Beautiful entrance block to the CWGC Combles Communal Cemetery Extension, Combles, Somme, Picardy, France.


The cemetery was begun in October, 1916 by French troops, but the 94 French graves made in 1916 have been removed to another cemetery. The first British burials took place in December, 1916. From March, 1917, to the end of May, 1918, the Extension was not used. In June, July and August, 194 German soldiers were buried in what was afterwards called Plot I, but these graves, too, have been removed; and in August and September further burials were made by the 18th Division. Plots II, V, VI and VII and most of Plot IV were added after the Armistice by the concentration of 944 graves from the battlefields in the neighbourhood. There are now over 1,500, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, over half are unidentified and special memorials are erected to nine soldiers from the United Kingdom and one from South Africa, known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of three soldiers from the United Kingdom, buried in Maurepas and Longtree Dump Military Cemeteries, whose graves were destroyed by shell fire.


Size: 3624px × 2373px
Location: Combles, Somme, Picardy, France
Photo credit: © Maurice Savage / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: battle, battlefield, battlefields, cemetery, combles, commission, commonwealth, communal, cwgc, day, extension, france, front, grave, graves, great, headstones, remembrance, somme, war, western, world, ww1, wwi