The Thiepval Memorial and Anglo-French Cemetery

The Thiepval Memorial and Anglo-French Cemetery , The First World War saw fierce fighting along what was known as the Western Front - a battle line extending from the Channel coast to Switzerland., The Battle of the Somme was a major offensive launched on 1 July 1916 that met fierce German resistance from strong defensive positions unbroken by a seven day bombardment. With a few exceptions, the attack was a failure and the offensive developed into a series of major battles that ended with the onset of winter and exhaustion of the troops in November 1916. , The Thiepval Memorial commemorates by name some 72,000 men who fell in the Somme sector up to 20 March 1918 and who have no known grave. The memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and unveiled by the Prince of Wales in 1932. It is the largest of the Commonwealth's memorials, standing on the site of one of the most heavily defended German positions to be attacked on the first day of the battle when Commonwealth casualties killed, wounded and missing numbered more than 60,000. , The Thiepval Anglo-French Cemetery, symbolising the Allied effort in the war, contains the graves of 300 Commonwealth and 300 French soldiers, the majority of whom are unidentified. , The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is responsible for the maintenance of graves and memorials in some 150 countries which commemorate around 1,700,000 members of the Commonwealth forces who died in the two world wars. The war dead commemorated here and elsewhere include those of several different faiths and of none. ,