Beaumont-Hamel
Beaumont-Hamel (French pronunciation: [bomɔ̃ amɛl]) is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.
Beaumont-Hamel | |
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The monument to the dead, in Beaumont | |
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Coat of arms | |
Location of Beaumont-Hamel | |
Beaumont-Hamel Beaumont-Hamel | |
| Coordinates: 50°05′02″N 2°39′26″E | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Hauts-de-France |
| Department | Somme |
| Arrondissement | Péronne |
| Canton | Albert |
| Intercommunality | CC du Pays du Coquelicot |
| Government | |
| • Mayor (2020–2026) | Agnes Briet-Lavaquerie |
| Area 1 | 8.31 km2 (3.21 sq mi) |
| Population (2021) | 202 |
| • Density | 24/km2 (63/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 80069 /80300 |
| Elevation | 70–148 m (230–486 ft) (avg. 75 m or 246 ft) |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
During the First World War, Beaumont-Hamel was close to the front line, near many attacks, especially during the Battle of the Somme, one of the largest allied offensives of the war.
On 1 July 1916, the First Day of the Somme, the 29th Division assaulted the German front line in an attempt to capture the village as part of the Somme Offensive. Included in this division was the Newfoundland Regiment. Newfoundland commemorates this event as Memorial Day on 1 July each year.
Its capture by the 51st (Highland) Division on 18 November 1916 marked the end of the Battle of the Somme. Fought over for many years, by 1918, the village had been almost totally destroyed.
The banks of white chalk at Beaumont Hamel led to a sector of British trenches being nicknamed "White City". To the west of the village was Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt, one of the sites of the mines exploded on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.