Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Location Information
Warlencourt British Cemetery lies on the east side of the D929, to the south-east of Warlencourt village and 5 kilometres south-west of Bapaume. CWGC signposts on the D929 give advance warning of arrival at the Cemetery.

History Information
This cemetery covers an area of 10,300 square metres and is enclosed by a low brick wall on the road front, and on the other three sides by a concrete curb.

Warlencourt, the Butte de Warlencourt and Eaucourt-L'Abbaye were the scene of very fierce fighting in 1916. Eaucourt was taken by the 47th (London) Division early in October. The Butte (a Roman mound of excavated chalk, about 17 metres high, once covered with pines) was attacked by that and other divisions, but it was not relinquished by the Germans until the following 26 February, when they withdrew to the Hindenburg Line. The 51st (Highland) Division fought a delaying action here on 25 March 1918 during the great German advance, and the 42nd (East Lancashire) Division recaptured the ground on 25 August 1918.  

The cemetery was made late in 1919, by concentrations from the battlefields of Warlencourt and Le Sars.

There are now 3,505, 1914-18 Commonwealth war casualties commemorated in this site, 1,823 of these are unidentified.
'Special memorials' are erected to 44 soldiers from the United Kingdom, 9 from Australia, and 2 from South Africa, known or believed to be buried among them.

Moved into this cemetery was:- Hexham Road Cemetery, Le Sars, on the West side of the Abbey grounds. (Hexham Road was the name given to the road leading from Warlencourt to Eaucourt. Le Sars was captured by the 23rd Division on the 7th October 1916, and again by the Third Army on the 25th August 1918.) Hexham Road Cemetery was used from November 1916 to October 1917.

Thank you to Alan Kitchen for the main photo.

Sourced and submitted by Julianne T Ryan.  24/3/2015.  Lest we forget.