My Favourite History Place Tyne Cot Cemetery, near Ypres, Belgium Sarah Wright

We can truly say that the whole circuit of the Earth is girdled with the graves of our dead. In the course of my pilgrimage, I have many times asked myself whether there can be more potent advocates of peace upon the Earth through the years to come, than this massed multitude of silent witnesses to the desolation of war. King George V, 11 May 1922

At first it must seem rather morbid to choose a cemetery as a favourite history place, but as George V recognised during his visit in 1922, Tyne Cot Cemetery is about so much more than death. I have been visiting and leading school visits to the First World War battlefields since 1997 and never once has Tyne Cot failed to both astound and move. As the sun sets over the town of Ypres and its gentle beams cast a warm glow on the thousands of white Portland headstones, I can think of few more tranquil places to visit. Yet, it is that very tranquillity that highlights the enormity of the sacrifice which this, the largest Commonwealth War cemetery in the world in terms of burials, represents. The peaceful dignity of these ‘silent witnesses’ cannot fail to create an impact due to the sharp contrast with the reality of the bloody fighting that took place on the same ridge during the First World War. The town of Ypres formed the centre of a salient held by the Allies from the autumn of 1914 and it was the site of some of the bloodiest fighting on the Western Front. Tyne Cot can be found to the north- east of the town on the ridge that leads to the village of Passchendaele – the same village that gave its name to the infamous Third Battle of Ypres in 1917. Tyne Cot itself is purportedly so called because of the name given by the Northumberland Fusiliers to a barn that stood on the current cemetery site. It is commonly suggested that the shape of the barn reminded the soldiers of the cottages back at home. 1 The barn stood near a strategically-significant level-crossing on the Passchendaele-Broodseinde road, and it had become the centre of five or six German blockhouses.2 It was captured by the 3rd Australian Division on 4 October 1917 during the advance on Passchendaele. The unusually large size of one of the blockhouses meant that it was then used as an advanced dressing station. It is on top of this blockhouse that the cross of sacrifice in the centre of the cemetery now stands, at the suggestion of King George V. Three other blockhouses also remain within the cemetery. From 6 October 1917 until the end of March 1918, 343 graves were made on two sides of the blockhouse. However, the cemetery fell into German hands again between 13 April and 28 September 1918, when it was finally recaptured by the Belgian Army. After the end of war the cemetery was greatly enlarged when remains were brought in from the battlefields of Passchendaele and Langemarck as well as from a few small burial grounds. In total there are now 11,956 Commonwealth servicemen buried or commemorated in Tyne Cot Cemetery and 8,369 of the burials are unidentified. In addition there are four German burials from the time of the original advanced dressing station, three of which are unidentified.

42 The Historian – Summer 2014 The cemetery itself also contains the Tyne Cot memorial, suggests a restless and troubled spirit despairing in the futility which forms the north-eastern boundary of the site. It of it all. Instead it is dignified and majestic, yet in a way that stands close to the farthest point in Belgium reached by speaks powerfully of the sacrifice made and the need for future Commonwealth forces during the First World War until generations to work for peace. the final advance by the Allies in 1918. The memorial commemorates 34,888 servicemen from the United Kingdom REFERENCES 1 Recently there have been further suggestions put forward as to how the area and New Zealand who died on the Ypres Salient after 16 August gained its name. Speculation on the Great War Forum states that the name 1917 and who have no known grave. Those who died before may derive from lettering on a cottage or barn, or else that several cottages in this date and who have no known grave are commemorated the area were named after rivers, Tyne being one of them. 2 much of the information below can be found on the Commonwealth War on the Menin Gate in Ypres itself. Both the memorial and the Grave Commission website Pages relating to Tyne Cot and is a good site to cemetery were designed by the British architect Sir Herbert use as an introduction to the cemetery. Baker, with the sculpture for the memorial being carried out by F.V. Blundstone. Baker had earlier designed the war memorial Sarah Wright is Head of History at Bedford Modern School. at Winchester College, influences from which he carried over to his work on Tyne Cot. If you would like to tell us about your history place It is the design which helps to create the peace and tranquillity of this place. It is not a place that is triumphalist, in a future edition of The Historian, in about 700 revelling in the slaughter of war, but neither is it a place which words, please email: [email protected]

D-Day in ten tweets

Summarising an event or person using ten statements of only 140 characters (including spaces!). Compiled by Paula Kitching

D-Day is a term traditionally used by the Armed Forces for when an operation, such as an attack begins. The ‘D’ just stands for day.

Operation Overlord was the codename given to the whole invasion of NW Europe Operation Neptune was the attack lasting from 6 to 30 June 1944

Along the W European coast the Germans had built the Atlantic Wall, which was to be an unbreakable line of defence from Norway to Spain.

Canadian troops of the North Shore (New The Allies chose Normandy because it was the most unlikely spot. The most Brunswick) Regiment, 8th Canadian Infantry likely was Pas De Calais due to the port & distance. Brigade, 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, disembark from a landing craft onto Nan Red beach, Juno Artificial Mulberry Harbours were towed from Eng & put together off the area, near St Aubin-sur-Mer, at about 8.00am on 6 Normandy coast so 7,000 tons of vehicles & goods cld land each day June 1944, while under fire from German troops in the houses facing them. © IWM (IWM FLM 2570) Crucial to the invasion were extensive & elaborate deception plans. Codebreakers at Bletchely revealed the Germans believed the subterfuge

The Normandy coast of 25 to 30 miles was divided into 5 sections codenamed Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword for the arrack.

On D-Day, the Allies landed around 156,000 troops in Normandy. Primarily British, American, Canadian but also from 10 other countries.

D-Day was the largest amphibious invasion in the history of warfare. Nothing like it has been attempted since.

There are now 27 war cemeteries in the area containing the remains of over 110,000 dead from both sides.

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The Historian – Summer 2014 43