The Advance East Part Two – Dadizele Communal Cemetery

The last time we came to Dadizele (our visit to Dadizeele New British Cemetery) it was cold.  Very cold.  Beautiful, with the previous day’s snow still on the ground.  But very, very cold.  At the time I suggested that we should come back another time, when it was a bit warmer, to visit the adjacent Dadizele Communal Cemetery, and so we have.

This time its July.  And it’s raining.

Dadizele Communal Cemetery contains 27 British First World War burials, all casualties of the fighting in the vicinity during October 1918.

CWGC plaque at the cemetery entrance.

Panoramic view of Dadizele Communal Cemetery.

Although the majority of the British burials are situated along the southern boundary of the cemetery, a few, such as these two men of the Royal Irish Rifles, are to be found among the civilian graves.

RIFLEMAN W. ROBINSON	ROYAL IRISH RIFLES	29	12/10/1918	I 1
RIFLEMAN E. RICKWOOD	ROYAL IRISH RIFLES	37	13/10/1918	I 1

Plot II contains most of the British burials here, two of which are the only Second World War graves in the cemetery; the headstone nearest the camera is simply inscribed ‘Two Soldiers of the 1939-1945 War’.  In the following photos we move down the line of First World War headstones, beginning with the second in line, one of two bearing two names:

RIFLEMAN W. WOODS	ROYAL IRISH RIFLES	u/k	15/10/1918	II 1
PRIVATE M. KEENE	ROYAL INNISKILLING FUSILIERS	u/k	15/10/1918	II 1

         

Above left:

LANCE CORPORAL S. FENTON	ROYAL IRISH RIFLES	u/k	13/10/1918	II 1
PRIVATE A. E. GODSALL	ROYAL INNISKILLING FUSILIERS	19	15/10/1918	II 1
SERJEANT F. MASKREY	NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE REGIMENT	u/k	15/10/1918	II 1

Above right:

RIFLEMAN H. W. BRADSHAW	ROYAL IRISH RIFLES	25	14/10/1918	II 1
CORPORAL P. TYER	ROYAL IRISH RIFLES	19	14/10/1918	II 1
RIFLEMAN A. F. ALMOND	ROYAL IRISH RIFLES	19	15/10/1918	II 1

RIFLEMAN S. H. CHIDWICK	ROYAL IRISH RIFLES	30	14/10/1918	II 1
A SOLDIER OF THE GREAT WAR

PRIVATE J. W. ROBINSON	ROYAL INNISKILLING FUSILIERS	26	15/10/1918	II 1
PRIVATE J. HARRIS	ROYAL INNISKILLING FUSILIERS	20	15/10/1918	II 1

         

Above left:

PRIVATE A. WHISKER	ROYAL INNISKILLING FUSILIERS	19	15/10/1918	II 2
CORPORAL W. McSORLEY	ROYAL INNISKILLING FUSILIERS	30	15/10/1918	II 2
LANCE CORPORAL E. SAUNDERS	ROYAL INNISKILLING FUSILIERS	u/k	15/10/1918	II 2

Above right:

RIFLEMAN W. GEORGE	ROYAL IRISH RIFLES	u/k	15/10/1918	II 2
SAPPER W. J. BULLER	ROYAL ENGINEERS	u/k	14/10/1918	II 2
SECOND LIEUTENANT G. L. WILLIAMS MC	ROYAL INNISKILLING FUSILIERS	28	15/10/1918	II 2

PRIVATE W. BALL	ROYAL WEST KENT REGIMENT	u/k	19/10/1918
PRIVATE J. BAXTER	MACHINE GUN CORPS (INFANTRY)	30	19/10/1918
PRIVATE C. A. HARTLEY	NORTHUMBERLAND FUSILIERS	u/k	19/10/1918

The final headstone in the row, nearest camera, is:

PRIVATE T. NOCTON

NORTHUMBERLAND FUSILIERS

25

20/10/1918

II 4

As we are now near the southern corner of the cemetery, we ought to take a peek around the boundary hedge beyond which lies Dadizeele New British Cemetery, this time sans snow.

Dadizeele New British Cemetery was created after the war, which naturally begs the question, “why are there 27 men in the communal cemetery when there are more than a thousand buried just the other side of the wall in the military cemetery?”  The answer may be that although the military cemetery contains men brought in from the surrounding area after the war only, the communal cemetery was already there and the 27 men who lie within its boundaries were buried there at the time they fell.  But I’m not at all sure about that, so if you are any the wiser, do let me know.

Looking north west towards the Cross of Sacrifice in the distance, with the German bunker we visited previously to the left.

Above & below: View from the top of the bunker.

Returning to Dadizele Communal Cemetery, there are three remaining British graves that we have yet to visit…

…two of which are near the western boundary of the cemetery.

CORPORAL T. HORROCKS	ROYAL IRISH RIFLES	27	05/10/1918	III 1
PRIVATE J. JAMES	ROYAL INNISKILLING FUSILIERS	u/k	02/10/1918	III 2

Behind these two graves, the hedge separates communal cemetery from military.

The final British burial.  Above & below:

PRIVATE F. J. CUNNINGHAM

ROYAL IRISH FUSILIERS

u/k

07/10/1918

IV 1

Last view before we leave, looking north east across the roundabout immediately outside the communal cemetery towards the town itself.  The building on the left, the first building encountered on entering Dadizele from the west, supposedly (according to a local resident) survived the shelling that destroyed much of the town in October 1918 as the Germans retreated, and perhaps it did.  By the way, the signposts on the far side of the roundabout are indeed the same ones pictured at the start of our recent visit to Dadizeele New British Cemetery.

Click here for Part Three.