The Citadel New Military Cemetery is a military cemetery located in the Somme region of France commemorating British and Commonwealth soldiers who fought in World War I. It contains mainly burials made by field ambulances before the Battle of the Somme, although it was also used by some units in the final months of the war. The cemetery is managed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Location The cemetery is located near a geographic feature called "the Citadel" in an area known as the "Happy Valley", approximately 2.5 kilometers south of the village of Fricourt on the D147 road. Fricourt is approximately 5 kilometers east of the town of Albert, France.
Establishment of the Cemetery The cemetery was begun by French troops in August 1915. It was used by various Commonwealth units up until November 1916. Many burials date from the capture of Fricourt by the British 17th (Northern) Division on 2 July 1916. The cemetery was reopened once in August 1918. The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and Arthur James Scott Hutton.
Statistics There are a total of 380 Commonwealth burials in the cemetery, of which 363 are identified and 17 are unidentified. All identified casualties are British.
+Number of Burials by UnitUnit#Unit#Manchester Regiment52Border Regiment39Royal Warwickshire33Lancashire Fusiliers25Royal Engineers22Royal Welch Fusiliers19Queen's – Royal West Surrey Regiment17Royal Field Artillery16Gordon Highlanders15Cheshire Regiment13South Staffordshire Regiment13Devonshire Regiment12Norfolk Regiment11Royal Berkshire Regiment11Bedfordshire Regiment9Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders6Duke of Welling's – West Riding Regiment5Grenadier Guards5Royal Irish Regiment5Royal Fusiliers – City of London Regiment4Essex Regiment3Machine Gun Corps – Infantry3Welsh Guards3East Yorkshire Regiment2Green Howards – Yorkshire Regiment2Irish Guards2Middlesex Regiment2Royal Army Medical Corps29th Bn. London Regiment – Queen Victoria's Rifles1Black Watch – Royal Highlanders1Coldstream Guards1Dorsetshire Regiment1Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry1King's Liverpool Regiment1North Staffordshire Regiment1Royal Artillery1Royal Garrison Artillery1Royal Horse Artillery1Royal Sussex Regiment1Suffolk Regiment1
References