Tyne Cot Cemetery

'Tyne Cot' or 'Tyne Cottage' was the name given by the Northumberland Fusiliers to a barn which stood near the level crossing on the Passchendaele-Broodseinde road. The barn, which had become the centre of five or six German blockhouses, or pill-boxes, was captured by the 3^rd Australian Division on October 4, 1917, in the advance on Passchendaele. One of these pill-boxes was unusually large and was used as an advanced dressing station after its capture.

From October 6 to the end of March 1918, 343 graves were made, on two sides of it, by the 50th (Northumbrian) and 33^rd Divisions, and by two Canadian units. The cemetery was in German hands again from April 13 to September 28, when it was finally recaptured, with Passchendaele, by the Belgian Army. Tyne Cot Cemetery was greatly enlarged after the Armistice when remains were brought in from the battlefields of Passchendaele and Langemarck, and from a few small burial grounds, including the Following:

Iberian South Cemetery and Iberian Trench Cemetery, Langemarck, 1,200 metres North of Frezenberg, close to a farm called by the Army "Iberian". These contained the graves of 30 soldiers from the United Kingdom who fell in August-September, 1917, and March, 1918.
Kink Corner Cemetery, Zonnebeke, on the road to Frezenberg, containing the graves of 14 soldiers from the United Kingdom, nine from Canada and nine from Australia, who fell in September-November, 1917.
Levi Cottage Cemetery, Zonnebeke, near the road to Langemarck, containing the graves of ten soldiers from the United Kingdom, eight from Canada and three from Australia, who fell in September-November, 1917.
Oostnieuwkerke German Cemetery, in the village of Oostnieuwkerke, containing the graves of two soldiers from the United Kingdom.
Praet-bosch German Cemetery, Vladsloo, in the forest on the road from Kortewilde to Leke. Here were buried six officers of the R.F.C. and R.A.F. who fell in 1917-18.
Staden German Cemetery, on the South-East side of the road to Stadenberg, containing the graves of 14 soldiers from the United Kingdom and ten from Canada who fell in 1915-1917.
Waterloo Farm Cemetery, Passchendaele, 650 metres North-East of 's Gravenstafel, containing the graves of ten soldiers from Canada, seven from the United Kingdom and two from New Zealand, who fell in 1917-18.
Zonnebeke British Cemetery No. 2, on the road between Zonnebeke and Broodseinde, in which the Germans buried 18 men of the 2^nd Buffs and 20 of the 3^rd Royal Fusiliers who fell in April, 1915.

It is now the largest Commonwealth war cemetery in the world in terms of burials. At the suggestion of King George V, who visited the cemetery in 1922, the Cross of Sacrifice was placed on the original large pill-box. There are three other pill-boxes in the cemetery. There are now 11,956 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in Tyne Cot Cemetery. 8,369 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to more than 80 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials commemorate 20 casualties whose graves were destroyed by shell fire. There are four German burials, three being unidentified. The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

The Tyne Cot Memorial forms the north-eastern boundary of Tyne Cot Cemetery and commemorates nearly 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom and New Zealand who died in the Ypres Salient after August 16, 1917 and whose graves are not known. The memorial stands close to the farthest point in Belgium reached by Commonwealth forces in the First World War until the final advance to victory. The memorial was designed by Sir Herbert Baker with sculpture by F V Blundstone.

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Date modified:: 2024-02-19