Details

Albert is a town and commune in the Department of the Somme. A straight road leads uphill North-Eastwards from the town to Bapaume; and about 1.5 kilometres along that road, on the right-hand side, is Bapaume Post Military Cemetery. It lies on the West side of "Tara Hill", and South-West of "Usna Hill", and at times it was called by those names.

In June 1916, the British front line crossed the Bapaume between the site of this cemetery and the village of lo Boisselle. The attack on La Boisselle on the 1st July was not successful, and several days passed before the village was taken. The cemetery was begun almost at once by the Divisions engaged in this sector; and 152 graves in Plot I, Rows B to I, were made between the commencement of the Battle of Albert and the end of January, 1917, when the cemetery was closed.

On the 26th March, 1918, the cemetery with the town of Albert, fell into German hands; but in the Battle of Albert, 1918 (21st to 23rd August), it was recovered.

After the Armistice, 257 graves from the battlefields East and West of the cemetery were brought into it. They included many of the graves of the 34th (Tyneside) Division, which attacked along the Bapaume road on the 1st July, 1916, and some 38th (Welsh) Division, which recaptured Usna Hill on the 23rd August, 1918. The cemetery now contains the graves of 327 soldiers from the United Kingdom (of whom 27 known and 78 unknown, belonged to the Northumberland Fusiliers), 64 from Canada, 18 from Australia, one from South Africa; and memorials were erected in it by the 14th Canadian Battalion (Royal Montreal Regiment), the 38th Canadian Battalion and the 7th Field Company, Australian Engineers. Three British soldiers who fell in August 1918, are believed to be among the 181 unnamed soldiers buried here, and are commemorated by special headstones.

Number of burials by Unit

*78 of the unidentified burials are known to have belonged to the Northumberland Fusiliers.

Awards

C.S.M. Alexander Alldridge D.C.M. 9558, 2nd Btn South Lancashire Regiment, died 13th July, 1916, aged 23. I. E. 14.

Gnr T. Bee M.M. "C" Bty., 112th Bde., Royal Field Artillery, died 13th October, 1916, aged 24. I. B. 1

2nd Lieutenent John Edwin Francis Theodore Bennett, M.M. 8th Btn Royal Warwickshire Regiment attd 143rd Bde., Machine Gun Corps, died 24th July, 1916, aged 26. I. G. 6.

Lance Corporal J.S. Clarke, M.M., 27/110, 27th (Tyneside Irish) Btn. Northumberland Fusiliers, died 1st July, 1916. I. A. 26.

2nd Lieutenant R. E. Knight D.C.M., 1/5th Btn Gloucestershire Regiment. Died of wounds 22nd July, 1916, aged 29. I. F. 11.

Major John Simon Lewis, Mentioned in Despatches, 87th Bn Canadian Inf (Quebec Regt.). Killed in action on the Somme 18th November 1916, aged 42. I. I. 3

The graves of officers of the 87th Bn (Quebec Regt) Canadian Inf. Killed 18th November 1916, Williams, Hall and Lewis

Lieutenant Allen Oliver M.C., 7th Bde Canadian Field Artillery, died 18th November, 1916, aged 23. I. B. 9.

Private Arthur Pullen, M.M. 55876., 14th Btn Royal Welsh Fusiliers, killed in action 23rd August, 1918, aged 24. II. C. 11

Captain Walter James Turnbull, M.C., 10th Bde Canadian Field Artillery, killed in action 14th November, 1916, aged 25. I. H. 1.

Gnr F Walsh, M.M. 348333, 12th Bde Canadian Field Artillery, died 27th October, 1916. I. D. 1.

Major Cecil Wedgwood D.S.O., 8th Btn North Staffordshire Regiment. Killed in action while commanding the Battalion at La Boisselle, 3rd July, 1916, aged 53. I. C. 2.