A Royal Engineers Advanced Depot had already been established at Abancourt, when in March 1916 a British proposal for an ammunition depot in the area initially met with French objection. After considering an alternative at Critot, it was eventually agreed that a depot could be created at Abancourt. But the proliferation of logistical roles and facilities in the area led to the need for clarity, and in May 1916 the following names were standardised:
- Abancourt local railway station to be known as Abancourt
- Regulating Station to be known as Romescamps
- Supply Depot to be known as Abancourt Station Magazine
- Ammunition depot to be Blargies Nord. It became ready to receive ammunition in June 1916, at which time plans were made to extend it to give it a capacity of 35,000 tons. Blargies Nord became the controlling base for the southern network of ammunition supply in August 1916 and was formalised as 12th Ordnance Depot.
- Royal Engineers Park and Ordnance Depot to be Blargies Sud. This location was also briefly used as an ammunition store in mid-1916.
Air raids 19 to 21 May 1918
During the night 19-20 May, a German air raid dropped about 100 bombs on Blargies Nord. Two sheds were damaged but no fire was started, and some railway tracks also sustained some damage. The depot was able to declare that it was continuingh its work as usual.
A more serious raid took place the next night, which destroyed some 5000 tons of ammunition. It began just after 10 pm and somewhere betwen 50 and 100 bombs fell. The plan of the depot shown above shows (in red) the location of the sheds that were damaged. The first to be hit was Number 8 Shed, which was full of cartridges for 8-inch and heavier shells. It went up in a sheet of flame, the light from which assisted the raiders wit their mission. Among the casualties were ten men of the Army Ordnance Corps, of whom two were burned to death. A heavy detonation at R Shed, containing hand grenades, formed a crater 50 yards in diameter and 27 feet deep. From the explosion at Number 7 Shed, 3-inch Stokes mortar rounds were projected up to hald a mile in all directions. Initial estimates were that there had been 10-15 men killed and 15-20 others wounded.
The records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission include three men of the Army Ordnance Corps whose deaths are given as having taken place on 20 May 1918. They are buried in Blargies Communal Cemetery Extension: 2nd-Cpl O/9323 John Dorsie (74 Company AOC); Pte 035458 Martin Harris and Pte 034257 Alfred Watt (both given as 12th Ordnance Depot). Also buried there are 12 men of the Labour Corps with dates of death 19 to 21 May 1918, and a few infantrymen and one man of the 30th Railway Labour Battalion of the Royal Engineers. Two civilians working with the YMCA are also given as having died on 19 May 1918. It is virtually certain that all were victims of the raids.
Visiting Blargies today
Of the depots in the area, as far as I can tell there is no trace today.
Blargies Communal Cemetery Extension began to be used in Noveber 1916 for men who died while in the camps and depots of the area, and continued to be used until 1920. It now contains the graves of 244 known casualties, of which 5 are of WW2 casualties. The earliest of them is RTS/3039 Thomas Winterburn of 4th Advanced Remount Depot of the Army Service Corps. He died on 19 November 1914 and was brought into this cemetery after the war, having been exhumed from his original grave at Beaubec-la-Rosière. The earliest burial in the new extension was SS/7743 George Goacher of the 3rd Labour Company of the Army Service Corps: he succumbed in the Abancourt Detention Hospital (one function of the area being that of a military prison) of accidental injuries on 29 November 1916. Goacher was aged 59 years. Visitors may find the graves of men of the Bermuda Royal Garrison Artillery, the South African Native Labour Corps, Indian Labour Corps, and YMCA workers killed in air raids to be of interest as they are relatively uncommon.
