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Additional
Information: |
Son of
John Cowie, of 9, Weardale St., Wheatley Hill, Co. Durham. |
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Cemetery:
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A.I.F.
BURIAL GROUND, FLERS, Somme, France |
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Grave
Reference/ |
II. L.
21. |
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Location:
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A.I.F. Burial Ground is 2 kilometres north of the
village of Flers, in the Department of the Somme. Travel south-west of
Bapaume on the D929 in the direction of Albert for 6 kilometres to the
village of Le Sars. Turn left eastwards on the D11 in the direction of
Geudecourt for 3.5 kilometres to the D74/D197 junction. Continue along the
D74 in the direction of Geudecourt for 500 metres when a CWGC signpost will
be seen indicating the A.I.F. Burial Ground along a track to the right. |
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Historical
Information: |
Flers
was captured on the 15th September, 1916, in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette;
it was entered by the New Zealand and 41st Divisions, following the
newly-revealed Tanks. It was lost in March, 1918, and retaken at the end of
the following August. The cemetery was begun by Australian medical units,
posted in the neighbouring caves, in November, 1916-February, 1917; and these
original graves are in Plot I, Rows A and B. It was very greatly enlarged
after the Armistice by the concentration of 3,842 British and French graves
from the battlefields of the Somme, and afterwards from a wider area; the
great majority of these graves date from the autumn of 1916, but one is of
1914, and others of the spring of 1917 and the spring and summer of 1918.
There are nearly 3,500, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of
these nearly two-thirds are unidentified and special memorials are erected to
15 Australian soldiers, five from the United Kingdom and three from New
Zealand, known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials
record the names of three soldiers from the United Kingdom, buried by the
Germans in 1915-16 in a cemetery at Flers, who graves could not be found. The
cemetery covers an area of 9,826 square metres and is enclosed by a rubble
wall. The following were among the burial grounds from which British graves
were taken to this cemetery:- FACTORY CORNER, FLERS, a little West of the
crossing of the roads from Eaucourt-L'Abbaye to Gueudecourt and from Flers to
Ligny-Thilloy. This place, which had been a German Headquarters for Artillery
and Engineers and had a German Cemetery, was taken by the 1st Canterbury
Infantry Regiment on the 25th September, 1916, and again by the 7th East
Yorks on the 27th August, 1918. Fifteen soldiers from the United Kingdom and
13 from Australia were buried here in October, 1916-March, 1917, and in
August, 1918. NORTH ROAD CEMETERY, FLERS, North-West of the village, at the
crossing of the Eaucourt-L'Abbaye road with "North Road" (to
Factory Corner). Here were buried, in the winter of 1916-17, 13 Australian
soldiers and seven from the United Kingdom. |