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Many more images of the cemetery and memorial
General Directions: Villers-Bretonneux is a village 16 kilometres
east of Amiens on the straight main road to St Quentin. The Cemetery is
about 2 kilometres north of the village on the east side of the road to
Fouilloy.
Villers-Bretonneux became famous in 1918, when the German advance on
Amiens ended in the capture of the village by their tanks and infantry on 23
April. On the following day, the 4th and 5th Australian Divisions, with
units of the 8th and 18th Divisions, recaptured the whole of the village and
on 8 August 1918, the 2nd and 5th Australian Divisions advanced from its
eastern outskirts in the Battle of Amiens. Villers-Bretonneux Military
Cemetery was made after the Armistice when graves were brought in from other
burial grounds in the area and from the battlefields. Plots I to XX were
completed by 1920 and contain mostly Australian graves, almost all from the
period March to August 1918. Plots IIIA, VIA, XIIIA and XVIA, and Rows in
other Plots lettered AA, were completed by 1925, and contain a much larger
proportion of unidentified graves brought from a wider area. Later still,
444 graves were brought in from Dury Hospital Military Cemetery.
The following were among the burial grounds from which British graves
were taken to Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery. Card Copse Cemetery,
Marcelcave, on the road to Fouilloy, where 35 Australian soldiers were
buried by the 2nd Australian Division in July and August, 1918. Dury
Hospital Military Cemetery, under the wall of the Asylum near the West side
of the Amiens-Dury road. From August, 1918, to January, 1919, this building
was used intermittently by British medical units, and a cemetery was made
next to an existing French Military Cemetery. The British cemetery contained
the graves of 195 Canadian and 185 United Kingdom soldiers and airmen; 63
Australian soldiers; one man of the Cape Auxiliary Horse Transport Corps;
and one French and one American soldier.
High Cemetery, Sailly-le-Sec, on
the road to Ville-sur-Ancre, where 18 United Kingdom and eleven Australian
soldiers were buried in June-August, 1918. Kangaroo Cemetery, Sailly-le-Sec
(on the Ville-sur-Ancre road, but nearer Sailly), where 13 Australian
soldiers were buried by the 41st Battalion in March-April, 1918, and 14 of
the 58th (London) Division by their comrades in August, 1918.
Lamotte-en-Santerre Communal Cemetery Extension. The village was captured by
Australian troops on the 8th August, 1918, and the Extension contained the
graves of 56 Australian and twelve United Kingdom soldiers who fell in
August and September. La Neuville-les-Bray Communal Cemetery, containing the
grave of one Australian soldier who fell in August, 1918.
Le Hamelet British
Cemetery (behind the Church), containing the graves of 25 Australian
soldiers who fell in April-July, 1918; and the Communal Cemetery Extension,
in which 27 Australian soldiers and one from the United Kingdom were buried
in July and August, 1916. Midway Cemetery, Marcelcave, 1,500 yards
North-West of Marcelcave Church, made by the Canadian Corps and containing
the graves of 53 Canadian and three United Kingdom soldiers who fell in
August, 1918. Vaux-sur-Somme Communal Cemetery, containing three Australian
graves of March-April, 1918, and two United Kingdom of 1916 and 1917; and
the Extension, made in May-August, 1918, and containing the graves of 130
Australian soldiers and 104 soldiers (mainly 58th Division and Artillery)
and one airman from the United Kingdom. Warfusee-Abancourt Communal Cemetery
Extension, in which five Australian soldiers were buried by the 12th
Australian Field Ambulance in August, 1918.
Within the cemetery stands the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, the
Australian national memorial erected to commemorate all Australian soldiers
who fought in France and Belgium during the First World War, to their dead,
and especially to those of the dead whose graves are not known. The 10,700
Australian servicemen actually named on the memorial died in the
battlefields of the Somme, Arras, the German advance of 1918 and the Advance
to Victory. The memorial was unveiled by King George VI in July 1938.
Victoria Cross: Lieutenant John Brilliant, VC, 22nd Bn. Canadian
Infantry (Quebec Regiment), died 10/08/1918, plot VIA. B. 20.
Another view of this cemetery
Casualty Details: UK 1089, Canada 267, Australia 779, New Zealand 2, South
Africa 4, Total Burials: 2141
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1140
Private
Roderick
Hugh Humphris
53rd Bn.
Australian Infantry,
13/05/1917,
aged 20.
Villers-Bretonneux Memorial
Son of
Willoughby and Minnie Humphris, of Sawyers
Gully Rd., Abermain, New South Wales. Born at Broken Hill. New South
Wales.
Picture with permission of AWM
www.awm.gov.aus
 
Lieutenant
James Glen
Mcdonald
19th Bn.
Australian Infantry
07/04/1918,
aged 27.
Villers-Bretonneux Memorial
Son of
James Wilson McDonald and Anna McDonald, of
Glen Cottage, Abermain, New South Wales. Born at Stoekton, New South
Wales.
Picture with permission of AWM
www.awm.gov.aus
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15646
Private
William
Henry Wilson
8th Bn.
Duke of Wellington's Regiment.
29/09/1916,
aged 24.
Son of
Charles Herbert and Jessie Wilson, of 50, Markfield Rd., Tottenham,
London.
Plot XIIIA.
A. 11.
Picture courtesy of Graham Luxford, great nephew of this
soldier |
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1101
Private
Joseph
Sanderson
(Known as
Toby)
"G" Coy.
1st Bn. Australian Infantry,
A. I. F.
09/04/1917,
aged 26.
Born
20/12/1890 in Gundagai, New South Wales, Australia,
he was
killed in the battle for the town of Demicourt on 09/04/1917.
Picture courtesy of Bruce Smith, Huon Creek, Victoria
Australia
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4905
Private
D'Arcey
Richard Nottingham Shaw
15th Bn.
Australian Infantry
A. I. F.
01/02/1917,
aged 19.
Son of Thomas
and Mary Ann Shaw, of Brisbane, Queensland. Born at Irvingdale, Queensland.
and his brother

4907 Lance
Corporal
Frank
Albert Percy Shaw
15th Bn.
Australian Infantry
A. I. F.
05/04/1918,
aged 21.
Son of Thomas
and Mary Ann Shaw, of Brisbane, Queensland. Born at Irvingdale, Queensland.
A third Shaw
brother is buried in Rue-du-Bacquerot
13th London Graveyard
Pictures courtesy of Carmel McMullen

Private
13130
James Nulty
"A" Coy.
9th Bn. Royal Dublin Fusiliers
KIA at
Ginchy, 09/09/1916, aged 36.
James was born in Prescot, near
Liverpool, in 1881, the eldest son of Patrick & Katherine Nulty. Patrick
had migrated from Co. Meath, Ireland in the 1860's and had married
Katherine in 1874. She was the daughter of James Skelly, a native of
Longford, Ireland, who had also migrated in the 1860's. James was one of
4 brothers who fought in the war, and the only one to be lost. His other
brothers were Patrick, Anthony and Thomas (my grandfather).
James married Bridget Gilligan
in Prescot in 1912. They had no children. He was killed on the very day
that the Prescot War Memorial, which now bears his name, was unveiled.
The memorial was originally sited about 100 yards from where James lived
in Hill Street, Prescot.
Plot VIA. D. 4.
The
following is an account from the war diary of the 9th Bn. Royal Dublin
Fusiliers, of the action during which James Nulty was killed:
"9th September 1916
The battalion was in the
support trench which it had dug. On the morning of 9th September the
disposition of the units of the 48th Brigade for the assault on GINCHY
which had been ordered were as follows.
In front trench with orders to
take the first objective and consolidate it. 7th Royal Irish Rifles, 1
section Trench Mortar Battery, 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers, 1 section
Trench Mortar Battery.
In support trench with orders
to take the second objective and consolidate. 9th Royal Dublin
Fusiliers, 1 section Machine Gun Company. 1 section 156 Company, Royal
Engineers, 8th Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 1 section Machine Gun Company, 1
section 156 Company Royal Engineers.
At zero hour (4.45pm) the line
advanced under the artillery barrage on the first objective, each
battalion assaulting with 4 companies in the front line, on a frontage
of one platoon, platoons at 40 yards distance.
First Phase. Right Battalion
(1st R.M.F.). At the onset very heavy Officer casualties were suffered.
The right company experienced considerable opposition owing to the
inability of the 8th R.M.F. to advance. This company was therefore
wheeled to the right and dug in. Owing to the shortage of officers the
other companies lost direction and went on beyond their objective. Left
Battalion (7th R.I.R.) closely followed by 7th R. Irish Fusiliers
reached the first objective with slight resistance & with very few
casualties.
Second Phase. Right Battalion
(8th R.D.F.) advanced to the second objective at 5.25 p.m. and gained it
without encountering very serious opposition. Left Battalion (9th R.D.F)
advanced to the second objective at 5.25pm but suffered very heavy
officer casualties in doing so. Captain W. J. MURPHY (commanding) being
killed as the battalion reached GINCHY. The battalion, owing to the loss
of officers, carried on beyond the second objective and had to be
brought back, also owing to the fact that 55 Division had not come up.
The left flank had consequently to be brought back slightly. The line
gained was then consolidated."
Pictures and information courtesy of
Stephen Nulty, great nephew of this soldier
 3157A Private
Joseph Emanuel Parish
26th Bn. Australian Infantry, A. I. F.
08/08/1918, aged 23.
Son of Fred and Elizabeth Ann Parish, of Juandah, Queensland. Born in
Australia.
Plot III. D. 4. (Cemetery)
Killed on the 8/08/1918 by friendly artillery
fire whilst he manned a machine gun post located within a shell hole. He was
the son of Fred and Elizabeth Parish and he came from a small Queensland
rural community called Juandah (later renamed Wandoan).
Picture courtesy of David Amiet, great nephew of this
soldier

6150 Private
Albert John
Townsend
10th Bn.
Australian Infantry,
A. I. F.
18/09/1918,
aged 21.
Son of Alexander and Marion Townsend, of Renmark South Australia. Born at
Aldridge, Staffs, England.
Killed in action at Jeancourt, France Buried by
Chaplain Haydon (12th Bn A. I. F.)
Grave No.1759. 1,700 yards south-south-east of
Hargicourt and 3/4 miles north-north-west of Maissemy
The following is an extract from Commonwealth of
Australia, Department of Defence letter dated 21/7/1922
"Although exhaustive searches and investigations
have been made with the object of locating the grave of the above named,
it has not been possible to locate his actual burial place or obtain
information which might indicate his probable original or present
resting place."
Albert John Townsend is now remembered at the
Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France. This memorial
was erected to commemorate all Australian soldiers who fought in France
and Belgium during the First World War, to their dead, and especially to
those of the dead whose graves are not known. The 10,770 Australian
servicemen actually named on the memorial died in the battlefields of
the Somme, Arras, the German advance of 1918 and the Advance to Victory.

540A Private
Leslie
George Bursill
5th Bn.
Australian Infantry, A. I. F.
16/06/1918
Private Leslie George Bursill
of Maryborough, Victoria, was a labourer before enlisting in May 1916.
Pte Bursill formed part of the 4th Reinforcements of the 2nd
ANZAC Cyclist Battalion in January 1917. Pte. Bursill took part in a
three-man raid on the German positions at Strazeele near Hazebrouck on
the morning of 16 June 1918, dressed in captured German uniform and
equipment. He was seen to have taken cover in a shell hole close to the
German lines once the raid was discovered, and drew heavy grenade and
machine-gun fire. Despite attempts to rescue the raiders from No Man’s
land, Pte Bursill was never seen again, leaving behind a wife and a
newly born daughter whom he never met. Private Leslie Bursill was
nominated for the Military Medal for his actions.
Picture courtesy
of great niece, Rowena Gough
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