Wimereux is a small town situated about 5 kilometers north of Boulogne.
Wimereux was the headquarters of the Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps during the First World War and in 1919 it became the General Headquarters of the British Army. From October 1914 onwards, Boulogne and Wimereux formed an important hospital centre and until June 1918, the medical units at Wimereux used the communal cemetery for burials, the south-eastern half having been set aside for Commonwealth graves, although a few burial were also made among the civilian graves.
By June 1918, this half of the cemetery was filled, and subsequent burials from the hospitals at Wimereux were made in the new military cemetery at Terlincthun.
Wimereux Communal Cemetery contains 2,847, Commonwealth burials of the First World War, two of them unidentified.
The Commonwealth section was designed by Charles Holden. Because of the sandy nature of the soil, the headstones lie flat upon the graves . Buried among them is Lt.-Col. John McCrae, author of the poem "In Flanders Fields." There are also five French and a plot of 170 German war graves. The cemetery also contains 14 Second World War burials, six of them unidentified.
2 comments:
I am reading Haigs 'War Diaries' at the moment. It gives an interesting insight into the war. If you have not come across it I recommend a read.
I have an old copy of Hiag's war diaries published some time in the 30's. They are fasinatind !
I have just been reading his account of the early days of the Battle of the Somme !!!
'40,OOO casulties to be expected' quite amazing!
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