Thiepval
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- This article is about the Thiepval village and memorial, for other uses see Thiepval (disambiguation)
Thiepval is a village and commune in the Somme département, Picardy région of Northern France. Population (1999): 98.
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[edit] Geography
Thiepval is located 4.5 miles (7 km) north of Albert at the crossroads of the D73 and D151.
[edit] History
The original village was totally destroyed during World War I. The present Thiepval occupies a location a short distance to the southwest of the former settlement.
[edit] Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme
Thiepval is the location of a major war memorial to British and South African men who died in the World War I Battle of the Somme and have no known grave.
The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme is built on the site of the former Thiepval Chateau. The huge brick structure, which dominates the rural scene, has sixteen piers faced with Portland stone and is 150 feet (46 m) high. It has foundations 19 feet (6 m) thick; required due to extensive tunnelling beneath the structure. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, the memorial was built between 1928 and 1932 and is the biggest British battle memorial in the world. It was inaugurated by the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) in the presence of Albert Lebrun, President of France, on 31 July 1932.
On the Portland Stone piers are engraved the names of over 72,000 men who were lost in the Somme between July 1916 and March 1918. Most of them died in the Battle of the Somme between 1 July and 4 November 1916. The memorial is reserved for those men who have no known grave. Consequently, when the remains of a soldier listed on the memorial are found and identified, he is given a funeral with full military honours and his name is then removed from the memorial as he is no longer missing. This has resulted in numerous gaps in the lists of names.
The Thiepval Memorial also serves as an Anglo-French battle memorial to commemorate the joint nature of the 1916 offensive. In further recognition of this, a cemetery containing 300 British Commonwealth and 300 French graves lies at the foot of the memorial. Many of the soldiers buried here are unknown. The British Commonwealth graves are rectangular and made of white stone, while the French graves have grey stone crosses.
Each year on 1 July a major ceremony is held at the memorial.
A visitors' centre opened in 2004.
