Poelcapelle British Cemetery, Belgium
Poelcapelle British Cemetery in Belgium, it is here that the youngest known British soldier lost in the first world war can be found, Pte John Condon of the Royal Irish Regiment, Condon was born in Waterford, Ireland and was 14 years old when he died.
Poelcapelle British Cemetery
CWGC cemetery Poelcapelle British Cemetery
Poelcapelle British Cemetery
Cement House Commonealth Military Cemetery, Langemark, Belgium
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Cement House cemetery is in Langemark, north of Ieper. It was the scene of two battles, the first on 21-24 October 1914 and the second on 16-18 August 1917. The village was in German hands from April 1915 to August 1917 and from April to September 1918. Commonwealth, French and Belgian forces have in turn defended and attacked it.
Cement House was the military name given to a fortified farm building on the Langemark-Boesinghe (now Boezinge) road. The original Cement House Cemetery (now Plot I, an irregular group of 231 graves) was begun here at the end of August 1917 and used by the 4th and 17th Division burial officers, by field ambulances and by units in the line until April 1918.
In the years immediately following the Armistice, most of Plots II - XV were added when Commonwealth graves were brought in from the battlefields and small burial grounds around Langemark and Poelkapelle, mostly dating from the Autumn of 1917. The more important graveyards or groups of graves concentrated into this cemetery were the following:-
ASQUILLIES CHURCHYARD, which contained the graves of eleven British soldiers of November 1918.
AUDREGNIES CHURCHYARD, which contained the graves of eight British soldiers of August 1914 and one of November 1918.
ELVERDINGHE CHURCHYARD, which contained the graves of nine British soldiers of October 1914.
HENSIES CHURCHYARD, which contained the graves of one Canadian and three British soldiers of November 1918 and one British soldier of August 1914.
HEULE CHURCHYARD, which contained the graves of six British soldiers and one unidentified airman buried in October 1918.
MAISIERES COMMUNAL CEMETERY, which contained the graves of sixteen British soldiers of August 1914.
MEERENDRE CHURCHYARD, which contained the graves of four R.A.F. officers buried in October 1918.
OOSTNIEUWERKE CHURCHYARD, which contained the graves of five Canadian and five British soldiers of April 1915 and one British officer of October 1914.
PHEASANT TRENCH CEMETERY, LANGEMARCK, was in the fields a little East of Langemarck village. Pheasant Trench and Pheasant Farm were taken by the 51st (Highland) Division on the 20th September, 1917, but the cemetery was begun two months later. It contained the graves of fourteen soldiers from the United Kingdom.
PROVEN CHURCHYARD, which contained the graves of one Canadian officer and three British soldiers.
QUAREGNON COMMUNAL CEMETERY, which contained the graves of eight British soldiers buried in 1914.
ROLLEGHEM CHURCHYARD, which contained the graves of one R.A.F. officer and four British soldiers buried in 1918.
THULIN NEW COMMUNAL CEMETERY, which contained the graves of eight British soldiers of August 1914 and two R.A.F. officers of October 1918.
WINKEL ST. ELOI CHURCHYARD, which contained the graves of thirty British and four Newfoundland soldiers buried in October 1918.
Plots XVI, XVII and XVIII originally contained some 500 French graves, but these were removed in 1922. The space vacated has been filled in over the intervening years by graves brought in from communal cemeteries and churchyards in the area, when their maintenance in these locations could no longer be assured. The cemetery is still used for the burial of remains that continue to be discovered in the vicinity, and a number of plots have been extended to accommodate these graves.
There are now 3,592 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in the cemetery, 2,425 of the burials are unidentified.
Of the 22 Second World War burials in the cemetery, five are unidentified.
The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.
The above information was supplied by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
WW1 Poelcappelle Cemetery
Excerpt no12 from World War One Battlefields film produced by Rumble TV visits Poelcappelle Cemetery. This is one of 17 excerpts available.
The film World War One Battlefields by Rumble TV could not have been possible without Stephen Anderson; Des Brogan of Mercat Tours International; Robin Blackburn,Kirsty Alexander and the pupils of Bishopbriggs Academy and of course the music.
All songs contained in the film are included courtesy of Greentrax Recordings Ltd and are from the album 'Far Far From Ypres - Songs, Poems and Music of World War One' (CD trax 1418). Contact: 01875 814155 info@greentrax.com greentrax.com
'The Green Fields of France' words and music by Eric Bogle. Performance by The Corries (Music) Ltd. Published by PLD Music Ltd./Domino Publ.co.ltd.
Film produced by Rumble TV
rumbletelevision.com
Cabaret Rouge British Cemetery, Souchez, France
Video of this cemetery in northern France - CWGC says
Caberet Rouge was a small, red-bricked, red-tiled café that stood close to this site in the early days of the First World War. The café was destroyed by shellfire in March 1915 but it gave its unusual name to this sector and to a communication trench that led troops up the front-line. Commonwealth soldiers began burying their fallen comrades here in March 1916. The cemetery was used mostly by the 47th (London) Division and the Canadian Corps until August 1917 and by different fighting units until September 1918. It was greatly enlarged in the years after the war when as many as 7,000 graves were concentrated here from over 100 other cemeteries in the area. For much of the twentieth century, Cabaret Rouge served as one of a small number of 'open cemeteries' at which the remains of fallen servicemen newly discovered in the region were buried. Today the cemetery contains over 7,650 burials of the First World War, over half of which remain unidentified.
The Canadian Connection
Many different Commonwealth units served in this sector during the war and the cemetery contains the graves of British, Irish, Australian, New Zealand, Indian and South African soldiers. It is also the final resting place of over 70 officers of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force. Cabaret Rouge has a particularly close connection with the Canadian Infantry, however, as hundreds of Canadians who were killed at the Battle of Vimy Ridge in April 1917 were ultimately laid to rest here.
The cemetery and shelter buildings were designed by former Canadian Army officer Frank Higginson. Higginson worked as an architect for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in the 1920s and later acted as Secretary to the Commission.
In May 2000 the remains of an unknown Canadian soldier were taken from this cemetery and buried in a special tomb at the foot of the National War Memorial in Ottowa, Canada. A focal point for remembrance, he represents more than 116,000 Canadians who lost their lives during the First World War. A headstone in plot 8, Row E, Grave 7 marks his original grave.
The Importance of Vimy Ridge
German forces seized the village of Souchez and the surrounding countryside as they advanced through Northern France in 1914. German artillery units were able to control this sector of the front from two ridges which flanked the village -- Vimy Ridge to the east, and Notre Dame de Lorette to the west. After 12 months of bitter fighting, the French forces captured the high ground at Lorette in the autumn of 1915. When the French handed this part of the line to the Commonwealth forces in March 1916, Vimy Ridge was still in German hands.
Vimy Ridge was the key to the German defensive system in this sector. It protected an area of occupied France in which coal mines and factories were in full production for the German war effort and the fortified vantage points on the ridge dominated the surrounding battlefields.
The Battle of Vimy Ridge formed part of the opening phase of the British-led Battle of Arras which began on 9 April 1917. The Canadian forces managed to capture most of the German positions on the ridge on the first day of the attack and by 12 April they had occupied the village of Thélus and pushed the Germans back to the Oppy-Méricourt line. By taking the ridge the Canadians achieved a major tactical success, but in just four days of fighting they suffered over 10,000 casualties, 3,500 of whom were killed. The battle was the first action in which all four divisions of the Canadian Corps fought together and had a major impact on Canadian national identity.
Bleuet Farm Commonwealth Military Cemetery
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This film show Bleuet Farm Cemetery which is north west of Ieper near the village of Elverdinge. You can find it by taking the N8 road from Ieper in the direction of Veurne.
Bleuet Farm was used as a dressing station during 1917 Allied offensive on this front. The cemetery was begun in a corner of the farm and was in use from June to December 1917, though a few of the burials are of later date. Two graves were brought into the cemetery after the Armistice from isolated positions close by.
There are now 442 First World War burials in the cemetery and nine from the Second World War, all dating from the Allied retreat to Dunkirk in May 1940.
The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.
KORTRIJK, Belgium, Commonwealth War Grave Lance Corporal Vercoe:
As part of my wife’s genealogy research a friend (who was also doing family research) took us on a day trip to Belgium and France to visit Commonwealth War Graves where we had already established through previous research that family members were buried. Our first stop was Kortrijk (St. Jan) communal cemetery, Belgium where Bernard Vercoe was known to be buried. Lance Corporal Bernard Vercoe of the 2nd New Zealand Entrenching Battalion died of sickness on 22nd November 1918.
Poelcapelle/Poelkapelle Area-14-18
Poelcapelle/ Poelkapelle at wo1
british begraafplaats te poelkapelle
1958 graven -33 zonder naam - 14 heldenhulde zerken..
links calvarie 1914/18
British military cemetery at Koksijde, Belgium
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The British military cemetery at Koksijde, Belgium is located very close to where the front would have been in WW1. In June 1917, Commonwealth forces relieved French forces on 6 kilometres of front line from the sea to a point south of Nieuport (now Nieuwpoort), and held this sector for six months. Koksijde (or Coxyde as it was then called) was about 10 kilometres behind the front line. The village was used for rest billets and was occasionally shelled, but the cemetery, which had been started by French troops, was found to be reasonably safe. It became the most important of the Commonwealth cemeteries on the Belgian coast and was used at night for the burial of the dead brought back from the front line. The French returned to the sector in December 1917 and continued to use the cemetery, and during 1918, Commonwealth naval casualties from bases in Dunkirk were buried there. After the Armistice, graves were brought into the cemetery from isolated sites and from other cemeteries in the area.
The cemetery was used again during the Second World War, chiefly for the burial of casualties sustained during the defence of the Dunkirk perimeter in May 1940.
The cemetery now contains 1,507 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, the French graves from this period having since been removed. Of the 154 Second World War burials, 22 are unidentified. The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.
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I am very fortunate that I can spend a large part of my life travelling, thanks to the business I chose to run which allows me to do this. There are a number of films here on the packaging industry. This is because I am the publisher of Central and Eastern European Packaging -- - the international platform for the packaging industry in this region focusing on the latest innovations, trends, design, branding, legislation and environmental issues with in-depth profiles of major industry achievers.
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Langemarck military cemetery
The German war cemetery of Langermarck is near the village of Langermarck, part of the municipality of Langermarck-Poelkapelle, in the Belgian province of West Flanders. More than 44,000 soldiers are buried here. The village was the scene of the first gas attacks by the German army, marking the beginning of the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915.
During the First Battle of Ypres (1914) in World War I, inexperienced German infantry suffered severe casualties when they made a futile frontal attack on allied positions near Langermarck and were checked by experienced French infantry and British riflemen.
The cemetery, which evolved from a small group of graves from 1915, has seen numerous changes and extensions. It was dedicated in 1932. Today, visitors find a mass grave near the entrance. This comrades' grave contains 24,917 servicemen. Between the oak trees, next to this mass grave, are another 10,143 soldiers (including 2 British soldiers killed in 1918). The 3,000 school students who were killed during the First Battle of Ypres are buried in a third part of the cemetery.
Adolf Hitler spent two days visiting the Ypres Salient battlefields. His tour included the town of Ypres and Langermarck military cemetery.
Fitz's Luck - A Soldier's Story
May 1915 - a young nineteen year old from the back-streets of Manchester takes the 'King's Shilling' and joins the ranks of the Territorial Force. So begins an extraordinary run of good fortune for Joe Fitzpatrick, born on Christmas Day 1895 and one of twins - Joseph and Mary.
Passed over for a draft of soldiers later decimated on the killing fields of the Somme and with his four brothers already 'in', Fitz finally embarked for France in the Spring of 1917 with his Division - the 66th (2nd East Lancashire's)
His battalion - the 2/6th Manchester Regiment - saw fierce fighting near Lens, at Nieuport on the Flanders coast and at the Battle of Poelcappelle after which Joe won the Belgian
Croix de Guerre for conspicuous gallantry. Wounded and captured in the 1918 German Spring Offensive he spent the remainder of the war in Saltau POW camp near Hamburg.
Fitz's luck had not deserted him!
Loyal Sons Of Benagh @ Poelcapelle British Cemetery 27/05/19
Loyal Sons Of Benagh Flute Band from Newry in Co. Down, Northern Ireland visiting the grave of John Condon one of the youngest casualties of WW1 at Poelcapelle British Cemetery on Monday 27/05/19 as part of their Battlefield Pilgrimage from back in May 2019.
Private John Condon (Service No. 6322) Royal Irish Regiment (Son of John & Mary Condon of Waterford) was killed in the Second Battle Of Ypres on 24th May 1915.
John Condon enlisted in the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Irish Regimental Waterford on 24th October 1913 - he gave his date of birth as 24th October 1895 which would have made him 18 on enlistment however it is believed that he could only have been about 12 at the time.
On 16th December 1914 nearly 2 months after his 'official' 19thh birthday he was drafted to the 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Regiment. The Battalion was posted to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force and in late December was holding part of the line in the Ypres Salient on the Western Front. The Battalion was in action during a series of engagements which became known as the Second Battle Of Ypres from 22nd April - 25th May 1915 when the German army launched a series of attacks on the salient using poison gas for the first time.
On the early hours of 24th May 1915 the Germans commenced a heavy artillery attack followed by clouds of lethal chlorine gas along a 4.5 mile front, part of which was held by the 2nd Battalion. John Condon was among the casualties od this attack on the 2nd last day of the battle. He was buried on the battlefield in a temporary grave near St. Julien. John was buried in a mass grave but in 1923 it was opened up and his remains were identified because of a number engraved into the leather in one of his boots and he was re-interred in Poelcapelle British Cemetery in Flanders.
The piece of identifying leather is now in the Waterford museum.
In recent years his actual age has been disputed by some, however even without knowing his 'true' age (some say he was still 13 when he died - a few weeks short of his 14th birthday) it can be agreed that he was just a 'boy' and he is regarded by most to be the youngest British casualty of WW1 however a birth certificate, census, war diaries and other records now indicate that John Condon would have been 18 years old at the recorded date of his death and that the wrong individual is named on the grave.
There has been a famous song written about this 'boy' soldier simply entitled John Condon
Lyrics :
Just a day, another day
Beneath the Belgian sun
Past grave on grave, row on row
Until I see the name John Condon
Carved in stone, with harp on crown
Little crosses in the ground
And standing there, my silent prayer
Is for a boy who died a soldier
Wee lad who'll not grow old
Heroes that don't come home
Here they lie in Belgian fields
And Picardy
Just a recruit in soldiers boots
From Ireland's shores to here
This living hell, this Poelcapelle
Where young men fell like you, John Condon
And all around the harp and crown
The crosses in the ground
Stand up in proof, the bitter truth
The waste of youth that lies forgotten
Wee lad who'll not grow old
Heroes that don't come home
Here they lie in Belgian fields
And Picardy
Now tell me John, before I go on
What did you come here for
With Ireland's bold, your life untold
14 years old, to die a soldier ?
And all around, the harp and crown
The crosses in the ground
What cause was served ?
So underserved
Heroes that don't come home
Sing out for all their souls
Here they lie in Belgian fields
And Picardy
Words & Music : R. Laird / S. Starrett / T. McRory
Publisher : Bardis Music 2002 Copyright
Awoingt British Cemetery, near Cambrai, France
Video of this WW1 Commonwealth Cemetery in northern France. Here's waht CWGC says about it
Awoingt British Cemetery was begun in the latter half of October 1918 and used until the middle of December; the village had been captured on 9/10 October. By 28 October, the 38th, 45th and 59th Casualty Clearing Stations were posted in the neighbourhood, and the great majority of the burials were made from those hospitals, but 16 graves in Plot III, Row H, and Plot V, were brought in after the Armistice from the country immediately surrounding the village.
Awoingt British Cemetery contains 653 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War, including a special memorial to one casualty whose grave in the cemetery cannot now be found. The cemetery also contains 63 war graves of other nationalities, most of them German.
We shall remember them.
Langemarck - Poelcapelle - Belgium
, respect for fallen soldiers !
UK royals visit Bedford House cemetery near Ypres
(31 Jul 2017) UK ROYALS VISIT BEDFORD HOUSE CEMETERY NEAR YPRES
Britain's Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited Bedford House Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery on Monday (31 JULY 2017), on the 100th anniversary of the Third Battle of Ypres, known as Passchendaele.
The First World War burial ground near Zillebeke, itself near Ypres on the Western Front in Belgium, is the final resting place for around 5,140 World War 1 servicemen.
Prince William and his wife, Kate, were given a tour of the cemetery and spoke to Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery (CWGC) interns at the site.
Monday marks the centennial of the start of the Allied offensive, which ended up barely moving the front line.
Half a million soldiers were estimated to have been killed or wounded during the 100-day battle.
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Dudley White & Poelkapelle
Dudley White was killed on October 9th 1917 in the village of Poelkapelle in Belgium. Here, at the Tyne Cot Memorial, Johan Vanbeselaere of the Poelkapelle 1917 Association gives a tribute to Dudley in the presence of members of Dudley's family and Susan and David Tall, representing the Mayor and people of Kenilworth.
Jeroen Deseure
Aankomst Langemark - Poelkapelle
Film Morane Poelkapelle 15 sept 2012
Het starten van de motor van een unieke replica van een Morane Parasol L van 1915, ter gelegenheid van de herdenking van de verdwijning van G. Guynemer.
Poelkapelle 15 september 2012