In Memory of
GEORGE TROTMAN
Acting Bombardier
64512
"T" Bty., Royal Horse Artillery
who died on
Tuesday, 4th July 1916. Age 25.
| Additional Information: |
Son of John and Caroline Trotman, of
Hillesley, Wootton-under-Edge, Glos. |
Commemorative Information
| Cemetery: |
DANTZIG ALLEY BRITISH CEMETERY, MAMETZ,
Somme, France
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Grave Reference/
Panel Number: |
VII. B. I.
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| Location: |
Mametz is a village about 8 kilometres east
of the town of Albert. The Cemetery is a little east of the village on
the north side of the road, D64, to Montauban.
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| Historical Information: |
Dantzig Alley British Cemetery was named from
a German trench. Mametz was carried by the 7th Division on the 1st July,
1916, after very hard fighting at Dantzig Alley and other points. The
cemetery was begun later in the same month; it was used by Field
Ambulances and fighting units until the following November. The ground
was lost in March, 1918, and regained in August, and a few graves were
added in August and September, 1918. The cemetery consisted, at the
Armistice, of 183 graves, now in Plot I; but it was then very greatly
increased by the concentration of graves (almost all of 1916) from
certain smaller burial grounds and from the battlefields North and East
of Mametz. There are now 2,053 Commonwealth burials of the 1914-18 war
commemorated in this site. Of these, 518 are unidentified and special
memorials are erected to 17 soldiers from the United Kingdom, known or
believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the
names of 70 soldiers from the United Kingdom and one from New Zealand,
buried in other cemeteries, whose graves were destroyed by shell fire.
Five French and seven German graves have been removed to other
cemeteries. The cemetery covers an area of 5,722 square metres and is
enclosed by a brick wall. The following were among the burial grounds
from which British graves were brought to this cemetery:- AEROPLANE
CEMETERY, FRICOURT, on the old German front line to the South of
Fricourt village. It contained the graves of 24 N.C.Os. and men of the
20th Manchesters who fell on the 1st July, 1916. BOTTOM WOOD CEMETERY,
FRICOURT, on the South edge of a small wood between Mametz and Fricourt
Woods. This was a Field Ambulance station for some months from July,
1916, and the cemetery contained the graves of 98 soldiers from the
United Kingdom, five from New Zealand and one from Australia. BULGAR
ALLEY CEMETERY, MAMETZ, 230 metres East of the village, named from a
trench. It contained the graves of 24 soldiers from the United Kingdom,
who fell on the 1st July, 1916, and all but one of whom belonged to the
22nd Manchesters. HARE LANE CEMETERY, FRICOURT, at the North-West corner
of the village, named from a trench. It contained the graves of 54
soldiers from the United Kingdom who fell on the 1st and 2nd July, 1916,
and of whom 49 belonged to the 10th West Yorks. MAMETZ GERMAN CEMETERY,
in which 12 soldiers from the United Kingdom were buried by their
comrades in July and August, 1916. This cemetery was near the crossing
of the Fricourt-Maricourt and Mametz-Bray roads. MANSEL COPSE CEMETERY,
MAMETZ, on the Fricourt-Maricourt road, near the present Devonshire
Cemetery: and MANSEL COPSE WEST CEMETERY, MAMETZ, 460 metres further
West. These contained the graves of 51 men of the 2nd Border Regiment,
who fell on the 1st July, 1916. MONTAUBAN ROAD CEMETERY, CARNOY, which
contained the graves of 25 soldiers from the United Kingdom (almost all
of the 18th Division) who fell on the 1st July, 1916. VERNON STREET
CEMETERY, CARNOY, in the valley between Carnoy and Maricourt, at a place
called "Squeak Forward Position". Here were buried, by the
21st Infantry Brigade and other units, 110 soldiers from the United
Kingdom who fell in July-October, 1916. |
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