CWGC Cemetery: CONNAUGHT CEMETERY, THIEPVAL

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Local Information

Thiepval is a village about 8 kilometres north-east of Albert. The Cemetery (signposted in the village) is about one kilometre north-west of Thiepval on the road (D73) Thiepval-Hamel.

Historical Information

Before the 1916 Battle of the Somme, Thiepval was in German hands, garrisoned by the 160th Regiment of Wurtembergers. On 1 July 1916, it was attacked unsuccessfully by the 36th (Ulster) Division and no further attempt on the village was possible until 26 September, when it was captured by the 18th Division. Thiepval remained under Allied occupation until 25 March 1918 when it was lost during the great German offensive, but it was retaken on the following 24 August by the 17th and 38th (Welsh) Divisions. Connaught Cemetery was begun during the early autumn of 1916 and at the Armistice it contained 228 burials. It was then very greatly increased when graves were brought in from the small cemeteries and battlefields in the immediate area, the great majority being those of officers and men who died in the summer and autumn of 1916. There are now 1,268 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in the cemetery. Half of the burials are unidentified but special memorials commemorate two casualties believed to be buried among them and five buried in Divion Wood Cemetery No 2, whose graves could not be found on concentration. The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.