The Bernafay Wood British Cemetery is a cemetery located in the Somme region of France commemorating British and Commonwealth soldiers who fought in the Battle of the Somme and against the German 1918 spring offensive in World War I. The cemetery contains mostly those who died between July 1916 and April 1917 and March–August 1918.
Location The cemetery is located near the village of Montauban-de-Picardie, approximately 10 kilometers east of the town of Albert, France. It is located on the D197 road approximately 2 kilometers south of the village of Longueval.
Fighting near Bernafay Wood
On 1 July 1916, Montauban was captured by the British 30th and 18th Divisions. The heavily fortified Bois de Bernafay (Bernafay Wood) was taken by the 9th Scottish Division on 4 July 1916. Both the village and the wood were lost by the British in the German spring offensive of 1918, with the wood captured by the Germans in March–April 1918. However, the village was retaken by the 7th Buffs and 11th Royal Fusiliers of the 18th Division on 25 August and the wood by the 9th Scottish on the 27th.
Establishment of the cemetery The cemetery was formally begun by an area dressing station in August 1916, with casualties beginning to be buried on 8 July. It was used as a front line cemetery until April 1917. The modern day cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker and Arthur James Scott Hutton.
Statistics At the end of the war, the cemetery contained a total of 284 burials. After the reinterment of casualties from the Bernafay Wood North Cemetery and battlefields to the east of the wood, the cemetery now contains a total of 945 burials, of which 529 are identified and 417 are unidentified. Special memorials are dedicated to 11 British soldiers believed to be buried among the unknown and 12 soldiers whose Bernafay Wood North Cemetery graves were destroyed by shell fire. +Identified Burials by NationalityNationalityNumber of BurialsUnited Kingdom402Australia124New Zealand2South Africa1 +Overall Burials by NationalityNationalityNumber of BurialsUnited Kingdom813Australia124South Africa4New Zealand2Ireland1India1 +Number of Burials by UnitAustralian burials124Royal Field Artillery28King's Liverpool Regiment27Royal Garrison Artillery24Royal Army Medical Corps23Manchester Regiment20Middlesex Regiment20Royal Berkshire Regiment17Royal Engineers15Queen's Own – Royal West Kent Regiment14Rifle Brigade14Durham Light Infantry12Duke of Cornwall Light Infantry9Wiltshire Regiment9East Surrey Regiment8Lancashire Fusiliers8Royal Horse Artillery8Essex Regiment7King's Royal Rifle Corps7Leicestershire Regiment6Royal Welsh Fusiliers6Bedfordshire Regiment5Irish Guards5King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment5Lincolnshire Regiment5Loyal North Lancashire Regiment5Northamptonshire Regiment5Green Howards – Yorkshire Regiment4King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry4Machine Gun Corps4Northumberland Fusiliers4Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Regiment4Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry4Queen's – Royal West Surrey Regiment4Scots Guards4Somerset Light Infantry4Cheshire Regiment3Devonshire Regiment3Gloucestershire Regiment3Grenadier Guards3Royal Munster Fusiliers3York & Lancaster Regiment3Buffs – East Kent Regiment2Coldstream Guards2Connaught Rangers21st Dragoon Guards (King's)2East Yorkshire Regiment2King's Own Scottish Borderers2Monmouthshire Regiment2New Zealand Units2Royal Flying Corps/Royal Air Force2Royal Fusiliers – City of London Regiment2South Lancashire Regiment2South Staffordshire Regiment2Border Regiment1Cameronians – Scottish Rifles1Duke of Wellington – West Riding Regiment1Hampshire Regiment1Highland Light Infantry118th Hussars – Queen Mary's Own1Leinster Regiment1London Regiment – 3rd Bn. Royal Fusiliers1Royal Army Service Corps1Royal Scots Fusiliers1Royal Scots – Lothian Regiment1Royal Sussex Regiment1Royal Warwickshire Regiment1South African Regiment1
References