Messines Ridge Military Cemetery

Messines Ridge Military Cemetery is located on the road leading west from Messines towards Wulvergehem, on the ridge which dominates the lower lying land below. Before the battle of Messines, in early 1917 this spot was approximately where the German lines ran, and the cemetery does not in fact date from the War itself, but was created after the Armistice.

The cemetery also contains a memorial to the officers and men of New Zealand who fell in or near Messines in 1917 and 1918. Looking west from the cemetery, the spire of Wulvergehem church can be seen. The picture above shows the entrance to the cemetery; the New Zealand memorial is surmounted by the Cross of Sacrifice and is in the form of panels around the circular base on which the cross is set. These panels are arranged by regiment, including panels for Maori, Auckland, Canterbury and Wellington Regiments. This is one of several such memorials to those from New Zealand with no known grave; after the war, the New Zealanders decided not to have the names of their soldiers whose bodies had never been recovered or identified commemorated on the Menin Gate. Instead, there are seven New Zealand memorials to the missing in France and Belgium, and these have been placed in cemeteries which were appropriate to the fighting in which those listed on each died (such as here at Messines).

The memorial commemorates more than 800 New Zealand soldiers, and the Cemetery beyond has over 1500 graves, approximately two thirds of which are unidentified, reflecting this cemeteries nature - it was created by recovery of many bodies from the Messines battlefields after the war.

There are also special memorials to soldiers buried elsewhere but whose graves were later destroyed by shell-fire. On the left hand side of the Cemetery stands a large impressive pavilion like building, and looking from this the domination of the position is clear. Looking south, the spires of Armentieres are visible. In fact, Messines is nearer to Armentieres than to Ypres.