First DCLI Cemetery, The Bluff
A burial ground near an artificial ridge on the Western Front.
This First World War burial ground, maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, sits near The Bluff south of Ypres in Belgium. It is named after the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, the regiment whose dead are commemorated here.
Quick Facts
- Use dates
- 1915
- Designer
- J R Truelove
- Nearest town
- Ypres
- West Flanders
- Belgium
- Total
- 76
- By country
- Allies of World War I:; United Kingdom: 76
- By war
- World War I: 76
Facts from the source article.
Immediate area
The artificial ridge known to soldiers as The Bluff was formed from earth dug up during unsuccessful canal projects. Its elevation, a rare feature in the flat surroundings, turned it into a key military target. German troops seized The Bluff in February 1916, but the 14th (Light) Division won it back on 2 March. That July, the Germans set off a mine beneath the ridge, though they failed to hold the position. During the 1918 Spring Offensive, the Germans again took The Bluff, until the 14th (Light) Division reclaimed it for the Allies on 28 September. Today, the site is a provincial nature reserve and picnic spot called Provinciaal Domein Palingbeek.
Foundation
The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry established this cemetery prior to the 1916 fighting. When the armistice arrived, only soldiers from the DCLI were buried here, but later the site was enlarged by bringing in graves from nearby battlefields. J R Truelove designed the cemetery. King Albert I of Belgium granted the land to the United Kingdom forever, honoring the British Empire's sacrifices in defending and freeing Belgium during the war.
More in Funerary and Memory Sites of the First World War
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