Guest Posted 5 March , 2004 Share Posted 5 March , 2004 Whilst studying a trench map of the Hooge- Mount Sorrel area i noticed a trench ???? labelled The China Wall. I would appreciate any information regarding this feature. Many thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Cross Posted 5 March , 2004 Share Posted 5 March , 2004 See below info from CWGC:- Cemetery: PERTH CEMETERY (CHINA WALL) Country: Belgium Locality: Ieper, West-Vlaanderen Location Information: Perth Cemetery (China Wall) is located 3 km east of Ieper town centre, on the Maaldestedestraat, a road leading from the Meenseweg (N8), connecting Ieper to Menen. From Ieper town centre the Meenseweg is located via Torhoutstraat and right onto Basculestraat. Basculestraat ends at a main cross roads, directly over which begins the Meenseweg. 1.7 km along the Meenseweg at a major roundabout lies the right hand turning onto the Maaldestedestraat. The cemetery itself is located 1 km along the Maaldestedestraat on the left hand side of the road. Historical Information: Perth Cemetery was begun by French troops in November 1914 and adopted by the 2nd Scottish Rifles in June 1917. It was called Perth (for an unknown reason), China Wall (from the communication trench known as the Great Wall of China), or Halfway House Cemetery. The cemetery was used for front line burials until October 1917 when it occupied about half of the present Plot I and contained 130 graves. It was not used again until after the Armistice, when graves were brought in from the battlefields around Ypres and from certain smaller cemeteries. The French graves were removed to another cemetery. There are now 2,791 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 1,369 of the burials are unidentified and special memorials are erected to 27 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials bear the names of 104 casualties buried in the cemeteries concentrated here, whose graves could not be found. The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. No. of Identified Casualties: 1422 MC PS The cemetery is on the northern edge of the village of Zillebeke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zijde26 Posted 7 March , 2004 Share Posted 7 March , 2004 Beneath you will find a scan of an old postcard showing the 'china wall' cemetery. Gilbert Deraedt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Missinne Posted 9 March , 2004 Share Posted 9 March , 2004 See Perth Cemetery (China Wall) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now