18/11/2014 07:00
On this 98th Anniversary of the end of the Battle of the Somme, this image of the Thiepval Memorial was taken with the Phantom Drone being used for the Above The Battlefield project.
Good friend and author Mary Freeman, author of Poets & Pals of Picardy, coined the phrase ‘Mighty Thiepval’ which sums up what the memorial is about very well indeed – it can be seen all over the Somme battlefields and dominates the Thiepval ridge on which it stands.
When first constructed in 1932 the Thiepval Memorial commemorated more than 73,000 soldiers who fell on the Somme who have no known grave. Since many have been found and reburied in the Somme’s Silent Cities but today the total of 72,193 names still makes it the largest British war memorial in every sense from the number of men it commemorates to the size of the structure.
Posted by ww1centenary
Categories: 1916, 2014-2018, Above The Battlefield, First World War, Great War, Somme, War Memorial, WW1, WW1 Battlefields, WW1 Centenary, WW1 Revisited
Tags: 1916, Above The Battlefield, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Drone, First World War, France, Somme, Thiepval, Thiepval Memorial, War Memorial, Western Front, WW1 Battlefields, WW1 Centenary, WW1 Revisited
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I visited Thiepval for the ninth time in October this year and noticed the earthworks that are in the foreground of this picture. Is there anything interesting happening?
By Chris on 20/11/2014 at 20:09
I think they are just clearing the trees to open up a better view of it but I think it may have exposed the site of some WW1 trenches although that is unclear as yet.
By ww1centenary on 20/11/2014 at 22:39
First went to Thiepval 20 years ago , it still had the power to reduce me to tears after many visits
By Ruth on 30/11/2014 at 23:12