Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Peronne was taken by the German on 24 September 1914. On 18 March 1917, the 40th and 48th Divisions captured the town in the follow up of he German withdrawal, but it was recovered by the Germans on the 23rd March 1918 in their Spring Offensive. It changed hands for the last time on 1 September 1918, when it was taken by the 2nd Australian Division 

Peronne was behind German lines for much of the war.  Dominated by the heights of Mont St Quentin, it sat on a strategic position on a major bend in the River Somme.  It was a critical point in the German's Hindenburg Line defensive line.  It became the focus of the Australian Corps under General Monash in what began as a meeting engagement in late August when they approached on the south side of the Somme, before going into a deliberate attack mounted from the north side of the river.

The heights were taken on 2 September, by the Second Division.  The 5th Division crossed the river and entered the town. 

There are now 1,595 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in the extension. 224 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to seven casualties known or believed to be buried among them, and ten buried in other cemeteries whose graves could not be found. The extension also contains five Second World War burials. There are 97 German war graves, 68 being unidentified.

The adjoining communal cemetery contains the grave of one airman of the First World War, killed in August 1914.

The extension was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission link here (www.cwgc.org)