Combles Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme, France

COMBLES COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION

Somme

France

GPS Coordinates - Latitude: 50.01059, Longitude: 2.87212

Location Information

The large village of Combles is 16 kilometres east of Albert and 13 kilometres south of Bapaume.

From Bapaume take the N17 towards Peronne. Just after the village of Sailly Saillisel, take the D172 towards Combles.
The Communal Cemetery is on the right just before the village, and the Extension is at the back, or north-east, of the Communal Cemetery.

Visiting Information

Wheelchair access to site is possible, but maybe by alternative entrance.

Historical Information

The village was entered in the early morning of the 26th August, 1916, by units of the 56th (London) Division and of the French Army; and it remained in Allied occupation until the 24th March, 1918, when the place was captured after a stubborn stand by the South African Brigade at Marrieres Wood. It was retaken on the 29th August, 1918, by the 18th Division. The village was later "adopted", with Flers, by the County Borough of Portsmouth.

The cemetery was begun in October, 1916 by French troops, but the 94 French graves made in 1916 have been removed to another cemetery. The first British burials took place in December, 1916. From March, 1917, to the end of May, 1918, the Extension was not used. In June, July and August, 194 German soldiers were buried in what was afterwards called Plot I, but these graves, too, have been removed; and in August and September further burials were made by the 18th Division. Plots II, V, VI and VII and most of Plot IV were added after the Armistice by the concentration of 944 graves from the battlefields in the neighbourhood and from the following smaller cemeteries:-

FREGICOURT COMMUNAL CEMETERY, in a hamlet between Combles and Saillisel, in which four soldiers from the United Kingdom were buried in the winter of 1916-17.

LEUZE WOOD CEMETERY, COMBLES, at the North-East corner of Leuze Wood, contained the graves of eleven soldiers from the United Kingdom and five French soldiers who fell in September, 1916-January, 1917.

LONGTREE DUMP MILITARY CEMETERY, SAILLY-SAILLISEL, a little South of the road from Morval to Sailly-Saillisel, in which 20 French soldiers and 12 from the United Kingdom were buried in December, 1916, and February, 1917.

MAUREPAS MILITARY CEMETERY, on the South-West side of Maurepas village, in which 12 French soldiers and nine from the United Kingdom and one German prisoner were buried in December, 1916-February, 1917. Maurepas was taken by the French I Corps in August, 1916.

There are 1,510, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, over half are unidentified and special memorials are erected to nine soldiers from the United Kingdom and one from South Africa, known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of three soldiers from the United Kingdom, buried in Maurepas and Longtree Dump Military Cemeteries, whose graves were destroyed by shell fire.

The Extension covers an area of 5,356 square metres. It is enclosed by brick walls on the North-East and South-West.

The Extension was designed by Sir Herbert Baker and Noel Ackroyd Rew

Total Burials: 1,510.

World War One Identified Casualties: United Kingdom 521, Australia 6, Canada 5, South Africa 2. Total 534.

War graves in the communal cemetery at Combles, 8 November 1917. © IWM (Q 78629)

War graves in the cemetery at Combles, 24 July 1917. © IWM (Q 78500)

The ruined cemetery at Combles. © IWM Q 17501

3258 Private
Arthur Albert Albury
12th Bn. Australian Infantry, A. I. F.
Between 19th August 1916 and 22nd August 1916
Plot I. C. 6.

Son of Thomas William and Edith Amelia Albury. Born at Hobart, Tasmania.

Captain
Henry Sherard Osborn Ashington
7th Bn. East Yorkshire Regiment
31st January 1917, aged 25.
Plot III. B. 25.

Son of Sherard and Lydia G. Ashington, of 55, Holbein House, London, S.W.1.

4641 Private
Douglas Bowley
4th Bn. London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers)
25th September 1916, aged 23.
Plot VII. F. 32.

Son of Albert Alexander Bowley and Eliza Bowley, of 2 Grafton St., Brighton.

Lieutenant
Henry James Boyton
4th Bn. Grenadier Guards
14th December 1916, aged 25.
Plot II. C. 2.

Son of Sir James and Lady Boyton, of 2, Park Square West. Regent's Park, London.

49725 Corporal
Arthur Wallace Crump
93rd Field Company, Royal Engineers
9th February 1917.
Plot III. C. 24.

L/10750 Private
Stanley Durman
"A" Coy. 7th Bn. The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment)
1st July 1916, aged 24.
Plot III. E. 12.

Son of Alfred and Maria Durman, of 58, Francis Street, Reading, Berks.

S/10445 Rifleman
John Alexander Evans
9th Bn. Rifle Brigade
15th September 1916, aged 19.
Plot I. C. 39.

Remembered by his niece Margaret Smith (nee Evans) and his great niece
Holly Kendrick

Lieutenant
John Desford Fry
1st Bn. London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers)
15th September 1916, aged 21.
Plot VII. G. 32.

Son of Jane A. Fry, of 13, Bartlemas Rd., Oxford, and the late Rev. Lucius G. Fry, of Upper Edmonton, London.

4440 Rifleman
Norman Edgar Gregory
16th Bn. London Regiment (Queen's Westminster Rifles)
10th September 1916, aged 24.
Plit VII. H. 27.

Son of the Rev. B. D. W. Gregory and Mrs. V. Gregory, of 158, Cavendish Rd., Balham, London.

S/5585 Private
George Lax
"B" Coy. 9th Bn. Seaforth Highlanders
25th March 1918, aged 23.
Plot II. E. 2.

Son of Luke Martin Lax and Annie Lax, of 7, Hill St., Elsecar, Barnsley. Native of Swallow Nest, Sheffield.

Captain
William Gerald Martin
12th Bn. King's Royal Rifle Corps
14th January 1917, aged 27.
Plot VII. H. 40.

Son of Edward and Alice Maud Martin, of Woodcote, Forest Row, Sussex.

682392 Private
Charles John Perry
22nd Bn. London Regiment
30th August 1918, aged 38.
Plot II. D. 29.

INSCRIPTION. HE DIED THAT OTHERS MIGHT LIVE.

Son of Charles and Isabel Perry, of London; husband of Beatrice Ada Perry, of 3, Stopford Rd., Walworth, London.

Click on image to enlarge

Picture courtesy of Brian Buck (Grandson)

34185 Private
Ernest Arthur Piles
1st Bn. Somerset Light Infantry
23rd December 1916.
Plot II. E. 26.

1787 Private
Arthur Hubert Thompson
22nd Bn. Australian Infantry, A. I. F.
4th August 1916, aged 23.
Plot IV. E. 19.

Son of the late John Henry and Catherine Thompson. Born at Mount Egerton, Victoria.

A 22 year old labourer from Warburton, Victoria when he enlisted in the AIF on 20 May 1915. He embarked for overseas with the 2nd Reinforcements from Melbourne on 16 July 1915 aboard HMAT Demosthenses. After serving with the 22nd Battalion at Gallipoli, he went on to serve on the Western Front where he was killed in action on 4 August 1916. Pte Thompson was buried north of Pozieres, France but his grave could not be located after the war and his name was engraved on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial with others who have no know grave. His grave was later discovered in 1935 and he was reburied in the Combles Communal Cemetery Extension.

5833 Rifleman
Clifford Louis Turtle
16th Bn. London Regiment (Queen's Westminster Rifles)
10th September 1916, aged 26.
Plot VI. E. 1.

Son of Louis Henry and Kate Turtle, of "Homefield", Stafford Rd., Croydon.

5730 Rifleman
Robert Cyril Wardell
9th Bn. London Regiment (Queen Victoria's Rifles)
9th September 1916.
Plot III. E. 2.

5370 Rifleman
Henry Kenneth Weatherhead
"C" Coy. 16th Bn. London Regiment (Queen's Westminster Rifles)
10th September 1916, aged 24.
Plot VII. C. 16.

Son of Henry and Florence Esther Weatherhead, of "Naunton", Holland Rd., Clacton-on-Sea.

Captain
Musgrave Maitland Webb
16th Bn. London Regiment (Queen's Westminster Rifles)
18th September 1916, aged 24.
Plot VII. G. 19.

Son of Florence M. Webb, of Westfield, Hatch End, Middx., and the late Mr. W. R. Webb.

Lieutenant
James Brazill Wilson
52nd Bn. Australian Infantry, A. I. F.
3rd September 1916, aged 23.
Plot I. C. 9.

Only Son of Herbert Douglas Wilson and Matutina Elizabeth Wilson, of 18 Northcote Street., Torrensville, South Australia. Born in Adelaide.

3830 Private A. Nunn would later give his version of James Wilson's death;

"I saw him killed at Mouquet Farm, by a shell. I saw his body lying in the field and I do not think he was taken out and buried. We could not get near him."