CORBIE COMMUNAL CEMETERY AND EXTENSION
Corbie
Somme
France
General Directions: Corbie is a small town 15 kilometres east of Amiens. Go north from the town centre taking the D1 (Rue Gambetta) in the direction of Bray. You will arrive at a set of traffic lights with the hospital diagonally on your left. Continue, taking the second turning on your right onto the Rue des Longues Vignes (VC6). The cemetery lies about 800 metres on the left and the extension is east of the Communal Cemetery.
Corbie was about 20 kilometres behind the front when Commonwealth forces took over the line from Berles-au-Bois southward to the Somme in July 1915. The town immediately became a medical centre, with Nos 5 and 21 Casualty Clearing Stations based at La Neuville (the suburb across the Ancre) until October 1916 and April 1917 respectively. In November 1916 the front moved east, but the German advance in the Spring of 1918 came within 10 kilometres of the town and brought with it field ambulances of the 47th Division and the 12th Australian Field Ambulance. The communal cemetery was used for burials until May 1916, when the plot set aside was filled and the extension opened. The majority of the graves in the extension are of officers and men who died of wounds in the 1916 Battle of the Somme. The remainder relate to the fighting of 1918.
Victoria Cross: Major William La Touche Congreve, VC, DSO, MC, Rifle Brigade, killed in action 20/07/1916, plot I. F. 35. (Extension)
Shot at Dawn: Private J Carey, 7th Bn. Royal Irish Fusiliers executed 15/09/1916 for desertion, plot 2. C. 86. (Extension)
Casualty Details: UK 245, India 4, Total Burials: 249 (Communal)
UK 831, Australia 58, South Africa 27, Germany 1, Total Burials: 917 (Extension)
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4172 Serjeant Arthur O'Brien "C" Coy. 8th Bn. Royal Munster Fusiliers 04/09/1916, aged 29. Plot 2. B. 6. Arthur left Wexford, Ireland to fight with the Royal Munster Fusiliers. He was wounded during the battle of the Somme and never returned to Ireland. He left behind a loving wife (Martha O'Brien) and three children - Catherine, Patrick & Thomas. Picture courtesy of Fiona McEvoy, great granddaughter of this soldier |
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