The Thiepval Memorial

Welcome to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's (CWGC) Thiepval Memorial. , Commemorated here are more than 72,000 servicemen of British and South African forces who have no known grave. They died during the First World War in the surrounding fields and hills of the Somme Region between August 1915 and March 1918. , The Commonwealth War Graves Commission , At the end of the First World War in November 1918, the final resting places of many thousands of British and Empire servicemen were unknown. Their bodies were never recovered; their graves were unrecorded, lost or destroyed by battle, or their remains could not be identified. They are the missing. , The Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission was created in 1917 to commemorate the British Empire dead of the First World War. Across the world the CWGC built cemeteries for the fallen and memorials to the missing. Today the CWGC works to maintain these historic sites of remembrance for generations to come. , The Thiepval Memorial , The Thiepval Memorial commemorates more missing soldiers than any other CWGC memorial in the world. , Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, the Memorial is an architectural masterpiece. Unveiled in August 1932, it takes the form of a series of arches, interlocking at right-angles, rising to a tower 45 metres high. The memorial serves three purposes: to commemorate the missing of the Somme by name; to memorialise the battles of the Somme; and to honour the Anglo-French alliance that existed during the war. , Discover more about our work at www.cwgc.org, "In spite of the magnificent reconstruction, this landscape is touched with infinite sadness.”, The Anglo-French Alliance , French and British solders fought side-by-side during the First World War, and the Thiepval Memorial honours this allance. French and British flags fy from the top of the memorial, and 300 French and 300 British Empire solders lie together in the cemetery at the rear of the memorial., Battle Wreaths , Inscribed above the panels of the missing are the names of key battles that were fought in the Somme region during the First World War. Each name is wreathed in laurels, symbolising victory., The Missing , The names of the missing are carved in stone upon the memorial's sixteen ground level piers. The names are arranged by regiment, rank and then alphabetically by surname. A register of those commemorated here, together with a memorial plan, can be found in the register boxes at the memorial., "...in the words which in honest faith we have cut deep and clear, they are to "live for evermore.” ,