BLIGHTY VALLEY CEMETERY
Authuile
Somme
France
General Directions: Authuile and Aveluy are villages 4 kilometres north-east of the town of Albert. The Cemetery is situated in a valley half way between these two villages on the D151 (Cemetery is signposted on exit of Aveluy direction Authuile). The Cemetery is on the eastern side of the road D151 and access is 500 metres by grass pathway (unfit for cars).
Authuile and Aveluy are villages and adjacent communes in the Department of the Somme. Aveluy is North of Albert, on the right (or West) bank of the Ancre; Authuile is North of Aveluy, on the left (or East) bank. Blighty Valley was the name given by the Army to the lower part of the deep valley running down South-Westward through Authuile Wood to join the river between Authuile and Aveluy; a railway was carried along it soon after July, 1916, and it was for some time an important (though inevitably a dangerous) route. The upper part of the valley was called Nab Valley. Blighty Valley Cemetery is almost at the mouth of the valley, a little way up its northern bank. It is partly in either commune. Blighty Valley Cemetery was begun early in July 1916, at the beginning of the Battle of the Somme, and used until the following November. At the Armistice it contained 212 graves but was then greatly enlarged when 784 graves were brought in from the battlefields and small cemeteries to the east. Most of these concentrated graves were of men who died on 1 July 1916.
Casualty Details: UK 1024, Canada 1, Australia 2, Total Burials: 1027
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