The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) aims to commemorate the UK and Commonwealth dead of the World Wars, either by maintaining a war grave in a cemetery, or where there is no known grave, by listing the dead on a memorial to the missing. This is a listing of those memorials maintained solely or jointly by the CWGC that commemorate by name the British and Commonwealth dead from the Western Front during World War I whose bodies were not recovered, or whose remains could not be identified.Some of those named on memorials to the missing will have been buried as "unknowns", with a gravestone marked "Known Unto God", but the bodies of many of those commemorated on these memorials were never recovered, could not be recovered, or no remains were left to be recovered. In addition to those listed here, there are numerous CWGC memorials to the missing from other battlefields around the world during the war, which are not listed here, most notably the memorials at Gallipoli, and the memorials to those lost at sea and in the air. There are also memorials to the missing from other combatant nations on the Western Front, especially those of Germany and France, but only the CWGC-maintained memorials are listed here.In addition to the main memorials to the missing, there are numerous individual memorials to missing soldiers, or small groups of soldiers, known to be buried in particular cemeteries, but where the exact identity of the bodies was not known. Sometimes nothing more than the nationality or rank of the soldier could be identified, and this information would be inscribed on the memorial in the absence of a name. Those memorials are not listed here.
Although listing the names of dead soldiers on memorials had started with the Boer Wars, this practice was only systematically adopted after World War I, with the establishment of the Imperial War Graves Commission, which was later renamed the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Due to the rapid movement of forces in the early stages of the war, many of the casualties of the initial World War I battles had no known grave, and were instead commemorated after the war on 'memorials to the missing'. In later battles, the intensity of the fighting sometimes meant that bodies could not be recovered or identified until much later."In all too many cases, alas, those who fall upon the field of battle, fall in some part of the field where no friend can reach them alive. The burial parties, which work wherever it is possible, often in danger, cannot reach them under the machine guns of the enemy. Months afterwards, sometimes years, the battle rolls beyond that place, and these poor forms are dealt with as tenderly as the time and place allow ... too often there is left no trace or clue as to the soldier's name. Private or officer, he lies there, 'An Unknown Soldier'. – Where the Australians Rest, Department of Defence, Melbourne, 1920" Memorials to the Missing of WW1 and WW2, accessed 29 December 2009 The highest number of casualties occurred on the Western Front in France and Belgium. In total, over 20 separate CWGC or national memorials to the missing of the Western Front were designed and built. They were commissioned and unveiled over a period of around 15 years from the early 1920s to 1938, when the last of the planned memorials was unveiled. The numbers listed on the memorials reduces over time as remains are discovered, identified, and buried in a war grave, with the name removed from the memorial where it was listed, but over 300,000 war dead are still commemorated by these memorials to the missing."Around 300,000 soldiers are remembered on memorials to the missing in France & Belgium. These are men who were killed in action but have no known grave. The largest of these is the Thiepval Memorial to the missing which commemorates over 70,000 officers and men who were lost on the Somme." Commonwealth War Graves Commission Memorials To The Missing, accessed 29 December 2009
List of memorials + Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) World War I memorials in Belgium and FranceArticle and referencePictureCountryLocationCo-ordinatesNumber listedDescription of those listedDates coveredMajor battlesDate unveiledMemorial designerMemorial unveiled by Thiepval Memorial
CWGC France Thiepval 72,151 United Kingdom and South Africa July 1916 to March 1918 Somme Offensive Edwin Lutyens Edward, Prince of WalesPrince Edward, then the heir to the throne, had served in the army during World War I. Four years after this unveiling, he became King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, abdicating later the same year in 1936. Also present was Albert Lebrun, the President of France. Menin Gate Memorial
CWGC Belgium Ypres 54,343 Commonwealth nations, except New Zealand October 1914 to 16 August 1917 Ypres Salient Reginald Blomfield Lord PlumerHerbert Plumer was one of the generals commanding the British Second Army during World War I. Tyne Cot Memorial
CWGC Belgium Ypres 34,919 Commonwealth nations 16 August 1917 to September 1918 Ypres Salient Herbert Baker Sir Gilbert DyettDyett was an Australian veteran of the Gallipoli campaigns, and the founder and President of the Returned Services League 1919 to 1946. Arras Memorial
CWGC France Arras 34,744 United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand Spring of 1916 to 7 August 1918 Battle of Arras Edwin Lutyens Lord TrenchardHugh Trenchard served as the commander of Royal Flying Corps in France from 1915 to 1917. In 1918, he briefly served as the first Chief of the Air Staff before taking up command of the Independent Air Force in France. At the time of the unveiling, he was a Marshal of the Royal Air Force. Loos Memorial
CWGC France Loos-en-Gohelle 20,585 Commonwealth nations except India and Canada 25 September 1915 to 11 November 1918 casualties in the area during and after the Battle of Loos"who fell in the area from the River Lys to the old southern boundary of the First Army, east and west of Grenay" Herbert Baker Sir Nevil MacreadyMacready served as Adjutant-General of the British Expeditionary Force from the outbreak of the war to February 1916, and then served as Adjutant-General to the Forces until a few months before the end of the war. Pozières Memorial
CWGC France Pozières 14,698 United Kingdom and South Africa 21 March 1918 to 7 August 1918 German spring offensive William Harrison Cowlishaw Sir Horace Smith-DorrienSmith-Dorrien had served as a general commanding the British II Corps and the British Second Army during World War I. Le Touret Memorial
CWGC France Richebourg-l'Avoué 13,415 Commonwealth nations except India and Canada 1914 to 25 September 1915 casualties in the area prior to the Battle of Loos"the area enclosed on the North by the river Lys and a line drawn from Estaires to Fournes, and on the South by the old Southern boundary of the First Army about Grenay" John Reginald Truelove Lord TyrrellWilliam Tyrrell was a diplomat, serving at the time of the unveiling as British Ambassador to France. Ploegsteert Memorial
CWGC Belgium Messines 11,347 United Kingdom and South Africa October 1914 to September 1918 casualties in and around the Ypres Salient, not major offensives"the area from the line Caestre-Dranoutre-Warneton to the north, to Haverskerque-Estaires-Fournes to the south, including the towns of Hazebrouck, Merville, Bailleul and Armentieres, the Forest of Nieppe, and Ploegsteert Wood" Harold Chalton Bradshaw Leopold, Prince of BelgiumOfficially titled the Duke of Brabant at the unveiling, Crown Prince Leopold had fought as a private during World War I with the 12th Belgian Regiment while still a teenager. He became King Leopold III of Belgium in 1934. Vimy Memorial
CWGC France Vimy 11,145 Canada entire war, especially April 1917 several battles, especially the Battle of Vimy Ridge Walter Seymour Allward Edward VIIICrowned Edward VIII of the United Kingdom a few months earlier, in January 1936, Edward abdicated later the same year, in December 1936. This unveiling was one of the few official duties he carried out as King. He had served in the army during World War I. Villers-Bretonneux Memorial
CWGC France Villers-Bretonneux 10,696 Australia entire war, especially April 1918 several battles, especially the Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux Edwin Lutyens King George VIIn his youth, King George (born Albert) served as a turret officer in World War I aboard during the Battle of Jutland in 1916. Following ill-health, he then served at the Royal Naval Air Service's training establishment (later the RAF), and later served on the staff of the Independent Air Force in France in the closing months of the war. This memorial was one of the last to be unveiled before the outbreak of the Second World War, just over a year later. Vis-en-Artois Memorial
CWGC France Vis-en-Artois 9,815 United Kingdom and South Africa 8 August 1918 to 11 November 1918 Advance to Victorydescribed as "in Picardy and Artois, between the Somme and Loos" John Reginald Truelove Rt. Hon. Thomas ShawShaw, a Labour Party MP and cabinet minister, was present in his role as British Secretary of State for War. Also present was General Walter Braithwaite, who had served in the Mediterranean and on the Western Front during the war. Cambrai Memorial
CWGC France Cambrai 7,115 United Kingdom and South Africa November and December 1917 Battle of Cambrai Harold Chalton Bradshaw Lieutenant-General Sir Louis VaughanLouis Ridley Vaughan was chief of staff to General Sir Julian Byng, commander of the Third Army from May 1917 until the end of the war (this army fought at the Battle of Cambrai), and was Byng's representative at the unveiling of this memorial. Neuve-Chapelle Memorial
CWGC France Neuve-Chapelle 4,653 India entire war several battles Herbert Baker Earl of BirkenheadEarl Birkenhead (Frederick Edwin Smith) served in France in World War I from 1914 to 1915 as a staff officer with the Indian Corps, and later co-wrote an official history titled The Indian Corps in France (1917, revised edition 1919). Soissons Memorial
CWGC France Soissons 3,910 United Kingdom May 1918 to August 1918 Third Battle of the Aisne and Second Battle of the Marne Gordon H. Holt and Verner Owen Rees Sir Alexander Hamilton-GordonHamilton-Gordon was a general in World War I, commanding IX Corps from 1916 as they fought at the Battle of Messines and the Third Battle of the Aisne. La Ferté-sous-Jouarre memorial
CWGC France La Ferté-sous-Jouarre 3,740 United Kingdom August 1914 to October 1914 Battle of Mons, First Battle of the Marne and the aftermathsOther battles associated with this memorial were the Retreat from Mons, the Battle of Le Cateau, and the First Battle of the Aisne. George Hartley Goldsmith Sir William Pulteney PulteneyPulteney was a general in World War I, serving for most of the war, from 5 August 1914 to 19 February 1918, as commander of the British III Corps. Fromelles Memorial
CWGC France Fromelles 1,167 Australia July 1916 Battle of Fromelles not specified Herbert Baker not specified Longueval Memorial
CWGC France Longueval 1,205 New Zealand July 1916 to November 1916 Battle of the Somme not specified Herbert Baker not specified Arras Flying Services Memorial
CWGC France Arras 978 Airmen of the RNAS, the RFC, and the RAF entire war aerial missions Edwin Lutyens Lord Trenchard Messines Ridge Memorial
CWGC Belgium Messines 828 New Zealand 1917 and 1918 Battle of Messines not specified Charles Holden not specified Beaumont-Hamel Memorial
CWGC France Beaumont-Hamel 808 Dominion of Newfoundland entire war, especially 1 July 1916 entire war, especially Battle of the Somme Basil Gotto Earl HaigDouglas Haig was the general in overall command of British forces from December 1915 until the end of the war. Nieuport Memorial