On the 1st of July 2024, there will be an Act of Remembrance to commemorate the 108th anniversary of The Battle of the Somme at the Ginchy Cross, Guillemont, France at 4.30pm.
The 16th (Irish) Division went into action here in September 1916, suffering over 4,300 casualties and the memorial is inscribed in Gaelic “Do chum Gloire De agus Onora na hEireann” (To the Glory of God and Honour of Ireland) and “In commemoration of the victories of Guillemont and Ginchy September 3rd and 9th 1916 in memory of those who fell therein and of all Irishmen who gave their lives in the great war. RIP.”
From 1917, the original wooden cross stood between the villages of Ginchy and Guillemont but was relocated to the Irish National War Memorial Gardens in Dublin in 1926 and the granite replica was erected here.
This event is organised by the Somme Association and details can be found at www.sommeassociation.com
Attendees are requested to take their places near the cross by 4.15pm. There are no facilities in the village.
Image created by Lt John Warwick Brooke. This photograph is @IWM Q4140 from the collections of the IWM - Troops of the 16th Irish Division enjoying a halt for breakfast during march to the trenches. The Amiens-Albert Road, 25th August 1916.