1. Sanctuary Wood CWGC Cemetery

10-30 minute stop ⁸ - depending on whether this is your first day of the tour.

Take the N8 out of Ypres, heading east toward Menen (you are travelling on the infamous Menin Road). Straight across at the roundabout (this is Hellfire Corner, so called due to the incessant shelling of this area by the Germans, who were aiming to disrupt the British supply line to the front) and keep going approximately one kilometre further. Sanctuary Wood Museum will be signposted – take the exit to your right on to Canadalaan when it appears. Follow the road until you reach Sanctuary Wood Museum. Park at the museum and it is a short walk back to the cemetery that you will just have passed. The Canadian memorial beyond the museum has a turning circle for the coach.

Context

Many groups, particularly school groups, head straight for Sanctuary Wood Museum. This cemetery provides an ideal opportunity to set the scene for the day ahead and give calm and focus. This, in my experience, is crucial because of how busy the museum can be.

Orientation

Enter the cemetery and walk towards the Cross of Sacrifice. Go past this and you will come to an open area with some seating. Turn around and look back the way you walked. You are looking in the direction of the German front-line. This position (and the trench museum) were part of Sanctuary Wood. This is a good place to talk to your group.

Spiel

If this is the first stop on the first day of your tour:

• Give a short version of the overview history of the war (page 25)

For all tours:

• Give an overview of the importance of Ypres and the battles fought here (page 75)

Then:

This is Sanctuary Wood Cemetery. It is a concentration cemetery and did not exist during the war. In 1914 this was a wooded area and at the start of the war a quiet sector. However, toward the end of October, during the First Battle of Ypres, this relatively sleepy area was violently dragged from its slumber. The wood gained its name because it gave sanctuary to the British army as they treated their wounded during this battle and, as battalions were decimated, to regroup survivors into fighting units; the position was relatively safe and unshelled, whilst the trees gave some cover. However, by the end of November this was no more and the position became a magnet for artillery bombardment and infantry action for the rest of the war. In 1914, the German position to the east was over four kilometres away; in 1915 (after Second Ypres) it was less than two kilometres. During Third Ypres, it was much nearer to the front line positions. During Fourth Ypres, this position went behind the German front line. We will visit preserved sections of the Trenches momentarily.

If this is the first stop on the first day of your tour:

• Give an overview of the work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and explanation of the design and commemorations that the group will see.

Then:

This cemetery contains many burials from the First and Third Battles of Ypres.

There are 1,989 Commonwealth servicemen buried or commemorated in the cemetery. 1,353 of the burials are unidentified. Cemeteries had been started here in 1916, but were largely destroyed in 1917 and 1918. Hence, there are memorials at the rear of the cemetery for those soldiers known to be buried here but the exact location has been lost.

The most famous burial is that of Lieutenant Gilbert Talbot (I-G-1). It was as a memory of him Rev. P.B. ‘Tubby’ Clayton named Talbot House, a place for relaxation and religious observance, in Poperinge; you will visit it later today.

The one German burial is that of Hauptmann Hans Roser, Iron Cross holder and aviator. Outside the cemetery is a private memorial to Lieutenant Keith Rae. After the war, his family had this memorial placed nearest to where he was last known to have been, near Hooge Crater. In order for its continued maintenance to occur, it was moved here in 1966.