Ploegsteert Wood Military Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery

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Ploegsteert Wood Military Cemetery
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Ploegsteert Wood Military Cemetery
Used for those deceased 1914-1918
Established 1914
Location 50°44′13.1″N, 02°53′59.0″E near Ploegsteert, West Flanders, Belgium
Designed by W H Cowlishaw
Total burials 164
Unknown
burials		 1
Burials by nation
Allied Powers:
Burials by war
World War I: 164
Statistics source: WW1Cemeteries.com and CWGC

Ploegsteert Wood Military Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) burial ground for the dead of World War I located in the Ypres Salient within Ploegsteert Wood on the Western Front.

The cemetery grounds were assigned to the United Kingdom in perpetuity by King Albert I of Belgium in recognition of the sacrifices made by the British Empire in the defence and liberation of Belgium during the war.[1]

[edit] Foundation

The cemetery was founded by enclosing a number of small cemeteries made by individual regiments. The grounds were established in December 1914 as the "Somerset Light Infantry Cemetery", expanding in April 1915 when the "Bucks Cemetery" was started by the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry[2]

A further cemetery was established by the Gloucesters and the Loyal North Lancs regiments in October 1915, named "Canadian Cemetery, Strand" after its 28 Canadian graves and the nearby Strand trench. The cemetery was used by New Zealanders in 1917.[2]

It fell into German hands on 10 April 1918 and remained occupied until 29 September, when the Hundred Days Offensive swept fighting out of the Salient.[2]

The cemetery was designed by W H Cowlishaw.

[edit] References

  1. ^ First World War, accessed 19 August 2006
  2. ^ a b c Commonwealth War Graves Commission, accessed 29 December 2007

[edit] External links