Maucourt is a village and commune 34 kilometres east-south-east of Amiens. The cemetery is about 635 metres north of the village on a by-road leading to the neighbouring village of Lihons. In the south-western corner are the graves of six airmen who fell during the 1939-1945 War. Five of them belonged to the Royal Air Force and one to the Royal Canadian Air Force.
GPS | N | E | OSM |
---|---|---|---|
Decimal | 49.80016 | 2.75467 | Map |
The village of Maucourt was destroyed during the Battle of the Somme when it was taken by soldiers of the French Tenth Army on 4th September 1916.
Following the war, in 1920, graves were concentrated into this new cemetery from the various battlefields of the Somme. In particular those buried in the military cemetery at Méharicourt were relocated.
Figures for the cemetery differ greatly but there are now approximately 5,300 French casualties from the Great War and a further thirty from the Second World War of whom five are British and one Canadian.
1,534 of the Great War burials are located in six collective graves at the rear of the cemetery.
It will be noted that this figure differs from that on the plaque
Here lie 1495 French soldiers of the following are identified
626794 Flight Sergeant Dennis Axtell DFM
Wirelss Operator/Air Gunner
51 Squadron Royal Air Force
Died on 17th April 1943 aged 22
Son of Allan and Vera Axtell
Husband of Agnes Axtell
of Belfast, Northern Ireland
Grave: 1
1316069 Sergeant Donald Reid
Air Gunner
51 Squadron Royal Air Force
Died on 17th April 1943
Grave: 2
Pilot Officer Ronald Stewart
Pilot (RCAF)
51 Squadron Royal Air Force
Died on 17th April 1943 aged 21
Son of Alvin and Dorothy Stewart
of Welland, Ontario, Canada
Grave: 3
Flying Officer Thomas Robinson
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner
51 Squadron Royal Air Force
Died on 17th April 1943 aged 33
Son of Thomas and Kate Robinson
Husband of Muriel Robinson
of Brislington, Bristol
Grave: 4
Pilot Officer William McBriar
Flight Engineer
51 Squadron Royal Air Force
Died on 17th April 1943 aged 23
Son of William and Cathrine McBriar
of Belfast, Northern Ireland
Grave: 5
Pilot Officer Frank Thompson
Air Gunner
51 Squadron Royal Air Force
Died on 17th April 1943 aged 34
Son of Fredrick and Molly Thompson
Husband of Frances Thompson
of East Barnet, Hertfordshire
Grave: 6
Soldat Auguste Arnaud
30e Régiment de Dragons
Born on 18th May 1890
Classe of 1910
Died on 10th November 1916 aged 26
Native of Vieillevigne in Loire Inférieure.
Grave: 550
Soldat André Vernière
4e Génie
Born on 31st October 1892
Classe of 1912
Died on 28th July 1916 aged 24
Native of Brioude in Haute Loire
Grave: 799 bis
Vernière’s original headstone at Warvillers has become a monument to the soldiers from Cantal who served and died there in 1916.