 |
Yorkshire
Regiment War Graves, - Twelve Tree Copse Cemetery, Turkey |
|
Twelve
Tree Copse Cemetery (1)
Photo : Edward Nicholl
The eight month campaign in Gallipoli was fought by Commonwealth and French forces in an attempt to force Turkey out of the war, to relieve the deadlock of the Western Front in France and Belgium, and to open a supply route to Russia through the Dardanelles and the Black Sea.
The Allies landed on the peninsula on 25-26 April 1915; the 29th Division at Cape Helles in the south and the Australian and New Zealand Corps north of Gaba Tepe on the west coast, an area soon known as Anzac.
On 28 April, following the landings at Helles, the first attack was mounted towards Achi Baba, the ridge which dominates the southern part of the peninsula. Fatigue, however, brought the assault to a halt some kilometres short of the objective, near the village of Krithia. Turkish counter attacks followed but were repulsed and during the period 6-8 May, the 29th and French Divisions, reinforced by the 2nd Australian and New Zealand Infantry Brigades, carried out a renewed attack on Krithia, making some gains but suffering heavy casualties.
Between 1 May and the beginning of June, the 29th Indian Infantry Brigade and 42nd (East Lancashire) Division landed on the peninsula. With these reinforcements, the Allied force at Helles pushed forward once more on 4 June, but again to little effect. A further attack between 28 June and 5 July at Gully Ravine inflicted heavy casualties on the Turks, but despite local gains - at one point the line was pushed forward more than a kilometre - there was no breakthrough. By 13 July the advance at Helles was effectively over and the position remained unchanged until the evacuation in January 1916.
TWELVE TREE COPSE CEMETERY was made after the Armistice when graves were brought in from isolated sites and small burial grounds on the battlefields of April-August and December 1915. The most significant of these burial grounds were Geoghegan's Bluff Cemetery, which contained 925 graves associated with fighting at Gully Ravine in June-July 1915; Fir Tree Wood Cemetery, where the 29th Division and New Zealand Infantry Brigade fought in May 1915 and Clunes Vennel Cemetery, on the south side of Krithia, which contained 522 graves.
There are now 3,360 First World War servicemen buried or commemorated in the cemetery. 2,226 of the burials are unidentified but special memorials commemorate many casualties known or believed to be buried among them, including 142 officers and men of the 1st Essex who died on 6 August 1915, and 47 of the 1st/7th Scottish Rifles killed on 28 June.
The cemetery also contains the TWELVE TREE COPSE (NEW ZEALAND) MEMORIAL, one of four memorials erected to commemorate New Zealand soldiers who fell on the Gallipoli peninsula and whose graves are not known. The memorial relates to engagements outside the limits of Anzac in which New Zealand soldiers took part. It bears almost 180 names.
1 soldier of the Yorkshire Regiment is buried in this cemetery.
A Photograph of the headstones is below. A larger sized image, which opens
in a new window, can be obtained by selecting the thumbnail image. All photos
by Edward Nicholl.
 |
Lieutenant Alexis Randolph Kingcombe.
11th Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Son of Mrs. Kingcombe, of 21, Manville Rd., Tooting Common, London. Killed 28 June 1915. |
From the Medal Rolls Index card;-
1 Alexis Kingcombe was initially a Private (No 9962) in the 5th London Regiment.
2 He was awarded the 1914 Star, - having first served oveseas on 4 November
1914 (!).
3 He was commissioned into the 11th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment on 7 November
1914.
His mother, Mrs M Kingcombe, applied for the 1914 Star on 21/2/1920, but returned
his other medals in October 1920.
There are no other records for Lieutenant Kingcombe, but the inference here
is that he may have been commissioned into the 11th Battalion before being
attached to another regiment sent overseas in November 1914.
In the 1911 Census, Alexis Kingcombe was a Law Student, about to be articled. His father, Archibald, was a Solicitor. His mother was Maude Alexia Anne Kingcombe.
The following information on Lieutenant Kingcombe is taken from Robert Coulson's Biographies of Yorkshire Regiment Officers killed in the First World War;-
Alexis Kingscombe was born at Catford in Kent in 1893. He first saw service
as a private soldier with the London Regiment before being commissioned into
the 11th Battalion who were home based and whose duties were to find drafts
and reinforcements for the foreign service battalions of the regiment.
Lt Kingcombe however was attached to another regiment when he was wounded
in action fighting in the Gallipoli campaign during the summer of 1915.
Lt Alexis Randolph Kingcombe died of his wounds on June 28th 1915 at the age
of 22.
Lt Kingcombe was the son of Mrs Kingcombe of 21 Manville Road, Tooting Common
in London.
Twelve
Tree Copse Cemetery (2)
Photo : Edward Nicholl
Twelve Tree Copse Cemetery
For a larger sized image, which opens in a new window, select the image above.
Photo : Edward Nicholl
The headstone for Lieutenant Smith, VC, in Twelve Tree Copse Cemetery
Photo : Edward Nicholl
The
headstone for Lieutenant Derry in Twelve Tree Copse Cemetery
Photo : Edward Nicholl