A. I. F. BURIAL GROUND
Flers
Somme
France
GPS Coordinates - Latitude: 50.05985, Longitude: 2.83119
Location Information
A.I.F. Burial Ground is 2 Kms north of the village of Flers, in the Department of the Somme. Travel south-west of Bapaume on the D929 in the direction of Albert for 6 Kms to the village of Le Sars. Turn left eastwards on the D11 in the direction of Geudecourt for 3.5 Kms to the D74/D197 junction. Continue along the D74 in the direction of Geudecourt for 500 metres when a CWGC signpost will be seen indicating the A.I.F. Burial Ground along a track to the right.
Visiting Information
Wheelchair access is possible via the main entrance.
Historical Information
Flers was captured on 15 September 1916, in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, when it was entered by the New Zealand and 41st Divisions behind tanks, the innovative new weapons that were used here for the first time. The village was lost during the German advance of March 1918 and retaken at the end of the following August by the 10th West Yorks and the 6th Dorsets of the 17th Division.
The cemetery was begun by Australian medical units, posted in the neighbouring caves, in November 1916-February 1917. These original graves are in Plot I, Rows A and B. It was very greatly enlarged after the Armistice when almost 4,000 Commonwealth and French graves were brought in from the battlefields of the Somme, and later from a wider area.
The following were among the burial grounds from which Commonwealth graves were taken to this cemetery:-
FACTORY CORNER, FLERS, a little West of the crossing of the roads from Eaucourt-L'Abbaye to Gueudecourt and from Flers to Ligny-Thilloy. This place, which had been a German Headquarters for Artillery and Engineers and had a German Cemetery, was taken by the 1st Canterbury Infantry Regiment on the 25th September, 1916, and again by the 7th East Yorks on the 27th August, 1918. Fifteen soldiers from the United Kingdom and 13 from Australia were buried here in October, 1916-March, 1917, and in August, 1918.
NORTH ROAD CEMETERY, FLERS, North-West of the village, at the crossing of the Eaucourt-L'Abbaye road with "North Road" (to Factory Corner). Here were buried, in the winter of 1916-17, 13 Australian soldiers and seven from the United Kingdom.
The great majority of the graves in A.I.F. Burial Ground date from the autumn of 1916, but one is from 1914, and there are others from the spring of 1917 and the spring and summer of 1918.
There are now 3,475 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 2,263 of the burials are unidentified and there are special memorials to 23 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of three casualties buried in a cemetery at Flers, whose graves could not be found. The cemetery also contains 170 French and 3 German war graves.
Total Burials: 3,647.
Commonwealth Identified Casualties: United Kingdom 852, Australia 276, New Zealand 54, Canada 29, South Africa 3. Total 1,214.
Commonwealth Unidentified Casualties: United Kingdom, 1,962, Australia 142, Canada 38, New Zealand 35, South Africa 24, Unknown 60. Total 2,261.
Other Nationalities: France 170, Germany 3. Total 173.
The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker and Arthur James Scott Hutton
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18474 Serjeant Harold Jackson, V. C.
'C' Company, 7th Bn. East Yorkshire Regiment
Killed in action on 24th August 1918, aged 26.
Plot XV. A. 21/30.
Son of Thomas and Mary Ann Jackson, of "Allandales", Kirton, Boston.
His headstone bears the inscription "He Heard The Call And Answered With Never A Thought Of Fear"
Citation:
An extract from The "London Gazette", dated 7th May, 1918, records the following:- "For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty. Sjt. Jackson volunteered and went out through the hostile barrage and brought back valuable information regarding the enemy's movements. Later, when the enemy had established themselves in our line, this N.C.O. rushed at them, and single-handed, bombed them out into the open. Shortly afterwards, again single-handed, he stalked an enemy machine-gun, threw Mills bombs at the detachment, and put the gun out of action. On a subsequent occasion when all his officers had become casualties, this very gallant N.C.O. led his company in the attack, and, when ordered to retire, he withdrew the company successfully under heavy fire. He then went out repeatedly under heavy fire and carried in wounded."
Headstone
Image © Johan Pauwels
German sign found near Flers, April 1919.
Photograph of a memorial sign for for members of 1st Battalion killed in action 5 November 1916 at the Battle of Flers, France. Names include: 5359 Private (Pte) George William Earl, 5724 Pte Frederick Buckingham, 5669 Pte George Stanley Chutter, 3228 Pte Edward Charles Ashford, 2583 Pte Archibald Douglas Edwards, 87A Pte Roland Edwin Hollingworth, 3946 Corporal (Cpl) Francis Augustus Kendrick, 5725 Pte George Norman Kilmister, 3381 Cpl Alfred Lucas, 4038 Lance Corporal John Gordan Morrison, 3550 Sergeant George Edward Wells (George Edward Cosgrave), 5293 Pte George Roith McKenzie, 3809 Pte Walter Frederick Porter, 4045 Pte Wilfred Henry Sparling, 3251 Pte George Edwards Burns, 5770 Pte Vincent Roy Stone, 5226 Pte Thomas Edward Scott, 79A Pte Albert Charles Baden Govers, 5756 Pte Clarence Aubrey Noel Pollard.
Images in gallery below © Thierry Grier
November 1916; Unidentified soldiers, probably of the 12th Brigade, moving along a support line known as 'Cheese Road'. This sunken lane forming the support line in front of Flers. On 12 November 1916, shortly before the image was taken, Brigadier General D J Glasfurd, Commanding the 12th Infantry Brigade, was mortally wounded here by a German shell while inspecting the line in readiness for the brigade.
1917; A soldier standing outside 'Factory Corner ', a shelter made from sand bags and other materials. Duck boards are in the foreground as the mud was appalling. It was here the 22nd Battalion had their Headquarters during the operations at Flers.
Sergeant Marshall of the 21st Battalion stands amid a group of wooden crosses that he has made for the graves of comrades who were killed in action on 6 November 1916. The cross on the left is to mark the graves of 1983 Corporal Frederick Ernest Oates, 371 Private Alfred Henry Edwards, 4723 Private Harold Harding and 4677 Private Alfred Charles Burton. The next cross is inscribed with the name of Driver H Trotter.
