BELGIAN BATTERY CORNER CEMETERY
UK - 430
AIF - 122
NZ - 8
CEF - 7
INDIA - 2
UNIT NOT KNOWN - 1
UNKNOWN - 8
SPECIAL MEMORIALS - 2
HISTORY
Belgian Battery Corner was the name given to the point where the Brielen road joins a spur of the Ypres-Dickebusch road, almost a mile from the ramparts of Ypres. The origin of the name is evident, but details of the Battery in question are not known. The house 600 yards to the west was known during the Great War as "Belgian Chateau" and was used as either a Brigade or Battalion Headquarters. The Cemetery is in the north-east corner of the road angle. It is just within the boundary of the commune of Ypres. The cemetery was begun by the 8th Division in June 1917, after the Battle of Messines (although a grave of March 1916 can be found in Plot III, Row A); and it was used until October 1918; largely for burials from the Advanced Dressing Station in a cottage nearby. The 1st Field Company Australian Engineers, and the 21st Australian Machine Gun Company erected regimental memorials in it. Belgian Battery Corner contains the graves of 430 soldiers from the United Kingdom, 122 from Australia, eight from New Zealand, seven from Canada, two from India, and one whose unit in our forces is not known; and one unknown American soldier was buried in Plot III, Row B (now removed). Eight of the British and Dominion soldiers are unidentified; and 206 of them belonged, or were attached, to Artillery units. Two known Australian soldiers are buried in unknown graves, and their names appear on special memorials.
LOCATION
Belgian Battery Corner Cemetery is located 2 KM south-west of Ypres town centre, on a road called Omloopstraat, itself a road leading from the Dikkebusseweg. From Ypres town centre the Dikkebusseweg (N375), is reached via Elverdingsestraat, straight over a roundabout onto J. Capronstraat (for 30 metres), then left along M. Fochlaan. Immediately after the train station, the first right hand turning is the Dikkebusseweg. Approximately 1.5 KM along the Dikkebusseweg is the right hand turning onto the Frezenbergstraat. 200 metres further on the right hand side is Omloopstraat - the cemetery is located immediately on the right hand side of this road.GRAVES OF INTEREST
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Graves of soldiers from artillery units that their gun sites nearby are particularly prevalent in this cemetery. |
