Tyne Cot Cemetery, Zonnebeke, Ypres Salient Battlefields, Belgium
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Tyne Cot Cemetery is the resting place of 11,954 soldiers of the Commonwealth Forces. This is the largest number of burials contained in any Commonwealth cemetery of either the First or Second World War. It is the largest Commonwealth military cemtery in the world. The dates of death of the soldiers buried at Tyne Cot cemetery cover a period of four years, from October 1914 to September 1918 inclusive.
The Origins of Tyne Cot Cemetery
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Tyne Cot cemetery first came into being in October 1917 when the ridge where the cemetery is now located was captured by the British Army. One of several German blockhouses was large enough to be used as an Advanced Dressing Station. As a result of casualties not surviving their wounds in this Dressing Station there were 354 burials near the Dressing Station. The graves are for soldiers, including some Germans, who died between 6th October 1917 and the end of March 1918 when the German Army attacked and retook this ridge of high ground south of Passchendaele village.
The cemetery was then in German occupied ground from 13th April until 28th September 1918, when the Belgian Army captured the ridge in the final push during the last weeks of the war.
Origin of the Name of “Tyne Cot”
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A building named “Tyne Cott” or “Tyne Cot” on British Army trench maps was located near the north-east corner of a large German military cemetery on the reverse slope of the ridge. The German cemetery no longer exists as the graves were removed after the First World War and re-interred in formal German military cemeteries. The graves would have likely been moved to Langemarck German Military Cemetery, which is a only few miles away.
There is a suggestion that the name of Tyne Cott (or Tyne Cot as it is sometimes printed) was given to a farm building near the level crossing of the Passchendaele-Broodseinde road by the Northumberland Fusiliers. It is said that because the assorted buildings and German bunkers on the horizon gave an appearance of Tyneside cottages from the British position in the valley, this is why they named the building Tyne Cott. This is doubtful as the Northumberland Fusiliers were not in this area until the latter part of the Battle of Passchendaele.
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Tyne Cott or Cot was already marked on British Army trench maps before they arrived in the battle area. In addition to this, the name is printed on the trench maps next to a building on the western side of the German cemetery. It is more likely that the name was given to the farm building by the British Army map makers as one of a series of buildings named after several large European rivers. In the vicinity of Tyne Cot there are other farms and buildings marked on the British Army trench maps with the names of Seine, Thames, Marne, Rhine and Tiber.
The word “Cott” is also sometimes alternatively marked as “Cot” on British Army trench maps. The origins of why the British started naming some buildings on their maps as “Cott” is interesting as it may stem from the shortened form of “cottage” or it may have originated from Flemish dialect incorporated in the word “duivekot” meaning “dovecote”. Pigeon racing has long been an interest in Belgium and it is possible that there is a link between this local Flemish word for a pigeon house or dovecote and the origins of the use of “cot” on British Army maps.
When the British and Commonwealth military cemetery was formerly established after the war, the closest British-named building to the cemetery was the farm building called Tyne Cott or Tyne Cot.
German Concrete Defensive Line at Tyne Cot
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By late September of 1917, the Battle of Passchendaele had been in progress for eight weeks. The lower ground lying south-west of the ridge was the river valley of the Hanebeek stream. At this time the British and German Front Lines were located either side of the stream. Owing to the smashed up state of the ground in this valley the Front Lines, however, were no longer formal lines of trenches. As a result of heavy rain during August and September, in conjunction with the high water table of the area and the fact that this was a river valley, the ground here was a morass of thick, slimy mud. Shell holes from artillery fire were filled with water. The German Front Line position was, therefore, heavily defended by a second position sitting on higher ground to the north-east of it. German trenches and concrete emplacements were built on the forward slope of the ridge.
From its position on higher ground the German Army had a magnificent view towards Ypres and across the British positions in the lower ground of the Ypres Salient. This ridge of high ground was extremely important for the German Army to hold on to because it also afforded excellent views to the north and and north east right across their own German rear areas.
This section of British Army trench map (Parts of Sheets 20 & 28, Edition 1A) shows the German positions in red corrected to 27th September 1917. This map was used by commanders of the New Zealand Division during the October 1917 battles. The highlighted square area is the location of Tyne Cot cemetery as it is now. A trench called DAB TRENCH can be seen running north-south. A narrow-gauge railway line is shown leading to DAB TRENCH from a junction at the north-eastern corner of the cemetery. Four concrete blockhouses are marked along DAB TRENCH inside the current boundary of Tyne Cot, with an additional bunker shown on the railway line.
Tyne Cot Cemetery after 1918
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After the Armistice of 11th November 1918 the cemetery was enlarged. Over 11,500 graves of British soldiers from the nearby battlefields of Passchendaele and Langemarck were located and brought into this cemetery. The graves from nine small burial grounds in the area were also brought to this site. The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.
Entrance to the Cemetery
Inside the entrance gateway visitors will find the brass box inset into the wall containing the Cemetery Register and the Visitors' Book. The Cross of Sacrifice can be seen through the entrance to the cemetery.
Outside the entrance visitors will notice a number of low Portland stone pillars topped with a sculpted British Army steel helmet.
Cross of Sacrifice
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King George V visited Tyne Cot cemetery in 1922. At his suggestion the Cross of Sacrifice was built on the position of one of the concrete German blockhouses which had dominated the ridge.
It was on 4th October 1917 when the 3rd Australian Division captured the ground on which the Tyne Cot cemetery is now located. This was on the first day of the Battle of Broodseinde Ridge, when the II ANZAC Corps, consisting of 3rd Australian Division and the New Zealand Division, went into the attack across the Hanebeek valley.
Until the mid 1990s the capture of the blockhouse under which the Cross of Sacrifice is positioned was mistakenly attributed to the 2nd Australian Division on the inscription carved on the base of the cross. In preparation for guiding a battlefield tour to explain the battle and the capture of the Broodseinde Ridge the late Major Bertie Whitmore, MBE, discovered the error on the inscription. His correspondence with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission resulted in an amendment being made in 2000 and the engraved Portland stone tablet was reworked. Visitors may be able to see a faint trace of where the “2nd” was changed to “3rd”.
The text inscribed on the front of the Cross of Sacrifice now reads:
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THIS WAS THE
TYNE COT BLOCKHOUSE
CAPTURED BY THE
3rd AUSTRALIAN DIVISION
4th OCTOBER 1917
German Blockhouses Retained in the Cemetery
Two other German blockhouses or 'pillboxes' were kept within the boundary of the cemetery and incorporated into the final resting place of so many of the soldiers who had fought and died in their attempt to capture them.
8,367 Unidentified Burials
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Of the 11,954 burials in Tyne Cot cemetery, 8,367 are unidentified British or Commonwealth servicemen. This is about 70% of the total graves in the cemetery. These graves are marked with headstones which are inscribed with the words “Known unto God”.
Approximately 90,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers died in the Ypres Salient but their identities could not be established at the time of burial or their graves were lost in subsequent fighting. The names of these 90,000 unidentified men of the British and Commonwealth Forces are inscribed on four memorials to the missing in the battle sector known as the Ypres Salient. One of these memorials is the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing.
Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing
Victoria Cross Winners Buried in Tyne Cot Cemetery
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Three soldiers who were awarded the Victoria Cross (V.C.) are buried in this cemetery. One is Canadian. Two are Australian soldiers, who were awarded the Victoria Cross for their actions during the battles to capture the ridge in October 1917.
Captain Clarence Smith Jeffries, V.C.
Captain Jeffries was serving with the 34th Battalion Australian Infantry during the Battle of Broodseinde Ridge which began on 4th October 1917. A few days later on 12th October he was taking part in the next phase of the battle when he was killed. He is buried at grave reference Plot XL, Row E, Grave 1.
Captain C S Jeffries, V.C.
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Sergeant Lewis McGee, V.C.
Sergeant McGee was serving with the 40th (Tasmanian) Battalion Australian Infantry, taking part in the attack on the Broodseinde Ridge on 4th October 1917. For his gallant actions in knocking out German blockhouses in the vicinity of HAMBURG FARM he was awarded the Victoria Cross. Sergeant McGee was killed in action on 12th October in the next phase of the Battle of Broodseinde Ridge. He is buried in grave reference Plot XX, Row D, Grave 1.
Sergeant Lewis McGee, V.C.Private James Peter Robertson, V.C.
Private Robertson was serving with the 27th Battalion Canadian Infantry (Manitoba Regiment) when he was killed on 6th November 1917. His body is buried in Tyne Cot cemetery at grave reference Plot LVIII, Row D, Grave 26.
Private James Peter Robertson, V.C.Acknowledgements
References to cemetery details and cemetery plan by kind permission of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.