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Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the Military Cemeteries

It became clear early in the war that the large numbers of casualties would need to be recorded consistently. The Imperial (later Commonwealth) War Graves Commission led by Sir Fabian Ware was set up to keep track of burials, build up records and look after the war dead.

Many decades after the end of the First World War, the CWGC looks after the 1.7 million war casualties who died in the service of Commonwealth forces throughout the world, in both World Wars.

The Somme has over 410 cemeteries with the graves of Commonwealth soldiers. Dates of deaths recorded on the headstones relate to each year of the war, with a peak for the summer and autumn months of 1916. As with all Commonwealth War Graves Commission sites, each one is individually designed, although all follow the same basic design elements; and all are regularly maintained with great care and respect by teams of gardeners and stonework specialists. Their appearance often echoes the wish of their original designers that they should recall ‘an English garden’ set in the French landscape.

The individual headstones give the name (and often the age) of the man buried there, with his rank and number, military unit and regimental badge. Usually a cross, Star of David or other religious emblem is shown; and in very many cases a brief personal inscription is carved at the foot of the stone, chosen by the dead man’s family. All the victims are treated as equal in death, with no distinction made between the different military ranks.

Each of the many men whose bodies could not be identified also has his own grave. They all have the same plain statement, a phrase chosen by the writer Rudyard Kipling (whose only son was killed in action and whose body was only identified decades later): ‘A Soldier of the Great War, Known Unto God’.

The cemeteries are remarkable places to visit, with a quiet but powerful atmosphere. Many visitors come to see the grave of a family forebear, or to see where men from a local unit remain ‘in perpetuity’. Modern technology has added to the number of visitors, as wider computer use and growing interest in researching family history has encouraged more people to seek out graves of family members or those identified on a local war memorial.
The burial plots with their matching rows of white headstones, with flowers or small shrubs planted along the rows, form a line across the landscape that reflects the battle lines of 1914-1918.

Apart from the smallest cemeteries, all have the same white stone cross designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield and white Stone of Remembrance carved with Rudyard Kipling’s choice of phrase: ‘Their name liveth for evermore’. Equally, except where there is no surrounding wall, each one has its own register of graves, description of the construction and planting, and a visitor’s book to sign. Signatures are deeply appreciated, both by those who maintain the cemeteries and by other visitors with personal links to the site; comments such as ‘A visit to my grandfather’s grave’ or ‘Remembering’, and frequently the identification of the grave sought out, show the strength of feeling encountered here.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is a unique organisation, government funded but operating independently of any other institution. Many of its original gardeners and maintenance workers were Commonwealth soldiers who remained in France, or returned after the First World War, to care for their comrades in death.

Visits: the Commonwealth military cemeteries are always open, and most have some parking space at the roadside. Each one is indicated from the nearest road with a dark green sign. Where the site lies away from the road, a grass path is kept clear of farm crops to allow access at all times.
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Ministry of Defence and the French Military Cemeteries

Ministry of Defence staff are responsible for maintaining the French cemeteries, which are striking in their uniformity and plain style. The lay-out usually includes ossuaries and a flag-pole flying the French flag. The Department of the Somme has around 20 national cemeteries.
French military cemeteries have white crosses representing two burials each and, in many cases, mass graves as well. The crosses indicate the dead man's name and date of death.

Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge

The Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge is a humanitarian organisation set up in 1919 to identify the graves of German soldiers in other countries and to preserve and maintain them.
The largest of the thirteen German cemeteries in the Somme is at Vermandovillers, the final resting-place of 26,000 soldiers. The German cemeteries have crosses, marking two or four burials, and large mass graves. The crosses indicate the dead man's name and date of death.

« American Battles Monuments Commission » (A.B.M.C)

The prime object of the United State war graves service, set up by Federal decision in 1923, is to maintain the cemeteries containing the graves of the 131 593 men and women who died during various conflicts, in foreign lands and on national soil. Its secondary task is to set up and care for memorials, plaques and monuments. Each dead person, identified or unknown, is commemorated individually with a white marble Christian cross or Jewish stone, the name of those who no known grave or who are recorded as "missing" are carved on the inside walls of the ecumenical chapel inside the cemetery.

The Somme war graves are a moving reminder of the first battle of the Somme: Somme-Battlefields is your guide to the WW1 battle of the Somme
 

Guides frequently use cemeteries as points on the battlefield where groups can gather and listen to an account of what happened here. The actual location, and the clusters of cemeteries in some areas which saw prolonged and bitter fighting, emphasise the conditions in which these men died. It is often possible to see several white crosses at once, permanent markers in the fields where many lives were lost.
The graves of famous men, perhaps a distinguished soldier or someone known for his achievements in civilian life or for his creativity – a composer, an artist, a poet – attract particular attention. Wreaths, flowers, postcards, messages or small crosses may mark the resting place of a famous man – or the grave of one of the many unknown soldiers.
The history of the cemeteries, and the system through which they were established and became a permanent part of the French landscape, is both fascinating and moving.