Month: March 2018

The descendants of Field Marshal Haig and Marshal Foch joined Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and dignitaries from the UK and France at a ceremony dedicated to Ferdinand Foch.

His appointment marked the first time the Allied forces fought under one strategic commander and was a significant factor in the successful coordinated defence against the German Spring Offensive and the gains made by the Allies in the summer of 1918.

Attendees laid wreaths to honour Marshal Foch at the statue honouring him in Lower Grosvenor Gardens, Victoria, London.

Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, said:

The decision to coordinate military operations under Foch’s leadership was crucial. It united the Allied forces who then fought as one to victory and peace in November 1918.

Foch said he had served England as if she were his own country. In our final year of First World War centenary commemorations, it is right that we mark the appointment of Marshal Foch so future generations remember the pivotal role he played in the outcome of the war.

On 26 March, 1918, Marshal Foch was appointed Supreme Allied Commander on the Western Front. This was in response to the start of the German Spring Offensive, which pushed the Allies back to their 1914 lines.

This event is the first in the Government’s 2018 programme that will help people understand how the nature of the war changed during the summer of 1918 and led to the signing of the Armistice on 11 November. The appointment of Marshal Foch as Supreme Allied Commander and the strategic leadership he brought were instrumental to the Allies’ success at the Battle of Amiens and the subsequent Hundred Days Offensive.

More than 200 relatives of 90 recently identified Argentine soldiers who lost their lives in the 1982 Falkland war visited the Falkland Islands today (Monday 26 March) to visit their newly marked graves.

As part of a joint project between the UK, Falkland Islands and Argentine Governments and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), a forensic team exhumed, analysed and documented the remains in each of the unidentified graves in the Argentine cemetery at Darwin in the Falkland Islands.

Argentina’s Secretary for Human Rights, Claudio Avruj, will accompany the families. Retired British Army Colonel Geoffrey Cardozo, who was responsible for burying the Argentine dead with sensitivity and respect immediately after the conflict, will also accompany the group.

Minister of State for Europe and the Americas, Sir Alan Duncan MP said:

I welcome this visit to the Argentine cemetery at Darwin by family members of the recently identified Argentine soldiers. This important humanitarian project, facilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross, will provide some comfort to the families of the deceased. When visiting the cemetery the families will find their loved ones properly identified and in a place of great dignity.

I am grateful to the Falkland Islands Government who coordinated the visit, in cooperation with the Argentine Families Commission, and with support by the UK and Argentine Governments. It marks an important development in the UK-Argentina relationship and demonstrates what can be achieved with a positive and constructive relationship.

Notes for Editors:

• The visit will include a religious ceremony jointly conducted by Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires, Bishop Eguia Segui, and the Right Reverand Abbott Hugh Allan from the United Kingdom.
• Brigadier Baz Bennett, Commander of the British Forces South Atlantic Islands, will deliver military honours for the ceremony. A Scottish Piper and a British military guard will be present.
• The DNA identification project was funded by the UK and Argentine Governments. This is a humanitarian initiative that we support in line with our wider obligations under international law.
• In the UK-Argentina Joint Communique of 13 September 2016, both countries expressed their full support for a DNA identification process in respect of unknown Argentine soldiers buried in the Falkland Islands.
• Over a seven week period (7 June – 20 August 2017), an ICRC forensic team exhumed, analysed and documented the remains of each of the unidentified soldiers. 90 Argentine soldiers were positively identified.

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