Berks Cemetery Extension
CWGC burial ground with the Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing.
via Wikipedia: Berks Cemetery Extension · see source
Just across the road from the much smaller Hyde Park Corner (Royal Berks) Cemetery lies Berks Cemetery Extension, a Commonwealth War Graves Commission burial ground in Ploegsteert, Belgium. Located within the Ypres Salient, it holds the dead of the First World War. Within this cemetery stands the Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing, honoring more than 11,000 British and Empire servicemen who died in the region and whose graves are unknown.
Quick Facts
- Use dates
- June 1916 – September 1917
- Established
- 1916
- Designer
- H Chalton Bradshaw
- Nearest town
- Ploegsteert
- Hainaut
- Belgium
- Total
- 880
- By country
- Allied Powers:
- United Kingdom: 467
- Canada: 149
- Australia: 180
- New Zealand: 80
- Central Powers:
- Germany: 4
- By war
- World War I: 880
Facts from the source article.
History
Commonwealth troops originally set up the cemetery in June 1916 as an extension to Hyde Park Corner (Royal Berks) Cemetery across the road. After fierce fighting early in the war, Ploegsteert Wood became a quiet sector with no major action; units were sent there to recuperate and retrain before returning to active operations. At the Armistice the cemetery was still small. King Albert I of Belgium assigned the grounds to the United Kingdom in perpetuity in recognition of British Empire sacrifices in the defence and liberation of Belgium. The cemetery was significantly enlarged in 1930 when Rosenberg Chateau Military Cemetery and its extension, about one kilometre away, could not be acquired in perpetuity, and their graves were moved to Berks Cemetery Extension. Harold Chalton Bradshaw designed the current appearance.
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