Rancourt: Holiday Apartments and Holiday Homes

In Rancourt, the geographical proximity and mutual visibility of the German, French and British memorial site elements create an impressive international cemetery landscape.

Those who choose Rancourt as a travel destination can combine their stay with the desire to rent a holiday apartment.

Culture and History

The French National Necropolis of Rancourt is listed as SE06 in the UNESCO component list. The Chapelle du Souvenir Français in Rancourt is listed in the UNESCO component list as part of SE06. The German Military Cemetery of Rancourt is listed as SE08 in the UNESCO component list and is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The French National Necropolis of Rancourt contains 8,567 burials, including 5,327 individual graves and three civilian victims; Christian, Jewish, Muslim and freethinker gravestones are represented. Four ossuaries at the entrance to the French National Necropolis contain the remains of 3,240 combatants, brought together there.

The German Military Cemetery of Rancourt is the final resting place of 10,422 soldiers; 3,930 are buried in graves and 7,492 in an ossuary. Its oratory is fully protected as a historic monument and contains a bas-relief depicting the burial of a mother and three orphans. Between the communal graves is a small memorial hall made of red Vosges sandstone, with a sculpture depicting a burial. A simple brick chapel complements the German Military Cemetery.

The private Chapelle du Souvenir Français was built in 1923 by the family of Lieutenant Du Bos in his memory and in memory of the French combatants who fell in the sector. The Chapelle du Souvenir Français in Bouchavesnes-Bergen, at the entrance to the large necropolis of Rancourt, is fully protected as a historic monument. Guided tours for individuals and groups of the Chapelle du Souvenir Français and the military cemeteries of Rancourt are available by reservation.

In the immediate vicinity of Rancourt, the British military cemetery contains 90 graves and memorials from the First World War. It also contains six graves of RAF airmen from the Second World War whose aircraft was shot down on 21 May 1940.

Landscape

The memorial sector of Rancourt is located on the Vermandois Plateau northeast of the Somme Valley. Its subsoil consists of chalk covered by a thick layer of clay and crossed by several dry valleys.

Due to its landscape design, the memorial sector is well suited to understanding the architectural design of remembrance adopted by the three major nations, as well as the convergence of public, private, family and association-based forms of remembrance.

Cycling

The 52 km, moderately difficult Circuit du Souvenir cycle loop begins and ends at the Historial de la Grande Guerre in Péronne and leads to Rancourt. On the cycling access route from Bouchavesnes-Bergen, a 700 m-long unpaved path leads to the Chapelle du Souvenir Français; alternatively, you can follow the D1017.

More local pages: Grand-Laviers, Nesle, Velennes, Longpré-Les-Corps-Saints, Abbeville, Fort-Mahon-Plage, Nibas, Yzengremer.

For the overarching travel overview: Somme.