Guards Cemetery, Lesboeufs, Somme. 2 Miles N of Combles, 7 miles E of Albert, South West of village. Attacked by Guards Division on Sept 15th 1916 & captured by them on 25th. Records 2827 UK, 202 Aust, 11 NZ, 4 Newfld, 1 Can . burial & 88 special memorials.

Guillemont Road Cemetery, Guillemont, Somme.  Guillemont is a village about 8 miles east of Albert and the cemetery is to the west of the village on the road D64 to Montauban.  The village stands on the highest point of a ridge and was captured and cleared on the 3rd September 1916, lost in March 1918 during the German advance but retaken on the 29th August by the 18th and 38th (Welsh) Divisions.  The cemetery was begun by fighting units (Mainly of the Guards Division) and field ambulances after the Battle of Guillemont and is in the area west f thevillage over which the attacks were made. It was closed in March 1917 when there were 121 burials.  It was greatly enlarged after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the battlefields immediately surrounding the village and certain smaller cemeteries including Hardecourt French Military Cemetery and now contains 2,263 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War.  1,523 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 8 casualties known or believed to be buried among them.

Grave in Guillemont Road Cemetery of 2nd Lieut William Alexander Stanhope-Forbes killed with the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry on 3rd Sept 1916 aged 23 son of the painter Stanhope Forbes RA. His father chose a fine inscription for his headstone; “He saw beyond the filth of battle and thought death a fair price to pay to belong to the company of these fellows.”

Group of Royal Army Medical Corps graves in Guillemont Road Cemetery.

Grave in Guillemont Road Cemetery of Lieutenant Raymond Asquith 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards died 15th September 1916.
Raymond Asquith was the eldest son of Herbert Asquith, British Prime Minister from 1908 to December 1916.  He was born on the 6th November 1878 and was educated at Winchester and Balliol College Oxford.  In 1902 he was elected a Fellow of All Souls and was called to the Bar in 1904.  He married in 1907 and had three children.  On the 17th December 1914 he was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the 16th (City of London) Battalion the London Regiment (Queen’s Westminste Rifles), transfering to the Grenadier Guards on the 14th August 1915.

At the beginning of September 1916 the 3rd Battalion of the Grenadiers Guards was at Morlancourt being trained with the rest of the 2nd Guards Brigade, moving on the 9th September to camp in Happy Valley and then on the 12th Marched to Carnoy in preparation for the operations on the 15th September 1916.  This was a major attack by the Fourth Army on the German defences between Combles Ravine and Martinpuich with the object of seizing Morval, Lesboeufs, Guedecourt and Flers and was to be supported for the first time by a number of tanks.

The 3rd Battalion was to be the leading attacking Battalion on the right. The front was 500 yards NE of Ginchy and the ground was a mass of battered ridges and shell holes.  Immediately in front, the Battalion came across a number of connected shell holes sheltering Germans who fought bravely who had not been affected by the British artillery.  This only caused a slight delay.  “Almost at the outset Captain A. K. Mackenzie was hit and fell, as he led his company to the attack.  Although mortally wounded he got up again and struggled on, still waving his men forward.  Once more he fell, and this time was unable to rise, but even then he managed to raise himself on one knee and cheer the company on.  Afterwards he was carried down on a stretcher but never recovered and died in the ambulance on the way.  About the same time Lieutenant Asquith was shot through the chest and killed as he led the first half of No. 4 Company.  He had endeared himself to both officers and men in an extraordinary degree since he joined the regiment at the beginning of the war, and his preference of service with his Battalion to the good staff appointment which he had just given up had won the admiration of all ranks”.

Husband of Katharine Asquith 17 Oxford Square London W2.  One of the War Poets.  Headstone bears inscription  “Small time but in that small most greatly lived this star of  England."

Captain Allan Keith Mackenzie is buried in Corbie Communal Cemetery Extension.  From 1915 Corbie (9 miles East of Amiens) was made a medical centre.

Earlier image of the Grave of Lieutenant Raymond Asquith, centre of three grave. The Grave to the right is that of 2nd Lieutenant John Hearn Snowball Royal Horse and Field Artillery 108th Brigade, died of wounds 15th September 1916.  Headstone bears inscription "He was a gallant young man, exceedingly gracious."

The Grave to the left is that of 2nd Lieutenant Dormer Kierulff De Bretton Treffry 4th Battalion Coldstream Guards died of wounds 15th September 1916 aged 39 years.  Son of Charles Udney Treffry of Fowey Cornwall.  2nd Lieutenant Treffry had only joined the Regiment on the 2nd February 1916.

Grave in Guillemont Road Cemetery of Lieutenant the Honourable Edward Wyndham Tennant 4th Battalion Grenadier Guards killed in action on the 22nd September 1916.

Edward Tennant was born on the 1st July 1897, the son of Edward Priaux 1st Baron Glenconner and Lady Glenconner (later Viscountess Grey of Falloden).  He was educated at Winchester.  On the outbreak of the War he applied for a commission in the Grenadier Guards and joined the 4th Grenadier Guards in France just before the Battle of Loos in September 1915.  He was appointed ADC to Major-General G. M. T. Feilding General Officer Commanding the Guards Division January 1916 to September 1918 in early 1916 but was back with the Battalion by the time it transferred from the Ypres Salient to the Somme in August 1916. On the 9th September the Battalion moved up to the line between Guillemont and Leuze Wood and was in support in a failed attack on the 12th.  After a short period of relief the Battalion was back on the eastern side of Trones Wood.  At 6.20 a.m. on the 15th September the Battalion attacked towards Lesbouefs digging in eventually north of Ginchy and consolidating the gains.  Lieutenant Tennant did not take part in this action.   On the 15th September Raymond Asquith along with several other Guards officers from the 3rd Battalion was killed on the north-east side of the village of Ginchy.  In the early evening of the 20th September the 4th Battalion moved up to the trenches in front of Lesboeufs to dig communication and assembly trenches for the attack planned for the 25th.  The front line trench was very shallow while the communication trench called Gas Alley was filled with British and German corpses. Whilst another officer was organising a bombing party, Lieutenant Tennant had been left in Gas Alley and had occupied his time by shooting at the enemy but this movement attracted a German sniper and he was shot dead through the head.  That night the 4th Battalion was relieved by the 1st Welsh Guards and retired to Bernafay Wood.  Edward Tennant’s body was taken back and buried in a position between the village of Guillemont and Trones Wood, ie. amongst the first burials in Guillemont Road Cemetery.  

On the 25th September the Battalion took part in the successful operation which  led to the capture of Lesboeufs. in a position between the village of Guillemont and Trones Wood, ie. amongst the first buriald in Guillemont Road Cemetery.  

Headstone bears inscription “Killed in Action in his 20th year.”

Grave in Guillemont Road Cemetery of No. 79578 Private Thomas Bell 9th Battalion Royal Fusiliers killed in action 28th August 1918.

Headstone bears inscription “Lived and died a Christian.”

For details of the action on the 28th August 1918 see entry for Captain Ernest Dupres in Peronne Road Military Cemetery. 

Grave in Guillemont Road Cemetery of No. 79111 Private Charles Alfred Goode 9th Battalion Royal Fusiliers killed in action 28th August 1918.

For details of the action on the 28th August 1918 see entry for Captain Ernest Dupres in Peronne Road Military Cemetery. 

Grave in Guillemont Road Cemetery of No. 79064 Private Henry James Claus 9th Battalion Royal Fusiliers killed in action 28th August 1918.

 For details of the action on the 28th August 1918 see entry for Captain Ernest Dupres in Peronne Road Military Cemetery. 

Grave in Guillemont Road Cemetery of No. 79505 Private Archibald Lennox Turnbull 9th Battalion Royal Fusiliers killed in action 28th August 1918.

For details of the action on the 28th August 1918 see entry for Captain Ernest Dupres in Peronne Road Military Cemetery. 

Guards Cemetery Combles (Somme). 10 miles E of Albert and 8 miles S of Bapaume with station on light railway from Albert to Peronne. SW of village. Begun in Sept.1916 by the Guards Div. And enlarged after Armistice. Records 152 UK., 4 Newfld. Burials and 30 special memorials.

Group of 13 graves in Guards Cemetery Combles of soldiers of the Welch Regiment killed in action 30th December 1916.

Grave in Guards Cemetery Combles of Major Guy Bailey MC; L Battery RHA 29th Division 28th Feby 1917 aged 25 near Sailly-Saillisel. Gallipoli 25 April 1915 to 8 Jany 1916. France March 1916 to 28 Feby 1917.

Grave in Guards Cemetery Combles of Pvte Gordon C Lewis Royal Newfoundland Regiment. Died of wounds 28 Jany 1917 aged 17 years. Son of Charles and Annie Lewis 53 Pennywell Road, St. Johns, Newfoundland.

Gezaincourt Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme. 2 miles S of Doullens and 1 mile N of Gezaincourt Halte. Burials due in most cases from Casualty Clearing Stations. Records 501 UK., 40 NZ., 23 Aust., 18 Can., 6 Newfld., 2 Ind., 4 Chin. & 76 German burials.

Grave in Gezaincourt Communal Cemetery of 2nd Lieut. Bouverie Walter St. John Mildmay of No. 70 Squadron Royal Air Force who crashed and died on 16th April 1918 aged 19 years.  Son of the Rev. Arundell Glaxtonbury St. John Mildmay and Alys his wife of Old Wolverton Vicarage, Bucks.  Count of the Holy Roman Empire by inheritance, last of the line of Hazelgrove Mildmays.

70 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps was formed at South Farnborough on the 22nd April 1916 and crossed over to France landing at Fienvillers flying Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter biplanes but by the end of July 1917 theSquadron had totally converted to Sopwith Camels and this was the aeroplane that 2nd Lieutenant St. John Mildmay was flying when he met his death.

Following a committee which examined all aspects of air policy and organisation the independent air force, the Royal Air Force, was established on the 1st April 1918 by amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service.

Grave in Gezaincourt Communal Cemetery of 2nd Lieut. Henry William Wellings, DCM. Russian Cross of St. George 3rd Class. Henry Wellings enlisted in the Dragoon Guards in November 1908 joining the 6th (Carabiniers) in 1910.  He landed with his Regiment on he 16th August 1914 and was awarded the DCM for his conduct in the action at Messines on the 31st October 1914. On the 2nd June 1916 he transferred from the Dragoon Guards to the King's Shropshire Light Infantry.  On the 18th April 1917 he was appointed 2nd Lieut. for service in the field and posted to the Shropshire Light Infantry and seconded to the Machine Gun Corps and after attending the Machine Gun Training Centre at Grantham in England returned to join the 17th Battalion of the Machine Gun Corps in January 1918.  In June 1918 the 17th Division was in the line to the West of the Ancre River  Acheux sector when he was wounded in the head and he died of wounds serving in the Machine Gun Corps on 20th June 1918.

Citation in LG 16th January 1915 reads "For conspicuously gallant conduct on 31st October in removing wounded men of the London Scottish under heavy shell fire and showing a fine example under trying circumstances.  He showed great gallantry on another occasion the same day in resisting the enemy at a range of ten to fifteen yards in company with his Squadron Commander."

Graves of 14 men in Gezaincourt Communal Cemetery who died in an accident involving their leave train at the local station in November 1916.

Grave in Gezaincourt Communal Cemetery Extension of Private William E Anderson 5/Dorset executed 31 March 1917 for desertion. He had served in Gallipoli arriving on 22 September 1915 and within a fortnight was tried for disobedience and sentenced to 3 months field punishment No.1. Before expiry of his sentence the battalion was evacuated to the island of Mudros, then Imbros and was sentenced to detention for absence. The battalion then moved to Egypt where he served the rest of his sentence the battalion leaving early July 1916 for France. In the final week of September 1916 the battalion in support of an attack on Mouquet Farm “did valuable work in bringing up bombs.” On 1st January 1917 as the battalion moved into support trenches on the left bank of the river Ancre south west of St Pierre Divion Private Anderson and his companion Private John Lewis (see Entry Cemeteries in France - under Forceville Communal Cemetery Extension) made off and whilst their battalion attacked unsuccessfully near Beaucourt the two men escaped across the Channel to England. Both lived in Barking near London and made their way there. On 30 January 1917 still wearing their uniforms the men were arrested . Private Anderson’s trial took place on 9th March 1917 and he was shot on 31 March at Beauquesne but in 1935 his remains together with those of two other soldiers buried in the communal cemetery were re-interred in Gezaincourt Communal Cemetery Extension.

Grave in Gezaincourt Communal Cemetery Extension of No 19860 Private Meihana Karauria New Zealand Maori (Pioneer) Battalion died of appendicitis 24th July 1918 aged 32 son of Piha and Make Karauria of Wairoa Hawkes Bay New Zealand.

Grove Town Cemetery, Meaulte, Somme. 4 miles S of Albert, 1 mile S of Meaulte on secondary road to Bray-sur-Somme. 34th and 2/2nd London C.C.S. were postedhere September 1916 to deal with casualties from the Somme battlefields. Records 1,366 UK., 14 Aust., 11 Newfld., 1 NZ., 1 French and 34 German burials.

Grave in Grove Town Cemetery Meaulte of Private William Tom Frazer 2nd Grenadier Guards died of wounds 28th September 1916. Headstone bears inscription "Too far away Thy grave to see But not too far To think of thee."

 Son of Francis and Emma Frazer of 95 Colony Cottages Holbrook Lane Foleshill Coventry. Born St Nicholas Newbury. Enlisted Reading. The 2nd Battalion mobilised 4th August 1914 at Chelsea and on 15th August 1914 landed at Le Havre France. It was one of four battalions which constituted the 4th (Guards) Brigade (2nd Division). The Guards Division was formed in France in August 1915 the creation of Lord Kitchener then Secretary of State for War who after obtaining the permission of the King proceeded to form the Division without consulting either the War Office or the Commander in Chief of the British Expeditionary Force Field Marshall French. The 2nd Battalion transferred to 1st Guards Brigade Guards Division on 20th August 1915. The other Battalions in this Brigade were 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards, 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards and 1st Battalion Irish Guards. The 2nd Battalion moved south from Ypres in Flanders arriving at St Pol Pas De Calais on 30th July 1916. Moved to Front Line Ginchy sector on 12th September 1916. The 2nd Battalion was engaged in two battles in September 1916, the Battle of Flers-Courcelette 15th to 22nd September 1916 and the Battle of Morval 25th to 28th September 1916. On the 15th September 1916 the 2nd Battalion emerged from Ginchy at 730 am in support of the troops of 2nd Guards Brigade, They came under fire from an unoccupied part of Serpentine Trench. They obtained a foot-hold and bombed outwards joining the two Brigades there by capturing the first objective of the Division. In view of the heavy casualties suffered by the Guards Division on the 15th and 16th the Division was given a few days’ rest out of the line and the relief was completed on the night of the 16th – 17th September the 1st Guards Brigade moving back to the neighbourhood of Fricourt 16th September. The Brigade had 280 other ranks killed and 1082 other ranks wounded but having regard to his actual date of death it is more likely that Private Frazer was a casualty of the Battle of Morval. The Guards Division was to complete the work begun on the 15th September by co-operating with the French and other British divisions in the capture of the line Morval – Lesboeufs – Gueudecourt. The capture of Lesboeufs itself was to be entrusted the Guards. Brigade-Major’s memorandum No 262 “The forthcoming attack differs from the last in that the whole scheme is not such an ambitious one. The distance to the first objective is about 300 yards the second objective 800 yards and to the last objective about 1300 yards, In each case the objective is a clearly defined one and not merely a line drawn across a map.” The objectives were visible German trenches. The ground sloped down to Lesboeufs beyond which there was a distinct hollow with a plateau the same level as Lesboeufs beyond. The 2nd Battalion came from Citadel Camp about 2 miles south of Fricourt to Bernafay Wood and then went into assembly trenches in front of Ginchy on the 24th September the trenches being recorded as so narrow that the men were unable to sit or lie down and had to remain standing shoulder to shoulder. By an early hour on the morning of 25th September the troops of the 1st and 3rd Guards Brigades were all in their respective positions ready for the advance. The German positions had already been subject to an artillery barrage from 7 am to 6 pm on the 24th September. The 2nd Battalion was on the right of the line of advance (alongside the Ginchy – Lesboeufs road) with the left of the front of 1st Guards Brigade being held by 1st Battalion Irish Guards. The weather on the 25th September was fine and clear and the state of the ground was more favourable for the attacking troops that it had been on the 15th or the 16th. After a quiet morning the creeping barrage was put down punctually and effectively by the British gunners at 1235 pm zero hour and the Guards battalion advancing in two waves with 75 yards distance between each wave went forward to the attack. Within about a minute of the troops crossing the parapet the enemy’s artillery put down a heavy counter brrage on the front of 1st Guards Brigade and upon the trenches in the rear but the leading waves of the Grenadiers and Irish Guards had rushed forward so wuickly that they escaped it. They were close up to the enemy’s line when the British barrage lifted. The Irish Guards captured their objective with little difficulty but the Grenadiers on the right were less fortunate as they found that the wire in front of their sector being veiled by high crops our guns had missed it and it was uncut. The officers promptly ordered their men to lie down in the standing crops in which the wire was concealed and to open covering fire while they themselves went forward to cut a passage through the wire. A path was cut through the enemy’s entanglements and although most of their officers lost their lives in the carrying out of their task the Grenadiers were enabled to sweep forward and capture their first objective at the point of the bayonet. Both the leading battalions of 1st Guards Brigade were on the first objective by about 120 pm. The Germans had fought bravely but had proved no match in hand to hand fighting with the Guards the bulk of the defenders having been either killed or captured. Punctually at 135pm the advance to the second objective was begun under the protection of a creeping barrage and in ten minutes time the next objective was in possession of 1st Guards Brigade which was in touch with 18th Infantry Brigade (6th Division) on the right and 3rd Guards Brigade on the left. The opposition encountered in this second advance was slight as was also that then the Guards went forward to attack the next objective at 235 pm. The enemy for the time being had had sufficient fighting and surrendered freely, with the result that shortly after 330 pm the two leading battalions of the 1st Guards Brigade had passed through Lesboeufs and were firmly established on the eastern outskirts of that village. By that time the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the Coldstream Guards in support had consolidated the other objectives and were completing the clearance of the village of Lesboeufs. On the right the Guards were in touch with the 6th Division and still farther to the right the 5th Division had captured Morval but there was a considerable gap between the 3rd Guards Brigade and the troops of the 21st Division. This gap was held by a strong defensive flank. After the capture of Lesboeufs it was clear that the enemy’s troops in the forward area were completely demoralized with Germans hurrying away northward without their arms. The situation on the Guards front remained unchanged during the night of 25th – 26th September. Early in the morning of the 26th the 64th Brigade gained possession of Gird trench and about 4 pm troops of 21st Division captured Gueudecourt and linked up connexion with the 3rd Guards Brigade midway between that village and Lesboeufs. By the afternoon of the 26th September the Germans machine gunners had formed a chain of posts on the high ground east of Lesboeufs northward to le Transloy and were able to check any local advance by parties of infantry and the German artillery which had fired comparatively little during the night of the 25th - 26th and the early hours of the 26th became much more active as the day wore on the and the whole energies of the Guards had to be directed to the strengthening and deepening of their new defensive positions. During the night of the 26th September the 2nd Guards Brigade relieved the two other brigades in the line the relief being completed by 1130 pm. The 2nd Battalion the Grenadier Guards and the 1st Battalion Irish Guards were relieved by the 2nd Battalion Irish Guards. The 2nd Battalion went via Bernafay Wood to Citadel Camp. 110 other ranks were killed and 609 wounded and it is likely that Private Frazer was one of these casualties.

Grave in Grove Town Cemetery of No 1853 Private William Stratford 1st Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment died 29th October 1916. Born Harborough, Warwickshire. Enlisted Rugby residence Harborough Magna. Commemorated on the Village War Memorial in Harborough Magna, near Rugby in Warwickshire