The Western Front Today - Guillemont Road Cemetery
Guillemont Road cemetery, on the Somme battlefields, contains in excess of 2,200 burials, and includes the eldest son of Britain's first World War One Prime Minister Herbert Asquith. Raymond Asquith, of the 3rd Grenadier Guards, was shot on 15th September 1916 - eight days after he was visited by his famous father on the Western Front - while leading his company in an attack during the ongoing Somme Offensive. He died of his wounds.
The area where the cemetery is located was taken by the British in September 1916 but lost in March 1918 during the great German Spring offensive. It was finally recaptured by the Allies on 29 August 1918.
References:
Before Endeavours Fade, Rose E.B. Coombs, After the Battle 1994
Major & Mrs Holt's Battlefield Guide - Somme, Leo Cooper 2000
A howitzer is any short cannon that delivers its shells in a high trajectory. The word is derived from an old German word for "catapult".
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