CWGC Cemetery: BEACON CEMETERY, SAILLY-LAURETTE

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Local Information

Sailly-Laurette is a village 19 kilometres east of Amiens and 9 kilometres south-west of Albert. Enter Bray-sur-Somme via Albert on the D329 and carry straight on into the village. Turn right in the direction of Corbie-Amiens, on the D1 heading west. Leave Bray-sur-Somme on the D1 and carry on for 7.3 kilometres. Beacon Cemetery is half a kilometre after the junction with Morlancourt-Sailly Laurette, on the left hand side of the D1 in the direction of Amiens-Corbie. There are no CWGC signposts.

Historical Information

This part of the Somme did not see fighting until 26-27 March 1918, when the Third Army withdrew to a line between Albert and Sailly-le-Sec ahead of the German advance. This line was held until 4 July, when it was advanced nearly to Sailly-Laurette, and on 8 August, the first day of the Battle of Amiens, Sailly-Laurette and the road to Morlancourt were disengaged. The cemetery (named from a brick beacon on the summit of the ridge a little south-east of the village) was made by the 18th Division Burial Officer on 15 August when the 12th (Eastern), 18th and 58th (London) Divisions attacked from the Ancre to the Somme and the Australian Corps beyond the Somme. At the Armistice, the original burials numbered 109, chiefly from the 12th Division, but it was then greatly increased when graves were brought in from the surrounding battlefields and small burial grounds. Beacon Cemetery now contains 772 burials and commemorations of the First World War. 258 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to four casualties known or believed to be buried among them. The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.