Bazentin-Le-Petit Communal Cemetery Extension

• Country France
• Total identified casualties 132 Find these casualties
• Region Somme
• Identified casualties from First World War
• GPS Coordinates Latitude: 50.0318, Longitude: 2.76718

Location information

Bazentin is a village in the Department of the Somme, to the north-east of Albert, containing the villages of Bazentin-le-Grand and Bazentin-le-Petit. Take the D929 (Albert-Bapaume road) from Albert and travel 8 Kms. In the village of Pozieres, turn south onto the D73 to Bazentine and the village of Bazentin-le-Petit is 3 Kms further on. The Communal Cemetery is on the east side of the village and is joined on the north by the extension.

Visiting information

Wheelchair access is possible with some difficulty. For further information regarding wheelchair access, please contact our enquiries dept. on 01628 634221.

History information

Bazentin was in German hands until 14 July 1916 when the 3rd and 7th Divisions captured the two villages (and the communal cemetery) and held them against counter-attacks, and the 21st Division captured Bazentin-le-Petit Wood. The ground was lost in April 1918 during the great German advance but recaptured on the following 25 August by the 38th (Welsh) Division. The COMMUNAL CEMETERY contains two Commonwealth burials dating from August 1916. The COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION was begun immediately after the capture of the village and used until December 1916 as a front-line cemetery. It was enlarged after the Armistice when 50 graves were brought in from the battlefields of Bazentin and Contalmaison. It now contains 185 burials and commemorations of the First World War. 53 of the burials are unidentified and 59 (mainly of the 1st Northamptons) destroyed by shell fire are now represented by special memorials. One British soldier was reburied in this cemetery from Sailly-Laurette German Cemetery (near the West side of the road from Sailly-Laurette to Morlancourt), which contained 556 German burials.