Hellas88 (21 months ago)
A very well maintained cemetery to some of the fallen of WW1 . Walking from Albert gives one the sense of the distance the soldiers walked after disembarking from the train in Albert . It's also close to Mouquet Farm . Site of a battle involving the Australian troops . Lastly Thiepval you can see it in the distance should not be missed . RIP William Albert Barker 3 Battalion Toronto Regiment Killed in action on September 20, 1916 age 17 , buried in Poziere Cemetery
gav perry (22 months ago)
A must visit when touring the Somme battlefield or just passing by. Only a 5 minute drive from Thiepval memorial , Ulster Tower and Lochnagar crater.
Neil Wileman (2 years ago)
Beautiful solemnity. Sadly not wheelchair friendly. Easy parking on both sides of the road.
John Needh (3 years ago)
A very sobering place to visit. So many gave their lives for us. Immaculately kept. Everyone should visit a war cemetery in France.
Kurajber Kurajberos (3 years ago)
Big RESPECT
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