Thistle Dump Cemetery, Longueval

[Terry Carter]

Could someone please explain why several Royal Warwickshire Territorials killed on 1/7/16 during the attack on the Heidenkopf Redoubt (Near Serre Rd No.2 cemetery) are now buried a few miles away in Thistle Dump near Longueval. Is it because they were found many years after the war and by then Serre Rd No.2 was full?

Regards

Terry

[Chris Noble]

In the same vein Terry.

There's also

L/Cpl L.R. Whitely

15th Battalion, West Yorks (Leeds Pals),

1/7/16.

I was under the impression that they were missed in the original battlefield clearence and found at a much later date?

I seem to remember though, that there were quite a number of burials concentrated into this cemetery from all over the Somme battlefield.

Regards, Chris.

[burlington]

The CWGC website says this:

Thistle Dump Cemetery was begun in August 1916 and used as a front line cemetery until February 1917. It was later increased after the Armistice by the concentration of 56 graves from the Somme battlefields. There are now 196 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in the cemetery. 59 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to four casualties known to be buried among them. The cemetery also contains seven German war graves

[FRICOURT]

On visits to the W F I am often puzzled as to how the decisions were made as to which battlefield cemeteries were to be left in situ and which were to be concentrated into larger cemeteries. eg why wasn't Thistle Dump concentrated when others in the area were moved into Caterpiller

Valley or London. Why was Owl Trench left when many others thereabouts were concentrated into the Gommecourt cemeteries.etc,etc

Charlie