Adelaide Cemetery Villers-Bretonneux, France

Cemetery Details

Location 119 Rue d'Amiens, Villers-Bretonneux, Departement de la Somme - Picardie, France
Co‑ordinates N49.870804, E2.498115
Description

Location

The Adelaide Cemetery at Villers Bretonneux is one of the most visited sites by Australians on the Western Front battlefields of France and Belgium.  It is situated to the West of the town on the main road to Amiens. About 500m to the west towards Amiens in a valley below the cemetery is a road which formed part of the 'start line' for the counter-attack by the 13th and 15th Brigades on the evening of 24/25 April 1918 which famously liberated the town and halted the German advance on Amiens during the major offensive called 'Operation Michael' in March / April 1918.

History

Adelaide Cemetery was begun early in June 1918 and used by the 2nd and 3rd Australian Divisions. It continued in use until the Allies began their advance in mid August, by which time it contained 90 graves (the greater part of the present Plot I, Rows A to E).

After the Armistice, a large number of graves were brought into the cemetery from small graveyards and isolated positions on the north, west and south of Villers-Bretonneux and they were, without exception, those of men who died in the months from March to September 1918.

They included:-

 • CACHY BRITISH CEMETERY, on the North-Western outskirts of the village of Cachy, contained the graves of 2 British soldiers who fell in March, 1918, and 10 Canadians who fell in August.

• CHALK LANE CEMETERY, VILLERS-BRETONNEUX, 100 metres from Adelaide Cemetery, used in April and May, 1918, and contained the graves of 14 soldiers from the United Kingdom and 10 from Australia.

• EMBANKMENT CEMETERY, VILLERS-BRETONNEUX, which was used by the 4th Australian and 2nd Australian Divisions from the end of April to July, 1918. It contained the graves of 37 Australian soldiers and 1 British airman. It was a little West of Adelaide Cemetery, beside the railway and behind a Dressing Station.

• WHITE CHATEAU CEMETERY, CACHY, between L'Abbe Wood and the railway, 500 metres West of Adelaide Cemetery. It was used from April to August, 1918, and it contained the graves of 23 soldiers from Australia, 9 from the United Kingdom and 2 from Canada.

Plot I was filled, Plot II was made almost entirely with graves from United Kingdom units, and Plot III almost entirely with Australian.

There are now 960 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 266 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to four casualties known, or believed to be buried among them.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

Notable Figures

Of particular interest are several graves, including that from which the Unknown Soldier was disinterred in 1992 to be repatriated to Australia for interment in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Australian War Memorial Canberra.

Another is that of a 50-year-old soldier from the South Australian 50th Battalion, Private John Anderson (/explore/people/218) who is buried in the cemetery but his actual grave has been lost. The 50th Battalion attacked around the southern flank of the town as part of the 13th Brigade during the famous counterattack on ANZAC Day 1918 which re-captured the town and halted the German advance on Amiens.

Another is a highly decorated soldier, Company Sergeant Major Philip Bonhote (/explore/people/243988) of Tasmania, a member of the 52nd Battalion which was a composite WA / SA / Battalion and part of the same Brigade as the 50th Battalion Aged just 25, he had already been awarded awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal and Military Medal, but his luck ran out on the evening of 24th April 1918.  The headstone is marked "Believed to Be" meaning the remains were not able to be positively identified as his.

Other figures of note include:

Sergeant David Henry Allen MM (/explore/people/272351) of the 52nd Battalion 

Lance Corporal John Cooper DCM (/explore/people/163497) of the 51st Battalion 

Driver Roy Loton MM (/explore/people/221895) of the 1st Field Artillery Brigade 

Second Lieutenant George Joseph Shepperd MM (/explore/people/196236) of the 26th Battalion

Captain Frank Smith MC, MID (/explore/people/355083) of the 51st Battalion

Currently, 704 Commonwealth War Graves are maintained at the Adelaide Cemetery. 409 are identified Australians. 

Steve Larkins - 2 January 2014

 

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Names

Showing 8 people of interest from cemetery

EDEN-LITTLE, Harry

Service number 30295
Driver
14th Field Artillery Brigade
AIF WW1
Born 19 Oct 1890

DURHAM, Charles James

Service number 2810
Sergeant
14th Infantry Battalion
AIF WW1
Born 1893

KITCHEN, Jack Zadkiel

Lieutenant
51st Infantry Battalion (WW1)
AIF WW1
Born 22 Jul 1892

HENDERSON, Ronald Grahame

Service number 2395
Lieutenant
18th Infantry Battalion
AIF WW1
Born 5 Jul 1892

MCAULIFFE, James

Service number 6364
Private
25th Infantry Battalion
AIF WW1

CHANDLER, Richard William Edward

Service number 505
Private
5th Machine Gun Battalion
AIF WW1

SWANTON, Robert

Service number 2254
Lieutenant
22nd Infantry Battalion
AIF WW1
Born 8 Nov 1891

THOMPSON, William James

Service number 2247
Private
5th Pioneer Battalion
AIF WW1
Born 1893

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