Bill Tomlinson Posted 2 January , 2005 Share Posted 2 January , 2005 Reading a copy of a Michelin Guide the Boeschepe Cemetery is pictured and described as containing 20,000 to 22,000 graves.Could anyone tell me more about this place, at the time of the books publication it said to be the largest cemetery in the region? thanks Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurel Sercu Posted 2 January , 2005 Share Posted 2 January , 2005 Bill, 20 to 22,000 ?! Larger than Tyne Cot Cemetery ? Hard to believe. It can't be Godewaersvelde Cemetery either (the nearest to Boeschepe), since this only has 1,081 graves. Somehow your question sounds familiar though. Hasn't it been dealt with in the Forum months ago ? Could it be Lijssenthoek Cemetery ? But L.C. only has 10,802 ! And this is in Flanders of course. I'll see if I can find something with the Search engine. Is it possible to scan the photo and post it ? Aurel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 2 January , 2005 Share Posted 2 January , 2005 Bill, 20 to 22,000 ?! Larger than Tyne Cot Cemetery ? Hard to believe. It can't be Godewaersvelde Cemetery either (the nearest to Boeschepe), since this only has 1,081 graves. Somehow your question sounds familiar though. Hasn't it been dealt with in the Forum months ago ? Could it be Lijssenthoek Cemetery ? But L.C. only has 10,802 ! And this is in Flanders of course. I'll see if I can find something with the Search engine. Is it possible to scan the photo and post it ? Aurel Aurel. The cemetery is actually shown on a map of the itinery in the Michelin guide (p.108) and a photo on p.115. It is, indeed Lijssenthoek/Remi Farm (near the beer shop!!!! ). The description in the guide is slightly misleading as to it's location. As to the numbers contained within it - how many French and other nationalities were buried in it in 1919, who were later moved? Was (as has sometimes been the case) there another adjoining cemetery, maybe a German one, existant then that has been counted with the total, but has since been cleared? Got to say, though, that another 10,000 bodies to be exhumed and moved seems a little excessive - maybe just a little "artistic license" on the part of the author to describe a huge (the biggest at the time of writing?) military cemetery. Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Tomlinson Posted 2 January , 2005 Author Share Posted 2 January , 2005 Hello Aurel Nice to hear from you,you are probably correct about this subject being discussed on the forum before, unfortunatley I must have missed it at that time.The book (which is a reprint ) does give directions by road:- In the centre of Reningheist take Neuve-Englise road at fork in road at Heksken turn right to Poperinghe cross the river at the crossingof the road from Poperinghe to Boeschepe turn left Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurel Sercu Posted 3 January , 2005 Share Posted 3 January , 2005 Bill, The itinerary as described hardly leave any doubt : this is not Boeschepe but Lijssenthoek Cemetery. (Though I could not find Heksken) I was sure that some months ago this Boeschepe mystery was discussed on the forum, but it turns out I was wrong. ("Search" dind't help, neither 'Boeschepe, nor 'Lijssenthoek' nor 'Lyssenthoek'.) Dave, I agree on all you say. What else can I do ? (Your Beer Shop remark proves you're an insider and expert.) Whether there have ever been 20,000 or more burials ? I doubt it (too). Many may have been removed after the war (among them 47 Americans IIRC). French too ? 658 are (still?) there. Was there a German cemetery adjacent to it ? No idea, but I doubt it. Anyway, neither Maj. Holt nor Michael Scott make mention of large removals. Just curious, and ending on a silly question : Maj. Holt (and also Sidney Hurst) say that before the Armistice Lijssenthoek Cemetery was the "second largest" cemetery. What was the largest ? (It cannot have been Tyne Cot Cemetery since 11,500 graves there date from post-Armistice.) But I'm sure that if Dave knows the Beer Shop, he also knows the answer to my question ! Aurel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Coulson Posted 3 January , 2005 Share Posted 3 January , 2005 Aurel, Would Bedford House be a candidate? Bob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Soul Posted 3 January , 2005 Share Posted 3 January , 2005 A photo of Lijssenthoek soon after the war. At least six crosses are visible which bear the distinctive 55th West Lancashire Division plaques. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurel Sercu Posted 3 January , 2005 Share Posted 3 January , 2005 Aurel, Would Bedford House be a candidate? Bob. Bob, I don't think so. - Lijsenthoek now has 10,802 graves. "Some graves were concentrated here after the war" (M. Scott). I don't know how many "some" is, but at the time of the Armistice there certainly must have been more than 10,000. - Bedford House now has 'only' 5,067 graves. Besides "it was enlarged after the Armistice with the concentration of many graves from the surrounding battlefields". These are the other over 5,000 CWGC cemeteries in the Salient : - Poelkapelle : 7,444 - Hooge Crater Cemetery : 5,923 - Tyne Cot Cemetery : 11,976 But none of them can be a candidate for the largest cemetery at the time of the Armistice. I really think that naming Lijssenthoek the second largest is an error. Aurel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Reed Posted 3 January , 2005 Share Posted 3 January , 2005 Holts and Scott (which is probably based on Holts in that respect) are wrong. This was the largest Ypres Salient cemetery at the time of the Armistice. No other cemetery came close to this one; how could it? There were at least 550 of them around Ypres at this time, and Tyne Cot, as Aurel states, was only made in the 20s. No other 'behind the lines' cemeteries around Poperinghe were of this size; either then or now. The two other largest cemeteries at this time were St Sever at Rouen and Etaples; but I do not have a reliable wartime figure for their burials; however, it cannot be far off current totals as there were not many moved into these. Another view of Lijsenthoek below. Few (I would say less than 100) were concentrated after the war, and very few were removed. Some French were taken back to France, but again this should only be measured in dozens - if that. The German burials I suspect remained/remain intact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Tomlinson Posted 9 January , 2005 Author Share Posted 9 January , 2005 Once again the forum members supply,not only answers to specific questions but also much additional information. I intend to visit this place when I next visit Flanders,and I must include a visit to the "Beer shop". Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salientguide Posted 9 January , 2005 Share Posted 9 January , 2005 Paul, the five grave markers in the foreground appear to be cut down aeroplane propellors, presumably RFC/RAF personnel and probably airmen of the time. Do you think that is so. Has any pal been and remeber a row such as that ?? SG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Reed Posted 9 January , 2005 Share Posted 9 January , 2005 It is indeed a row of RFC graves. Below is a modern day view of the same row. I have a whole series of 1920 images of this cemetery, and have done some similar Then & Now with them. I wonder whatever happened to the propellors?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurent Posted 10 January , 2005 Share Posted 10 January , 2005 Hi, take a look to this map, you could see all the village named in the last message. There is 2 rivers (cercled in red) i think this cemetery is on the road Boeschepe to Poperinge, on the left on the map. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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