Friday, May 31, 2013

Into The Somme

Every village, town, and city in France has its war memorials, proudly maintained and honored. In eastern France, where much of the Great War was fought, the hundreds of cemeteries and memorials honor the dead, but also bear witness to the horror of war, and particularly that war.
A memorial in the cathedral at Noyon was
among the first that caught our attention



















Our route north from Amiens now traversed the shifting
lines of battle of the Sommes offensive, July-November, 1916;
1.2 million lives were lost in the offensive; the British lost
21,000 killed and 35,000 wounded just the first day; the line
moved a couple of miles, which the Germans quickly gained
back in 1918


















We stopped at one of the many British cemeteries along
our route; not a large one, really















Perhaps a third of the markers bore this
inscription...

1 comment:

Tawana said...

The cemeteries containing American dead from the great wars are considered to be American soil. I would have assumed that the cemeteries of British and Canadian soldiers were the same.