Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

2,613 Commonwealth servicemen of the WW I are buried or commemorated in this cemetery.
(1,034 of the burials are unidentified).

The largest cemetery within Ypres is  Ypres Reservoir Cemetery.

This is in the north-west of the town, and was located next to an Advanced Dressing Station where many casualties who had survived as far as this following transfer from the front lines were buried.

There were originally 3 cemeteries near the town's western gate, 2 between the prison and the reservoir (these 2 were both concentrated into the 3rd, which is located on the north side of what was the prison - hence an earlier name for this cemetery, Ypres Prison Cemetery - it was also previously known as Ypres Reservoir North Cemetery).

The cemetery was begun in October 1915, and used from then on throughout WW I, and contained around 1100 graves after the Armistice.

The register gives the interesting information that the graves of the men in Plot 5 Row AA are those of 16 soldiers from the 6th Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry who were killed on the 12th of August 1915. They were billeted in the vaults of the cathedral (see map) and killed by shelling from what was known as the "Ypres Express", a large calibre German gun firing from the Houthulst Forest. The bodies were not recovered until after the Armistice.

Sourced and submitted by Julianne T Ryan.  29/11/2014.  Lest we forget.