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Ypres Salient

In the Ypres area there are numerous war cemeteries from the different nations. A large part are British. One of the largest and most impressive is the Tyne Cot cemetery, which is situated to the south of the village of Passendale. Here can be found a total of 11.856 graves : 8.901 British, 1.353 Australian, 966 Canadian, 519 from New-Zealand, 90 South-African, 14 from New Foundland, 6 from Guernsey, 2 from the British West-Indies, 1 French, 4 German and 101 graves for soldiers whose nationality could not be determined.

The name 'Tyne Cot' was given because on the site of the present cemetery, a cottage used to stand. The British soldiers abbreviated the word cottage to 'Cot' and coupled it with the name of the river Tyne in Northern-England. The entrance gate to Tyne Cot reminds of this cottage.

A unique feature is the Cross of Sacrifice, that was erected above a German bunker that was taken by the allied on October the 4th 1917 at the cost of numerous human lives. At the back of the cemetery a large silex stone wall can be seen. On the wall are the names of the soldiers that were reported missing from August 16th 1917 until the end of the war : 33.783 soldiers and officers together with the names of 1.176 missing soldiers from New Zealand. The names of the soldiers reported missing from before August 16th 1917 are written on the walls of the Menin Gate in the center of Ypres : a total of 54.896.

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