Grootebeek British Cemetery

Grootebeek British Cemetery appears almost unfinished from the road, with no sign of a boundary wall separating field from burial ground. 

The cemetery can be found about a mile north east of Reninghelst (now Reningelst),…

…close to the hamlet of Ouderdom, seen here looking somewhat the worse for wear, and very cold, on the road to Vlamertinge,…

…and I suppose, had we walked this way not so long ago,…

…much of the view from here would have been obscured by a bloody great tree that the gardeners, in their wisdom, had recently, at the time of my visit, pollarded.  Not so good for the tree, maybe, but excellent for the likes of you & me, so I thank them.  Reninghelst had been in British hands throughout the war, and, as we have seen previously, they had been using the cemetery and cemetery extension and later the New Military Cemetery to bury men since March 1915.

This July 1917 map extract shows Reninhelst New Military Cemetery in red and our current location in mauve.  The huge numbers of casualties during the Battle of the Lys in April 1918 necessitated the creation of new cemeteries, this particular one first used on 23rd April, alongside a small Indian cemetery that had been here since April 1915.

Pretty, isn’t it?  The cemetery was once called Ouderdom Military Cemetery, but later took its name from this beek – the Grootebeek, or Groote Kemmelbeek – that flows past the graves.  You can see it flowing to the south of Reninghelst diagonally across the map north east towards and past Ouderdom.

We shall use the official entrance…

…across this rather attractive stone bridge,…

…where we find the Register Box for the cemetery register and visitor’s book on the left,…

…with an interesting variation of the ‘In Perpetuity’ tablets inlaid into the wall beyond,…

…and the cemetery name inlaid on the other side.

Our exploration begins…

…at the cemetery’s north eastern end…

…where two lone special memorial headstones flank the Cross of Sacrifice,…

…one of which is as unusual a headstone – a replacement for the original CWGC headstone, as you’ll see later – as you are likely to find anywhere in Flanders.

This is a special memorial, referred to on the cemetery plan as the Vlamertinghe Churchyard Memorial, to a Victoria Cross holder who, strangely, has nothing whatsoever to do with this cemetery.  Once buried in Vlamertinghe Churchyard, his grave was later lost, and I suppose because there are no CWGC graves today in the churchyard, for the very same reason, I imagine, he is now remembered here.  But why here, two and a half miles to the south west of Vlamertinge, as opposed to anywhere else, I do not know.

And the fact that this is explained on his headstone means that the Victoria Cross emblem is somewhat smaller than on a regular V.C. headstone, which is again very unusual.  I have no idea how many special memorial V.C.s there are in total across Belgium & France, but I doubt there are very many*.  Private John Lynn of the Lancashire Fusiliers had already been awarded a D.C.M. prior to the action that saw him receive a V.C. ‘For most conspicuous bravery near Ypres on 2nd May, 1915. When the Germans were advancing behind their wave of asphyxiating gas, Private Lynn, although almost overcome by the deadly fumes, handled his machine gun with very great effect against the enemy, and when he could not see them he moved his gun higher up on the parapet, which enabled him to bring even more effective fire to bear, and eventually checked any further advance. The great courage displayed by this soldier had a fine effect on his comrades in the very trying circumstances. He died the following day from the effects of gas poisoning.’

*thinking about it, we did see one, with a regular-sized V.C. inscribed on it, quite recently during our visit to Westoutre British Cemetery.

Interestingly, this public domain photo shows Lynn’s headstone not so long ago, fifteen years or so, the cross of the size that one would normally associate with V.C. burials.  His current headstone has since replaced this one, and if you compare the placement of the text on both, you can see why the new headstone is inscribed with a smaller cross.  The chips on the edge of the headstone,…

…and a comparison of the emblems shows us the reasons for the headstone’s replacement; there is little detail remaining on the old emblem on the left, when compared with the new one on the right.  Note that Lynn’s age has now been added.

John Lynn as a boy soldier in the 3rd Bn. Lancashire Fusiliers on the left, and with 2nd Bn. colleagues (right), Lynn seated second from left, front row, with machine gun.  His D.C.M. had been awarded in December 1914, ‘For gallant conduct. Took charge of an isolated machine gun when his Sergeant was killed, brought it out of action when jammed, and took it back again to the firing line when repaired.’

It was at this spot, in the battered ruins of Wieltje, that Lynn won his V.C.,…

…the site of the action now overlooked by this memorial to the 50th Northumbrian Division that we have visited before.  At the end of April 1915, 2nd Bn. Lancashire Fusiliers took over the front line trenches here north of Weltje, less than two miles outside Ypres on the road to St. Julien.  John Lynn was in charge of one of the battalion’s four machine guns, sited on the trench parapet just off the road.  On the afternoon of 2nd May, the Germans released a cloud of chlorine gas before advancing on the British trenches.  Lynn, almost overcome by the fumes, strapped his machine gun to a tree stump for stability and helped to stem the German advance before he was carried, dying, from his position.  The Lancashires, nonetheless, suffered heavily during the attack, eighteen officers and 431 other ranks being subsequently treated for exposure to gas.

Lynn (left) was 27 when he was killed.  His original grave marker in Vlamertinghe Churchyard is shown on the right.  Believe it or not, this wooden cross is still in existence (inset); those of you who live in the Manchester area need only visit Bury Parish Church, but you’ll have to ask nicely, I gather, as it is no longer on public display.  It seems strange, perhaps, that a cross marking a grave should survive and yet no trace of a body beneath could be found.  Assuming that it was ever looked for.

Back in the cemetery, as you’ve already seen, there’s a second lone headstone on the far side of the Cross,…

…and now on the left, and a third, obscured in the previous pictures, seen here on the right, which is the single headstone of Row I.

The second of the two special memorials remembers Serjeant E. Perkins D.C.M., R.F.A., who died on 25th April 1918 and is ‘Believed to be buried in this cemetery’.  His D.C.M. citation, published in the London Gazette on 21st October 1918, almost six months after his death, reads ‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty all the time he has been with his battery. On two occasions he displayed exceptional coolness and promptitude in extinguishing ammunition dumps set on fire by enemy shelling.’

The single headstone in Row I…

…is the grave of a Middlesex Regiment private, one of nine men killed on 28th September 1918, the final Great War burials to be made here,…

…three more of whom lie in Row H, on the far left in this shot; the other burials in the row are from the days preceding.  There are 109 burials here in total, all but ten from 1918.

Apart from a D.L.I. sergeant second from the right, the first group of burials in Row G are all Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment) casualties killed on 4th or 5th September 1918.

The 10th Bn. The Queen’s war diary for September 1918 tells of an attack by the battalion on the morning of 4th September in which they lost one officer and twelve others killed, along with two officers and twenty four others wounded.  I would think these men are among those casualties, and the man buried at the start of the row,…

…Second Lieutenant Ernest J. Hemsley M.C., Royal Sussex Regiment attd. The Queen’s, who died on 4th September 1918 aged 22, is probably the officer killed, or one of the two wounded, who subsequently died.  Note that the war diary mentions the battalion relieving an American infantry battalion in the preceding days.

One of two Second World War casualties (centre) buried here, both further along Row G, although apparently I didn’t photograph the second headstone.  Both men were killed on 28th May 1940 during the retreat to Dunkirk.  On the left, one of only two unidentified men buried here, and on the right, a man killed in mid-September 1918,…

…as are the other burials in the row.

Looking east towards the Cross across Rows G & H,…

…and turning, now looking south west across the rest of the cemetery, Row F in the foreground, the heavily pollarded tree we saw on entry now in the centre middle distance beyond the headstones.

The graves in Row F are all September 1918 casualties,…

…apart from five men of the Royal Garrison Artillery towards the start of the row,…

…four pictured here, all of whom died on 5th July 1918.  Fifty six British burials were made in the cemetery between 2rd April & 3rd May 1918, and a further thirty two in September; these five men were the only burials made here between 3rd May & 4th September 1918.

The two men buried closest to the camera died on 1st May 1918, as did one other soldier buried in Row E; the remainder, probably including the second unknown soldier buried here, fourth in line,…

…are all men who died on 29th or 30th April 1918.

Across on the western side of the cemetery, these three short rows of graves you’ll have spotted in previous shots make up the Indian Plot.

All are late April 1915 casualties,…

…and it was because these graves were already here that the later 1918 graves were placed alongside.

Three of these men died on 27th April 1915, and four two days later on 29th April.  All were with the Lahore Division, who were instrumental in consolidating the breach in the front line between Wieltje & St. Julien after the first German gas attack on 22nd April 1915.

On the left, Havildar Ali Haidar, 52nd Sikhs (F.F.), killed on 29th April 1915, and on the right, Sepoy Munsafdar, 84th Punjabis, killed on 27th April 1915.

From left, Sepoy Faroz, 2nd Sikhs (F.F.) killed on 29th April 1915, and then two men who died on 27th April 1915, Naik La Lak, 57th Wilde’s Rifles (F.F.) & Sepoy Muhammed Elahi, 129th Duke of Connaught’s Own Baluchis.

The ‘F.F.’ on most of these Indian headstones refers to Frontier Force.

The final two graves in the Indian Plot are both men who died on 29th April 1915, on the left Sepoy Sharif Khan, 56th Punjabi Rifles (F.F.) & on the right Sepoy Sardar Khan, 52nd Sikhs (F.F.).

Back among the later British graves, the burials at this end of Row D are all from late April or early May 1918 and include, on the far right, the only South African buried in the cemetery, an infantryman who died on 27th April 1918.

Scottish burials in Row D, the two Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders killed on 28th September 1918, and the Cameronian on the right on 3rd May 1918.

Row C, the first two men in line, both from English regiments, also killed on 28th September & 3rd May 1918 respectively.  Other than these two men, all the remaining burials in the row, and Rows B & A behind, are men killed in late April 1918.  The group of more closely placed headstones further along the row…

…are all men who died on 26th, 27th or 28th April, as is the final burial in the row (front left below) and include, on the far right, a lance corporal in the Lincolns who had previously served in the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps, which is what is inscribed on his headstone.

The single headstone on the far right, the final grave in Row B,…

…marks the grave of Second Lieutenant F. W. A. Brown, Lincolnshire Regiment, who died on 25th April 1918,…

…the other burials in the row…

…all men killed between 25th & 30th April 1918, including the single New Zealand burial in the cemetery, an infantryman who died of wounds on 25th April 1918.

Nine of the men buried in Row A died on 26th April, seven of whom served with the 10th Bn. Royal Warwickshire Regiment.

The battalion war diary reveals the casualties for that day, with seven men indeed listed as killed…

…including, second from left, Second Lieutenant Douglas Quirk O’Neill, the officer mentioned by name, his headstone seen in close-up below.  On the far right, the two burials at the end of the row are men killed on 25th & 23rd April 1918, the latter, the final headstone, being the earliest British burial made here, the first man that someone decided should be buried close to the Indian graves already here.

With Second Lieutenant O’Neill’s headstone now on the far left,…

…these views look north east towards the Cross of Sacrifice from the rear of the cemetery…

…before we either head back to the bridge,…

…or slide our way down the bank…

…and find our way back, past the coppiced tree, to where we started.  Talking of trees, you may have noticed how young the trees beyond the headstones appear to be, and indeed not so long ago, the view beyond the graves was obstructed by nothing other than the low hedge that still remains.

Being less than a mile north east of Reninghelst, you will already know, if you read those recent posts, that the whole area was littered with camps for the men resting, and indeed those working, behind the lines.  These shots (above & below) show a rather sparse Honourable Artillery Company camp at Ouderdom in August 1915,…

…these improvised bivouacs made by hanging waterproof sheets over scaffold poles.

We’ll conclude with an extract, above & following, from the History of the Lancashire Fusiliers 1914-1918, which describes the first gas attacks by the Germans on 22nd April 1915 and the actions on 2nd May 1915 that led to Private Lynn being awarded the Victoria Cross.

Next, well, we’re heading east a couple 0f miles, to an area quite close to Ypres (Ieper) that suffered its fair share of damage during the German advance in 1918, and was already host to more than one British cemetery long before that.  In due course.