ROCQUIGNY-EQUANCOURT ROAD BRITISH CEMETERY
Manancourt
Somme
France
Location Information
Rocquigny and Equancourt are two villages in the Department of the Somme, some 13 kilometres north of Péronne and 12 kilometres south-east of Bapaume. Rocquigny and Equancourt are approximately 8 kilometres apart and the Rocquigny-Equancourt British Cemetery lies about halfway between the two villages on the north side of the road just west of the crossing road from Etricourt to Ytres.
Visiting Information
The location or design of this site makes wheelchair access impossible.
Historical Information
Étricourt was occupied by Commonwealth troops at the beginning of April 1917 during the German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line. It was lost on the 23 March 1918 when the Germans advanced, but regained at the beginning of September.
The cemetery was begun in 1917 and used until March 1918, mainly by the 21st and 48th Casualty Clearing Stations posted at Ytres, and to a small extent by the Germans, who knew it as "Etricourt Old English Cemetery". Burials were resumed by Commonwealth troops in September 1918 and the 3rd Canadian and 18th Casualty Clearing Stations buried in it in October and November 1918.
The cemetery contains 2,045 burials and commemorations of the First World War.
Total Burials: 2,045.
Identified Casualties: United Kingdom 1,749, Germany 195, Canada 34, New Zealand 21, South Africa 12, Australia 5. Total 2,016.
The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield
Dedication
57691 Private Timothy Rigby, 12th Bn., Manchester Regiment, died 12th October 1918, aged 36. Plot XII. B. 13. Son of Timothy and Mary Rigby; husband of Elizabeth Rigby, of 22, Chester Rd., Blackpool. Native of Southport.
Remembered by his Grandson Kenneth William Rigby
Rocquigny and Equancourt are two villages in the Department of the Somme, some 13 kilometres north of Péronne and 12 kilometres south-east of Bapaume. Rocquigny and Equancourt are approximately 8 kilometres apart and the Rocquigny-Equancourt British Cemetery lies about halfway between the two villages on the north side of the road just west of the crossing road from Etricourt to Ytres.
Visiting Information
The location or design of this site makes wheelchair access impossible.
Historical Information
Étricourt was occupied by Commonwealth troops at the beginning of April 1917 during the German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line. It was lost on the 23 March 1918 when the Germans advanced, but regained at the beginning of September.
The cemetery was begun in 1917 and used until March 1918, mainly by the 21st and 48th Casualty Clearing Stations posted at Ytres, and to a small extent by the Germans, who knew it as "Etricourt Old English Cemetery". Burials were resumed by Commonwealth troops in September 1918 and the 3rd Canadian and 18th Casualty Clearing Stations buried in it in October and November 1918.
The cemetery contains 2,045 burials and commemorations of the First World War.
Total Burials: 2,045.
Identified Casualties: United Kingdom 1,749, Germany 195, Canada 34, New Zealand 21, South Africa 12, Australia 5. Total 2,016.
The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield
Dedication
57691 Private Timothy Rigby, 12th Bn., Manchester Regiment, died 12th October 1918, aged 36. Plot XII. B. 13. Son of Timothy and Mary Rigby; husband of Elizabeth Rigby, of 22, Chester Rd., Blackpool. Native of Southport.
Remembered by his Grandson Kenneth William Rigby
15122 Serjeant John Harold Rhodes, V. C., D. C. M. and bar.
3rd Bn. Grenadier Guards, died 27th November 1917, aged 26. Plot III. E. 1.
Husband of Lizzie Rhodes, of 27, New St., Pittshill, Stoke-on-Trent.
Citation: An extract from "The London Gazette," No. 30400, dated 23rd Nov., 1917, records the following:- For most conspicuous bravery when in charge of a Lewis gun section covering the consolidation of the right front company. He accounted for several enemy with his rifle as well as by Lewis gun fire, and, upon seeing three enemy leave a "pill-box," he went out single handed through our own barrage and hostile machine-gun fire, and effected an entry into the "pill-box." He there captured nine enemy including a forward observation officer connected by telephone with his battery. These prisoners he brought back with him, together with valuable information.
3rd Bn. Grenadier Guards, died 27th November 1917, aged 26. Plot III. E. 1.
Husband of Lizzie Rhodes, of 27, New St., Pittshill, Stoke-on-Trent.
Citation: An extract from "The London Gazette," No. 30400, dated 23rd Nov., 1917, records the following:- For most conspicuous bravery when in charge of a Lewis gun section covering the consolidation of the right front company. He accounted for several enemy with his rifle as well as by Lewis gun fire, and, upon seeing three enemy leave a "pill-box," he went out single handed through our own barrage and hostile machine-gun fire, and effected an entry into the "pill-box." He there captured nine enemy including a forward observation officer connected by telephone with his battery. These prisoners he brought back with him, together with valuable information.
INSCRIPTION.
UNTIL THE DAY BREAKS & THE SHADOWS FLEE AWAY
Shot at Dawn
200945 Private Joseph Bateman, 2nd Bn. South Staffordshire Regiment, executed for desertion 3rd December 1917. Plot VI. A. 27. Husband of Florence May Bateman, of 7a, Vauxhall Street, Dudley. He deserted when warned for the trenches at Givenchy, being arrested the next day at a PoW camp, wearing a sergeant’s stripes. Batemen escaped from the guardroom — only to be arrested 6 days later in Boulogne. (Putkowski,p.222)
200945 Private Joseph Bateman, 2nd Bn. South Staffordshire Regiment, executed for desertion 3rd December 1917. Plot VI. A. 27. Husband of Florence May Bateman, of 7a, Vauxhall Street, Dudley. He deserted when warned for the trenches at Givenchy, being arrested the next day at a PoW camp, wearing a sergeant’s stripes. Batemen escaped from the guardroom — only to be arrested 6 days later in Boulogne. (Putkowski,p.222)
Pictures in gallery below © André De Smet
German troops carrying buckets of water by the ruins of Rocquigny church, February 1917. © IWM (Q 42254)
A notice extolling the virtues of saving stores, outside a salvage dump near Ytres, 2 February 1918. © IWM (Q 8453)
