AIF Burial Ground Grass Lane, Flers

AIF Burial Ground Grass Lane, Flers (Somme)

Details

Flers is a village and commune in the Department of the Somme, nine miles North-East of Albert and four miles South of Bapaume; and the A.I.F. Burial Ground is a mile North-East of the village, on a track known to the Army as Grass Lane. The local name of the site is "Aux Cavées."

The village was captured on the 15th September, 1916, in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette; it was entered by the New Zealand and 41st Divisions, following the newly revealed Tanks. It was lost in March 1918, and retaken at the end of the following August.

The Cemetery was begun by Australian medical units, posted in the neighbouring caves, in November, 1916-February, 1917; and these original graves are in Plot I, Rows A and B. It was very greatly enlarged after the Armistice by the concentration of 3,842 British and French graves from the battlefields of the Somme, and afterwards from a wider area; the great majority of these graves date from the autumn of 1916, but one is of 1914, and others of the spring of 1917 and the spring and summer of 1918. It now contains the graves of 2,811 soldiers, and sailors and Marines of the Royal Naval Division, from the United Kingdom; 402 Australian soldiers, 84 New Zealand, 68 Canadian and 27 South African; 55 men whose unit was not known; 163 French soldiers (out of 416 reburied here in 1919); and three German prisoners.

The unnamed graves are 2,262 in number, or nearly two-thirds of the whole; and special memorials are erected to 15 Australian soldiers, five from the United Kingdom and three from New Zealand, known or believed to be buried among them. Other special Memorials record the names of three soldiers from the United Kingdom, buried by the Germans in 1915-16 in a cemetery at Flers, whose graves could not be found.

The following were among the burial grounds from which the British 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 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.

Number of Burials by Unit

Australian burials	273	Royal Fusiliers - City of London Regiment	85
New Zealand burials	55	Manchester Regiment	50
Durham Light Infantry	40	Rifle Brigade	37
King's Royal Rifle Corps	33	Canadian burials	29
Duke of Wellington - West Riding Regiment	24	South Wales Borderers	23
King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry	22	Bedfordshire Regiment	21
Machine Gun Corps	20	Royal Irish Rifles	20
Middlesex Regiment	19	Scots Guards	17
Dorsetshire Regiment	16	East Yorkshire Regiment	16
Highland Light Infantry	16	Leicestershire Regiment	15
Queen's - Royal West Surrey Regiment	15	Royal Engineers	15
Hampshire Regiment	14	King's Liverpool Regiment	13
Royal Field Artillery	13	Green Howards - Yorkshire Regiment	12
Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry	12	Royal Scots Fusiliers	12
Border Regiment	11	Lancashire Fusiliers	11
Monmouthshire Regiment	11	Royal Navy Division - infantry	10
West Yorkshire Regiment	10	Worcestershire Regiment	10
Duke of Cornwall Light Infantry	9	Wiltshire Regiment	9
Grenadier Guards	8	Cameronians - Scottish Rifles	7
Loyal North Lancashire Regiment	7	South Lancashire Regiment	7
Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Regiment	7	Artistes Rifles	6
Coldstream Guards	6	Essex Regiment	6
King's Own Scottish Borderers	6	Northamptonshire Regiment	6
Royal Welsh Fusiliers	6	York & Lancaster Regiment	6
East Lancashire Regiment	5	Royal Irish Regiment	5
Royal Warwickshire Regiment	5	Seaforth Highlanders	5
Somerset Light Infantry	5	Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders	4
Black Watch	4	1st/5th Bn. London Regiment - London Rifle Brigade	4
Northumberland Fusiliers	4	Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers	4
Royal Irish Fusiliers	4	Royal Sussex Regiment	4
Royal West Kent Regiment	4	Welsh Regiment	4
Welsh Guards	4	Buffs - East Kent Regiment	3
Gloucestershire Regiment	3	Lincolnshire Regiment	3
1st/13th Bn. London Regiment - Kensington	3	Royal Munster Fusiliers	3
Royal Marines Light Infantry	3	South African Regiment	3
Cheshire Regiment	2	1st/2nd Bn. London Regiment - Royal Fusiliers	2
1st/4th Bn. London Regiment - Royal Fusiliers	2	1st/7th Bn. London Regiment	2
1st/14th Bn. London Regiment - London Scottish	2	Royal Dublin Fusiliers	2
Royal Army Service Corps	2	Connaught Rangers	1
Irish Guards	1	King's Hussars	1
King's Shropshire Light Infantry	1	1st/1st Bn. London Regiment - Royal Fusiliers	1
1st/3rd Bn. London Regiment - Royal Fusiliers	1	1st/6th Bn. London Regiment - Rifles	1
1st/17th Bn. London Regiment - Poplar & Stepney Rifles	1	Norfolk Regiment	1
1st/9th Bn. London Regiment - Queen Victoria's Rifles	1	Royal Berkshire Regiment	1
Royal Garrison Artillery	1	South Staffordshire Regiment	1
Suffolk Regiment	1	Tank Corps	1
Identified burials	1211
Unidentified burials	2262
Total burials	3473

Awards

Cpl. George Ashmore M.M., 9th Bn. Leicestershire Regiment, died 25th Sept. 1916. Aged 29. II. L. 9.

Capt. James Wilfred Battersby M.C., 53rd Bty. 2nd Brig. Royal Field Artillery, died 24th Oct. 1916 aged 26. II. K. 27.

Bmdr. Allan Edward Beeks M.M., 1st Brig. Australian Field Artillery. K.I.A. 12th Nov. 1916 aged 22. I. A. 3.

Bty. S.M. Robert Birnie M.C., New Zealand Field Artillery. K.I.A. 21st Oct. 1916. I. E. 23.

C.S.M. P. Carr D.C.M., M.M., 7th Bn. East Yorkshire Regiment. Died 27th Aug. 1918. III. K. 9.

Pte. H. H. Cox M.M., 6th Bn. Northamptonshire Regiment, died 5th April 1918. XV. M. 30.

Pte. William Hopkins Davies M.M., 2nd Bn. South Wales Borderers, died 28th Jan. 1917 aged 22. H. M. 17.

Sgt. W. Emery D.C.M., 6th Bn. King's Own Scottish Borderers, died 19th Oct. 1916. XV. M. 21.

C.S.M. Enos England D.C.M., M.M., 6th Bn. Dorsetshire Regiment, K.I.A. 24th Aug. 1918 aged 24. XV. A. 21/30

Cpl. Kenneth Holmes Fairey M.M., 2nd Bty. 1st Brig. Australian Field Artillery. K.I.A. 12th Nov. 1916 aged 21. I. A. 4.

Capt. Leonard Farthing M.C., 2nd Bn. East Lancashire Regiment. K.I.A. near Lesboeufs 16th Nov. 1916 aged 28. Served 13 years with 1st Royal Dragoons. III. D. 27.

Cpl. Francis John Herbert Fear D.C.M., No. 1 Field Coy. N.Z. Engineers. K.I.A. 20th Sept. 1916. I. E. 13.

Sgt. Harry Sydney Guthrie M.M., 17th Bn. Manchester Regiment. K.I.A. 11th Oct. 1916 aged 27. VIII. B. 1.

Pte. Cyril Hant M.M., 10th Bn. West Yorkshire Regiment, K.I.A. 25th Aug. 1918 aged 29. XV. A. 21/30

Capt. Horace William Harriman M.C., 8th attd. 9th Bn. Duke of Wellington Regiment. Died 1st Sept. 1918 aged 27. IV. D. 7.

Cpl. E. Harrison M.M., 7th Bn. East Yorkshire Regiment. Died 27th Aug. 1918. III. K. 1.

2nd Lt. Roger Hugh Ingoldby, Mentioned in Despatches, 2nd Bn. Royal Dublin Fusiliers. Died 1st July 1916 aged 30. In Canada when war broke out. Joined the Alberta Dragoons as a private, going to France in Feb. 1915. Gazetted to a Commission a few months later. VI. H. 26.

Sgt. Harold Jackson V.C., "C" Coy. 7th Bn. East Yorkshire Regiment. K.I.A. 24th Aug. 1918 aged 26.
An extract from the London Gazette dated 7th May 1918 records the following. "For most conspicious bravery and devotion to duty. Sgt. 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 ememy 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". XV. A. 21/30

Sgt. J. H. Jones D.C.M., Croix de Guerre (France), 11th Bn. The Rifle Brigade. Died 15th Feb. 1917. V.K. 30.

Lt. Ronald Douglas Leslie, Mentioned in Despatches. Died of wounds 5th Nov. 1916 aged 25. II. F. 6.

Cpl. E. Marr M.M., 2nd Bn. Welsh Regiment, died 23rd Dec. 1916 aged 26. I. K. 27.

2nd Lt. Frederick William Hordern Matthews D.C.M., 6th Coy. Australian Machine Gun Corps. K.I.A. 8th Nov. 1916 aged 26. X. L.2.

Sgt. J. McCabe D.C.M., 54th Bn. Australian Inf., died 27th Oct. 1916. II. F. 12

Maj. George Matson Nicholas D.S.O., Mentioned in Despatches. 24th Bn. Australian Inf. K.I.A. 14th Nov. 1916 aged 29. IV. H. 27.

L/Cpl. George Noble M.M., 1st Bn. Wiltshire Regiment, died 7th July 1916 aged 23. XV. E. 8.

Cpl. C. W. Rice M.M., 1st Bn. The Rifle Brigade, died 1st July 1916 aged 21. VI. H. 23.

Capt. Walter Roy Sheen M.C., 56th Bn. Australian Inf. K.I.A. 22nd Oct. 1916 aged 26. II. F. 30.

Sgt. T. D. Swan M.M., 32nd Bn. Royal Fusiliers, died 7th Oct. 1916 aged 24. X. K. 10.

Sgt. Thomas George Ferguson Warner M.M., 47th Coy. Machine Gun Corps (Inf.). K.I.A. 5th April 1918 aged 22. XV. E. 15.

Others buried in this Cemetery

Pte Richard Thomas Cooke, 1889. 23rd Bn Australian Inf. Killed in action 9th Nov., 1916. Age 20. Son of Nicholas and Margaret Cooke, of "The Pines", Pyalong, Victoria, Australia. VII. A. 10.