List of World War I memorials and cemeteries in the Somme

This article continues where the List of World War I memorials and cemeteries in Artois left off and here we look at that part of the Western Front that ran through the area of the river Somme and comment on some of the cemeteries, monuments and memorials that are located there.



Memorial to the 38th (Welsh) Division at Mametz Wood
{| class="wikitable sortable" ! scope="col" style="width:1000px;"|Memorial to the 38th (Welsh) Division at Mametz Wood
 * Mametz Wood was to be the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting of the opening days of the Battle of the Somme as taking the wood involved advancing uphill and over open ground whilst facing heavy machine gun fire and artillery. By 12 July the woods had been cleared of Germans but at a heavy cost with over 4,000 Welsh deaths and casualties. The Mametz memorial takes the form of a Welsh dragon challenging the wood to its fore. At one side of the base is carved the regimental cap badge of the South Wales Borderers. The sculptural work was by David Petersen.
 * Mametz Wood was to be the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting of the opening days of the Battle of the Somme as taking the wood involved advancing uphill and over open ground whilst facing heavy machine gun fire and artillery. By 12 July the woods had been cleared of Germans but at a heavy cost with over 4,000 Welsh deaths and casualties. The Mametz memorial takes the form of a Welsh dragon challenging the wood to its fore. At one side of the base is carved the regimental cap badge of the South Wales Borderers. The sculptural work was by David Petersen.

The 38th (Welsh) Division was very much the result of personal initiatives by Lloyd George and was the Welsh equivalent of the "Pals" battalions from the North of England. So awful was the fighting here that a Welsh soldier, Wyn Griffith, described it as "the horror of our way of life and death and of our crucifixion of youth".



Some recommended websites

 * France-Searchable French website Enables searches to be made for French soldiers killed in 1914-1918
 * Australia- Australian Government website covering the Australian Imperial Force An excellent website for matters concerning the Australian Imperial Force.
 * Canada-Canadian Government website Again has facilities to search for Canadian service records of the 1914-1918 war.
 * Germany-German website Comprehensive details of German cemeteries, etc.
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_memorials_(Eastern_Somme) War Memorials Eastern Somme
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_memorials_(Western_Somme) War Memorials Western Somme
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_memorials_(Aisne)War Memorials Aisne
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_memorials_(Oise) War Memorials Oise

Recommended reading

 * Alexandre Thers. "La Somme L’offensive traqique".  ISBN 2-913903-67-3
 * "Illustrated Michelin Guides to the Battlefields (1914-1918)". ISBN 0 904775 14 3 and 0 904775 19 4 both cover The Somme, the first in 1916 and the second in 1918.
 * "Michelin’s Illustrated Guides to the Battlefields (1914-1918). Amiens". ISBN 0 904775 59 3.
 * Ian Uys. "Longueval". ISBN 0 620 09532 6
 * Ray Westlake. "Kitchener’s Army" ISBN 1-86227-212-3
 * "Illustrated Michelin Guides to the Battlefields (1914-1918). Soissons" ISBN 0 904775 89 5.
 * G.Gliddon. "VCs Handbook. The Western Front 1914-1918" ISBN 0-7509-3345-6
 * P.Longworth. "The Unending Vigil" ISBN 1 84415 004-6
 * M.Brown. "Book of the Somme" ISBN 0-283-06249-5
 * Ian Uys. "Delville Wood" ISBN 0 620 06611 3
 * A.H.Farrar-Hockley. "The Somme" ISBN 0 330 28035 X
 * Lyn Macdonald. "Somme" ISBN 0-333-36648-4
 * Chris McCarthy. "The Somme. The Day-by-Day Account" ISBN 1-85409-330-4
 * Jack Alexander. "McCrae's Battalion" ISBN 1-84018-932-0