The Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial is a memorial site in France dedicated to the commemoration of Dominion of Newfoundland forces members who were killed during World War I. The 74-acre (300,000 m2) preserved battlefield park encompasses the grounds over which the Newfoundland Regiment made their unsuccessful attack on 1 July 1916 during the first day of the Battle of the Somme. The Battle of the Somme was the regiment's first major engagement, and during an assault that lasted approximately 30 minutes the regiment was all but wiped out.
Purchased in 1921 by the people of Newfoundland, the memorial site is the largest battalion memorial on the Western Front, and the largest area of the Somme battlefield that has been preserved. Along with preserved trench lines, there are a number of memorials and cemeteries contained within the site. Officially opened by British Field Marshal Earl Haig in 1925, the memorial site is one of only two National Historic Sites of Canada located outside of Canada. (The other is the Canadian National Vimy Memorial). The memorial site and experience of the Newfoundland Regiment at Beaumont-Hamel has come to represent the Newfoundland First World War experience.
As a result, it has become a Newfoundland symbol of sacrifice and a source of identity. The park does, nevertheless, preserve the memory of the men of the many other regiments from the French, British and German Armies who fought and died on this part of the Somme battleground from September 1914 into 1918. (wikipedia)
Near the entrance to site is situated a memorial to the 29th British Division, the division of which the Newfoundland Regiment was a part.
Remnants of trenches and a dugout with the visitor centre in the background.
The memorial is one of six memorials erected by the Government of Newfoundland following the First World War. Five were erected in France and Belgium] and the sixth at Bowring Park in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada.At the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial site the mound rises approximately 50 feet (15 m) from ground level. The mounds are also surrounded by native Newfoundland plants. (Wikipedia)
The memorial is a bronze caribou, the emblem of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, standing atop a cairn of Newfoundland granite facing the former foe with head thrown high in defiance. (Wikipedia)
At the base of the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial mound, three bronze tablets carry the names of 820 members of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, the Newfoundland Royal Naval Reserve, and the Mercantile Marines who gave their lives in the First World War and have no known grave (Wikipedia)
The preserved battlefield from the top of the memorial looking toward the German lines. Y ravine which was the German front line is in the tree line in the distance. On the extreme right of the image you can see a tree, beside this tree is a replica representation of petrified tree called the Danger Tree.
The Danger Tree had been part of a clump of trees located about halfway into No Man's Land and had originally been used as a landmark by a Newfoundland Regiment trench raiding party in the days before the Battle of the Somme.[British and German artillery bombardments eventually stripped the tree of leaves and left nothing more than a shattered tree trunk.During the Newfoundland Regiment's infantry assault, the tree was once again used as a landmark, where the troops were ordered to gather. The tree was however a highly visible landmark for the German artillery and the site proved to be a location where the German shrapnel was particularly deadly. As a result the regiment suffered a large concentration of casualties around the tree (Wikipedia)
(image - www.ww1westernfront.gov.au)
Barbed wire holders in no mans land.
Original Trenches
Within the Park are three British Cemeteries. These are Hawthorn Ridge No. 2, "Y" Ravine and Hunter's Cemetery. This is Y" Ravine.
This cemetery was started in the spring of 1917 by the British V Corps and was originally called Y Ravine Cemetery No. 1. By that time the British Front Line had moved further east beyond the 1st July 1916 battle lines so it was possible to retrieve and bury soldiers who had been lying in this area for the best part of a year.
There are over 400 casualties commemorated in this cemetery, many of which are unidentified. There are 275 identified burials in the cemetery. There are also 53 individuals from the United Kingdom and 8 individuals from Newfoundland named on memorials in the cemetery who are believed to be buried in this site among the unidentified graves.
A sign at the edge of Y Ravine
"Y" Ravine runs east-west about 800 metres south of Beaumont-Hamel, from "Station Road" to the front line of July 1916. It was a deep ravine with steep sides, lined with dug-outs, and extending two short arms at the west end. The village of Beaumont-Hamel was attacked and reached on 1 July 1916, by units of the 29th Division which included the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, but it could not be held. It was attacked again and captured, with the ravine, by the 51st (Highland) Division on 13 November 1916.(Wikipedia)
Overlooking Y Ravine is the memorial to 51st (Highland) Division. The Y ravine had been the scene of fierce fighting for the division on 13 November 1916.
A view through the trenches looking towards the 51st (Highland) Division memorial
This is Hunter's Cemetery.
The cemetery is a large shell hole, in which soldiers of the 51st (Highland) Division and the 63rd Royal Naval Division were buried after the attack on Beaumont Hamel in November 1916. There are over 40 British casualties buried in this site.
The origin of the name of the cemetery is believed to be taken from an Army Chaplain called Reverend Hunter who was attached to the Black Watch, one of the regiments which took part with the 51st (Highland) Division in the November 1916 battle (greatwar.co.uk)
Last is Hawthorn Ridge No. 2 Cemetery,
It was originally made in the spring of 1917 by the British V Corps (and named V Corps Cemetery No. 12). There are 200 graves in the cemetery, most of which are for soldiers killed in this location on 1st July 1916. There are 149 identified burials and over 50 of the remaining graves are unidentified.
The cemetery is located in what was No-Mans-Land on 1st July 1916, between the British and the German Front Lines. The Front Lines were situated on a ridge of high ground called the Auchonvillers Spur running in a south-easterly direction. A hawthorn tree was growing on this high ground and so the ridge became known as Hawthorn Ridge by the British Army when it moved in to occupy the Front Line here in August 1915.
Walking back from Hawthorn Ridge No. 2 cemetery. The designer of the park planted this avenue of Canadian Maple Trees with the Newfoundland Memorial in the distance
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