Gommecourt, Pas-de-Calais
Encyclopedia
Gommecourt is a commune
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...

 in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

Geography

A small farming village situated 14 miles (22.5 km) south of Arras, on the D6 road.

Population

World War I

Gommecourt was on the front line during almost all of the period of hostilities between 1914 and 1918 and was almost destroyed as a result. The neighbouring village of Foncquevillers
Foncquevillers
Foncquevillers is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:A farming village situated south of Arras, at the junction of the D3, D6 and the D28 roads.-Population:-World War I:...

 to the west, in allied hands, was the base for an assault on Gommecourt on 1 July 1916 which formed the northernmost part of what is known in Britain as the Battle of the Somme.

British troops taking part in that attack came from the London and the North Midland Divisions, and many are buried in the several local CWGC
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves, and places of commemoration, of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars...

 Military Cemeteries.

Places of interest

  • The church of St.Martin, rebuilt, as was most of the village, after World War I
    World War I
    World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

    .
  • The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
    Commonwealth War Graves Commission
    The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves, and places of commemoration, of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars...

    cemetery.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK