Directions

Pozieres British Cemetery is located on the razor-straight Roman road that links Albert and Bapaume. Depart Albert in the direction of Bapaume and continue through the village of La Boisselle. Carry on for two kilometres towards Pozieres - the cemetery is unmissable on your left.

About the cemetery

The full name of this cemetery is Pozieres British Cemetery and Memorial to the Missing of the Fifth Army. It is a large cemetery and one of the most important on the Somme battlefield. It was begun in 1916 by field ambulances at a point called Tramway Crossing and contains the bodies of many of the men killed in the terrible fighting at Pozieres in July and August 1916. Further graves were added in 1917 and 1918. These original graves are now located in Plot II. After the Armistice the cemetery was greatly enlarged by the addition of thousands of graves from the surrounding area, most of which date from the fighting in 1916, although there are some from the August 1918 battles.

In March and April 1918 this area was overrun during the German Spring Offensive and the British Fifth Army was driven back with heavy losses. The names of 14,690 soldiers killed in this fighting who have no known grave are recorded on the extensive marble walls of the cemetery. This is one of the main memorials to British missing on the Western Front, along with the Menin Gate, Thiepval Memorial and Ploegsteert memorial. (The Ploegsteert Memorial was originally intended to be built in Lille, but the French objected to the number of memorials being constructed by the British and its location was changed to Ploegsteert, just across the Belgian border).

Pozieres British Cemetery is the final resting place for hundreds of Australians killed in the bitter fighting at Pozieres, one of the most significant Australian actions of the war. It is an essential stop for visiting Australians.

Total burials: 2756

Australian burials: 708 (251 unidentified)

Notable Australians buried in this cemetery

• Sergeant Claude Castleton VC, 5th Australian Machine-Gun Company, died 29/07/1916, age 23. Claude Castleton won his VC during the early phases of the Pozieres attack. During the advance the Australians were temporarily halted by heavy German machine gun fire and casualties were heavy. Sergeant Castleton twice ventured out under intense fire and carried wounded men back to the Australian lines. He was returning with a third wounded man when he was hit in the back by machine gun fire and killed instantly. IV. L. 43.

• Major Duncan Chapman, 45th Battalion, died 6/08/1916. Major Chapman was originally in the 9th Battalion and, as a young lieutenant, is believed to have been the first man to step ashore at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli, on April 25th 1915. He was a very popular officer and led with great skill during the Gallipoli campaign and the storm of fire at Pozieres. He was hit, along with four other officers and 340 men of his battalion, during one of the furious German artillery bombardments on the town.
  III. M. 22.