Peronne Communal Cemetery Extension

Cemetery Details

Location Peronne, Picardie - Somme, France
Co‑ordinates N49.9356952, E2.9345546
Description

 

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)

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Names

Showing 8 people of interest from cemetery

HUNT, Colin Edward

Service number 6817A
Sergeant
21st Infantry Battalion
AIF WW1
Born 20 Jun 1896

DORNEY, William Michael

Lieutenant
33rd Infantry Battalion
AIF WW1

WALKER, Alexander

Service number 6398
Private
21st Infantry Battalion
AIF WW1
Born Mar 1895

GILHOOLEY, Albert

Service number 890
Corporal
38th Infantry Battalion
AIF WW1
Born 1 Aug 1894

BOTTOMLEY, William John

Service number 7199
Private
21st Infantry Battalion
AIF WW1
Born Jan 1879

THOMPSON, John William

Service number 3657
Private
25th Infantry Battalion
AIF WW1

LANGTON, Stephen Bennett

Service number 3088
Corporal
2nd Machine Gun Battalion
AIF WW1
Born 1892

BARTON, Pearce

Service number 3118
Private
56th Infantry Battalion
AIF WW1
Born 29 Sep 1893

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