Menin Road South Military Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery

Menin Road South Military Cemetery
Menin Road South Military Cemetery
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
	Used for those deceased 1916–1918
Established	January 1916
Location	50°50′58″N02°54′16″E / 50.84944°N 2.90444°E ; near Ypres, West Flanders, Belgium
Designed by	Sir Reginald Blomfield
Total burials	1658
Unknowns	119
Burials by nation
	Allied Powers: United Kingdom: 1125; Canada: 148; Australia: 267; New Zealand: 52; Central Powers: Germany: 1; Unknown: 65
Burials by war
	World War I: 1658
	Statistics source: WW1Cemeteries.com and CWGC

Last updated February 19, 2023

Menin Road South Military Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission burial ground for the dead of the First World War located near Ypres, on the Western Front.

Foundation

The cemetery lies to one side of the infamous^[2] Menin Road. The road ran from Ypres to the front line at a point which effectively remained static for almost the entire war.^[3] The cemetery therefore remained an Allied possession throughout the war.

It was founded in January 1916 and was used until summer 1918.^[3] After the Armistice, the neighbouring Menin Road North cemetery was concentrated into this cemetery, with additional concentration from single battlefield graves from the front itself.^[4]

The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.^[3]

Special memorials

The cemetery has 79 "special memorials".^[5] In the form of stone obelisks or just headstones with special notations, they record the names of 24 soldiers known or believed to be buried in the cemetery and a further 54 whose graves were lost in later fighting or could not be found after the war.^[3] As these are known casualties (not "missing"), they are included in the total figure for burials in the cemetery and are not recorded on the Menin Gate.

Notable graves

The cemetery holds the grave of acting-Captain Thomas Riversdale Colyer-Fergusson,^[4] of the Northamptonshire Regiment who was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award for valour "in the face of the enemy" in the Commonwealth.

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References

↑ First World War, accessed 19 August 2006
↑ Hughes, Sarah "Anything but boring..." South African Archived 2007-10-20 at archive.today newspaper, accessed 13 October 2007
1 2 3 4 Commonwealth War Graves Commission Menin Road South Military Cemetery entry, accessed 13 October 2007
1 2 WW1Cemeteries.com Archived 2007-10-13 at the Wayback Machine , accessed 13 October 2007
↑ firstworldwar.com – the Western Front today, accessed 13 October 2007

External links

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[1] First World War, accessed 19 August 2006

[za-2] Hughes, Sarah "Anything but boring..." South African Archived 2007-10-20 at archive.today newspaper, accessed 13 October 2007

[cwgc-3] 1 2 3 4 Commonwealth War Graves Commission Menin Road South Military Cemetery entry, accessed 13 October 2007

[ww1c-4] 1 2 WW1Cemeteries.com Archived 2007-10-13 at the Wayback Machine , accessed 13 October 2007

[fww-5] rstworldwar.com – the Western Front today, accessed 13 October 2007

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