Victory In Europe, Péronne Road Cemetery
Victory In Europe

updated: May 28, 2003
PERONNE ROAD CEMETERY
 
Péronne Road Cemetery


Peronne Road Cemetery (called at one time Maricourt Military Cemetery No. 3) is on the North side of the road to Albert, on the Western outskirts of the village. It was begun by fighting units and Field Ambulances in the Battles of the Somme, 1916, and used until August, 1917; a few graves were added later in the War, and at the Armistice it consisted of 175 graves which now form almost the whole of Plot I. It was completed after the Armistice by the concentration of 1,146 graves from the battlefields in the immediate neighbourhood and from certain smaller burial grounds.

The cemetery now contains the graves of 1,272 soldiers (and sailors of the Royal Naval Division and airmen) from the United Kingdom, 34 from South Africa, 14 from Australia, and one from Canada. The unnamed graves are 366 in number, and special memorials are erected to 26 soldiers from the United Kingdom known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of three soldiers from the United Kingdom, buried in other cemeteries, whose graves could not be found.

The cemetery covers an area of 4,530 square yards. It is enclosed on three sides by a low red brick wall and a thorn hedge, and on the road frontage by a thorn hedge and a bank. It is planted with white and scarlet thorns and Irish yews. It stands above the level of the road, looking over the valley towards the Somme.

The following were among the burial grounds from which British graves were removed to Peronne Road Cemetery :

AUTHUILE COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION
, which was on the South side of the Communal Cemetery. It contained the graves of 108 French soldiers and those of 23 from the United Kingdom who fell in 1915 and early 1916.

BRIQUETERIE EAST CEMETERY, MONTAUBAN
, on the East side of the brick-works between Maricourt and Montauban, containing the graves of 46 soldiers from the United Kingdom who fell in the latter half of 1916.

CARNOY COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION, in which 36 French soldiers and one from the United Kingdom were buried in March, 1918.

CASEMENT TRENCH CEMETERY, MARICOURT
, on the West side of the road to the Briqueterie, in which 163 soldiers from the United Kingdom and one from South Africa were buried in 1916-1918

FARGNY MILL FRENCH MILITARY CEMETERY, CURLU
, on the North bank of the Somme, in which six soldiers from the United Kingdom and two from Australia were buried in 1916-1918.

LA COTE MILITARY CEMETERY, MARICOURT, a little way West of Peronne Road Cemetery, containing the graves of 38 soldiers from the United Kingdom and one from Australia who fell in
1916-1917.

MARICOURT FRENCH MILITARY CEMETERY, on the South side of the village, containing the graves of two soldiers from the United Kingdom who fell in December, 1916.

MONTAUBAN ROAD FRENCH MILITARY CEMETERY, MARICOURT, in which six men of the 1st /8th King's Liverpools were buried in August, 1916.

TALUS BOISE BRITISH CEMETERY, CARNOY, between Carnoy and Maricourt, at the South end of a long copse. It was used in the latter half of 1916 and (chiefly by the 5th Royal Berks) in August, 1918, and it contained the graves of 175 soldiers from the United Kingdom and five from South Africa.

Number of burials by Unit

Royal Field Artillery
113
  King's Liverpool Regt
77
Royal Garrison Artillery
57
  Royal Fusiliers - City of London Regt
49
Royal Berkshire Regt
46
  South African
34
Manchester Regt
31
  Royal Army Medical Corps
28
Queen's - Royal West Surrey
23
  South Lancashire Regt
23
Lancashire Fusiliers
22
  Durham Light Inf
18
Middlesex Regt
18
  Buffs - East Kent Regt
17
Highland Light Inf
17
  Machine Gun Corps (Inf)
17
Rifle Brigade
16
  Royal Engineers
16
Royal Sussex Regt
15
  Australian
14
3rd Bn London Regt - Royal Fusiliers
13
  Bedfordshire Regt
13
Duke of Cornwalls Light Inf
13
  Royal West Kent Regt (Queens Own)
13
King's Royal Rifle Corps
12
  Cheshire Regt
10
East Surrey Regt
10
  King's Own Royal Lancaster Regt
9
Loyal North Lancs Regt
9
  Royal Scots - Lothian Regt
9
West Yorkshire Regt
9
  Cambridgeshire Regt
8
Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derbys Regt)
8
  13th Bn London Regt - Kensington
7
King's Own Scottish Borderers
7
  Seaforth Highlanders
7
Somerset Light Inf
7
  Yorkshire Regt - Green Howards
7
1st Bn London Regt - Royal Fusiliers
6
  Essex Regt
6
Leinster Regt
6
  North Staffordshire Regt
6
4th Bn London Regt - Royal Fusiliers
5
  4th Dragoon Guards
5
7th Bn London Regt
5
  Black Watch - Royal Highlanders
5
Northamptonshire Regt
5
  Royal Warwickshire Regt
5
Wiltshire Regt
5
  16th Bn London Regt - Queens Westminsters
4
2nd Bn London Regt - Royal Fusiliers
4
  Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders
4
Duke of Wellington's - West Riding Regt
4
  Gordon Highlanders
4
Grenadier Guards
4
  Norfolk Regt
4
15th Bn London Regt - PWO Civil Service Rifles
3
  Cameronians - Scottish Rifles
3
Dorsetshire Regt
3
  King's Shropshire Light Inf
3
Royal Dublin Fusiliers
3
  Royal Horse Artillery
3
Royal Welsh Fusiliers
3
  Suffolk Regt
3
10th Bn London Regt - Hackney
2
  22nd Bn London Regt - The Queens
2
24th Bn London Regt - The Queens
2
  28th Bn London Regt - Artists Rifles
2
9th Bn London Regt - Queen Victorias Rifles
2
  Bedfordshire Yeomanry
2
Devonshire Regt
2
  Hampshire Regt
2
Lincolnshire Regt
2
  Machine Gun Corps (Cav)
2
Northumberland Fusiliers
2
  Tank Corps
2
Welsh Regt
2
  17th Bn London Regt - Poplar & Stepney Rifles
1
20th Bn London Regt - Blackheath & Woolwich
1
  21st Bn London Regt - First Surrey Rifles
1
23rd Bn London Regt
1
  5th Bn London Regt - London Rifle Brigade
1
6th Bn London Regt - Rifles
1
  7th Dragoon Guards
1
8th Bn London Regt - Post Office Rifles
1
  Cameron Highlanders
1
Canadian
1
  Coldstream Guards
1
East Yorkshire Regt.
1
  K.R.I. Hussars
1
Kings Own Yorkshire Light Inf
1
  Queens Bays
1
Royal Air Force
1
  Royal Dragoons
1
Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
1
  Royal Irish Rifles
1
Royal Naval Division
1
  Royal Scots Fusiliers
1
Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry
1
  Worcestershire Regt
1
York and Lancaster Regt.
1
     
Identified burials
983
     
Unidentified UK burials:
366
     
Total burials
1349