Caterpilar Valley (New Zealand) Memorial

Historical Information (Source: CWGC)

Caterpillar Valley was the name given by the army to the long valley which runs West to East, past "Caterpillar Wood", to the high ground at Guillemont. Longueval village is on the Northern crest of this valley and 500 metres West of the village, on the South side of the road to Contalmaison, is Caterpillar Valley Cemetery. Caterpillar Valley was captured during a successful night assault by the 3rd, 7th and 9th Divisions on Bazentin Ridge on 14 July 1916. It was lost in the German advance of March 1918 and recovered by the 38th (Welsh) Division on 28 August 1918, when a little cemetery was made (now Plot 1 of this cemetery) containing 25 graves of the 38th Division and the 6th Dragoon Guards. After the Armistice, this cemetery was hugely increased when the graves of more than 5,500 officers and men were brought in from other small cemeteries, and the battlefields of the Somme. The great majority of these soldiers died in the autumn of 1916 and almost all the rest in August or September 1918.

 

On the east side of the cemetery is the Caterpilar Valley (New Zealand) Memorial, commemorating more than 1,200 officers and men of the New Zealand Division who died in the Battles of the Somme in 1916, and whose graves are not known. This is one of seven memorials in France and Belgium to those New Zealand soldiers who died on the Western Front and whose graves are not known. The memorials are all in cemeteries chosen as appropriate to the fighting in which the men died. Both cemetery and memorial were designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

 

Served with

  • New Zealand (1205)
  • United Kingdom (6)

Served in

  • Army (1211)
Caterpilar Valley
PDF – 68,1 KB


Private Claude Reuben PERRETT - 7/2123

2nd Bn. Canterbury Regiment, N.Z.E.F.

Born on 28 February 1896 in Eltham, Taranaki, New Zealand

Died 21 September 1916

Son of Mrs. F. Fever (formerly Perrett), of Coalgate, Canterbury.

He was a labourer and enlisted 20 October 1915 in Halswell, Christchurch, New Zealand at the age of 19.

Embarkation details

WW1 08 Jan 1916-8 February 1916 from Wellington, New Zealand  to Suez, Egypt

HMNZT 37 Vessel was Maunganui Trooper 9th Reinforcements, Canterbury Mounted Rifles,

C Squadron New Zealand Expeditionary Force

Awards

British War Medal (1914-1920)

Victory Medal

Cousin of Harold John Fever, buried in Dartmoor Cemetery, Becordel-Becourt

Military file
PDF – 8,0 MB

Since he is still missing I put the photo and the cross at the grave of an unknown NZ soldier, like that he is also remembered.