Belgium 2015 - Day 5 - Hyde Park Corner (Royal Berks) Cemetery and Berks Cemetery Extension Ploegsteert

On the way here we crossed the border from France into Belgium. Crossing the border actually took 10 mins as we drove along a road which was the border.

We stopped at Hyde Park Corner Cemetery which is on on side of the road with Berks Cemetery Extension on the other.

Hyde Park Corner was a road junction to the north of Ploegsteert Wood. Hill 63 was to the north-west and nearby were the 'Catacombs', deep shelters capable of holding two battalions, which were used from November 1916 onwards.(CWGC.org)

 Hyde Park Corner (Royal Berks) Cemetery was begun in April 1915 by the 1st/4th Royal Berkshire Regiment and was used at intervals until November 1917. The cemetery contains 83 Commonwealth burials of the First World War and four German war graves.

Here are three of the German graves in the Cemetery. Notice they have different headstones to the Commonwealth headstones.

This photo was taken from the rear of Hyde Park Corner Cemetery looking across the road at Berks Cemetery Extension

Berks Cemetery Extension is separated from Hyde Park Corner Cemetery by a road. The extension was begun in June 1916 and used continuously until September 1917. At the Armistice, the extension comprised Plot I only, but Plots II and III were added in 1930 when graves were brought in from Rosenberg Chateau Military Cemetery and Extension, about 1 kilometre to the north-west, when it was established that these sites could not be acquired in perpetuity. Rosenberg Chateau Military Cemetery was used by fighting units from November 1914 to August 1916. The extension was begun in May 1916 and used until March 1918. Together, the cemetery and extension were sometimes referred to as 'Red Lodge'.
Berks Cemetery Extension now contains 876 First World War burials. (CWGC.org)

Within Berks Cemetery Extension stands the PLOEGSTEERT MEMORIAL, commemorating more than 11,000 Commonwealth servicemen who died in this sector during the First World War and have no known grave. The memorial serves the area from the line Caestre-Dranoutre-Warneton to the north, to Haverskerque-Estaires-Fournes to the south, including the towns of Hazebrouck, Merville, Bailleul and Armentieres, the Forest of Nieppe, and Ploegsteert Wood.
Those commemorated by the memorial did not die in major offensives, such as those which took place around Ypres to the north, or Loos to the south. Most were killed in the course of the day-to-day trench warfare which characterised this part of the line, or in small scale set engagements, usually carried out in support of the major attacks taking place elsewhere.

One of the reasons we went here was a lay a small tribute at the grave of of John Caincross from the 3 Battalion 3rd NZ Rifle Brigade. He was a carpenter from Tauranga (my home town) and, like me had Scottish Parents. He was 41 yrs old when he was killed in action on 28 Feb 1917. If you're interested his record is here

And here's a photo of him

This is the row his grave is in.