Near Ypres in West-Vlaanderen, Flanders, Belgium — Northwestern Europe
Essex Farm Cemetery
1915-1918
Photographed by Steve Stoessel, November 12, 2024
1. Essex Farm Cemetery Marker
Essex Farm Cemetery
The nearby farm, which was named after the Essex Regiment, lay close behind the front line for two years from mid-1915. This cemetery contains the graves of 1107 British, 9 Canadian, 5 German and 83 unidentified soldiers.
Begraafplaats Essex Farm
Vanaf midden 1915 lag de naburige boerderij, die naar het "Essex regiment genoemd werd, gedurende 2 jaar dicht achter de frontlijn. Deze begraafplaats bevat de graven van 1107 Britse, 9 Canadese Duitse en 83 ongeοdentificeerde soldaten.
The War on the Western Front, 1914-1918
In the First World War the Western Front - a battle line extending from the Channel coast to Switzerland along which, for four years, millions of men fought and died - was the principal and vital theatre. Against the German Army were arrayed the armies of the British Common-wealth, France, Belgium and, latterly, the United States. The first two months, a war of movement, saw the containment and partial repulse of the initial German thrust. There then followed three and a half years of static trench fighting - war of attrition - during which defensive power was paramount. Neither
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The six divisions of the British Expeditionary Force which went to France at the outset in 1914 were deployed amongst the French armies and played their full part from 23 August in the Battles of Mons, Le Cateau, the Marne and the Aisne. The next three weeks, during which the battle line moved every day, were a highly critical period in which the German plan for ending the war at a stroke was foiled and the issue deterred.
In the first two weeks of October the BEF was moved from the central sector of the front to Flanders. This move shortened its lines of com-munication, which ran through Dunkirk, Calais and Boulogne, and enabied it to protect these ports which were vital both to its own supply and reinforcement and to the Royal Navy's command of the Channel. Over the next four years, during which its strength rose to fifty British and twelve overseas
Photographed by Steve Stoessel, November 12, 2024
2. Essex Farm Cemetery Marker
After the German offensives of late March to mid-July 1918 had been contained the advance to victory began on 8 August with the Battle of Amiens, continued on a broadening front with the Second Battles of the Somme and of Arras and, in September, extended to the Ypres Salient. The advance swiftly gathered momentum and by the day of the armistice the front line ran fifty miles or more eastward of the starting points.
Nearly 750,000 Commonwealth soldiers, sailors and airmen died on the Western Front - 200,000 in Belgium and over 500,000 in France. They are commemorated upon headstones marking graves in over 1,000 war cemeteries and 2,000 civil cemeteries, or on one of the six memorials in Belgium and twenty in France which carry the names of more than 300,000 who have no known grave.
[Nederland]
De Oorlog op het Westelijk Front 1914-1918
In
Photographed by Steve Stoessel, November 12, 2024
3. Essex Farm Cemetery Marker
De zes divisies van het Britse Expeditieleger die in het begin van 1914 naar Frankrijk trokken, werden tussen de Franse legers ingezet en speelden een belangrijke rol in de gevechten van Bergen, Le Cateau, de Marne en de Aisne vanaf 23 augustus. De volgende drie weken, toen de gevechtslijn zich iedere dag verplaatste, waren een kritieke periode waarin het Duitse plan om de oorlog met ιιn slag te beλindigen, tegengehouden werd en de afloop ervan uitgesteld werd.
In de eerste twee weken van oktober werd het Britse Expeditieleger van de centrale sektor van het front naar Vlaanderen overgeplaatst. Deze verplaatsing verkortte haar communicatielijnen die door Duinkerke, Calais en Boulogne liepen en maakten het mogelijk deze havens te beschermen, die van levensbelang waren zowel voor hun eigen bevoorrading en versterking als voor het commando over het kanaal van de Koninklijke Zeemacht. Tijdens de daarop volgende vier jaren, groeide het Britse Expeditieleger uit tor vijftig Britse en twaalf overzeese Gemenebest divisies - Canadese, Australische, Nieuwzee-landse, Zuidafrikaanse, Indische en troepen van Newfoundland, Brits West-Indie en andere territoria - en nam het geleidelijk aan meer van de noord-sektor van de geallieerde lijn over en leverde een reeks van hevige gevechten waarvan de grootste de Eerste Slag aan de Somme was in 1916.
Nadat de Duitse aanvallen van eind maart maart tot midden juli 1918 in bedwang gehouden werden, begon op 8 augustus de opmars naar de overwinning met de Slag van Amiens, die voortgezet werd langs een verruimend front met de tweede gevechten van de Somme en Arras en die zich in september uitbreidde tot de "leper Salient". De opmars versnelde in vaart en tegen de dag van de wapenstilstand was de frontlijn 50 mijlen of meer oostwaarts gelegen als bij het begin.
Bijna 750.000 soldaten, zeelieden en vliegers van het Gemenebest sneuvelden aan het Westelijk Front - 200.000 in Belgiλ en meer dan 500.000 in Frankrijk. Zij worden herdacht op grafstenen in meer dan 1000 oorlogsbegraafplaatsen en 2000 burgerbegraafplaatsen of op ιιn van de zes monmenten in Belgiλ en twintig in Frankrijk, die de namen dragen van meer dan 300.000 die geen gekend graf hebben.
Erected by Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Cemeteries & Burial Sites • War, World I. A significant historical date for this entry is November 11, 1918.
Location. 50° 52.279′ N, 2° 52.35′ E. Marker is near Ypres, Vlaanderen (Flanders), in West-Vlaanderen. It is at the intersection of Diksmuidseweg (National Route 369) and Noorderring (National Route 38), on the right on Diksmuidseweg. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: Diksmuidseweg 148, Ypres, Vlaanderen 8900, Belgium. Touch for directions.
Regionally, it is in Europe, the European Union, Atlantic Europe, the Benelux Low Countries, the Schengen Area, Western Europe, and the Western World. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Roman Empire and specifically also the Holy Roman Empire.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 3 kilometers of this marker, measured as the crow flies: McCrae Site, the Canal Bank 1914-1918 / Site McCrae de Canadijk 1914-1918 (within shouting distance of this marker); Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae (within shouting distance of this marker); In Flanders Fields (within shouting distance of this marker); Medische hulppost John McCrae / Medical Aid Post John McCrae (within shouting distance of this marker); Kanaaldijk - Site John McCrae (within shouting distance of this marker); 49th (West Riding) Division Memorial / Gedenkteken 49ste (West Riding) Divisie (within shouting distance of this marker); 49th West Riding Division (about 90 meters away, measured in a direct line); St. Georges Memorial Church (approx. 2.2 kilometers away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Ypres.
Credits. This page was last revised on December 5, 2024. It was originally submitted on November 30, 2024, by Steve Stoessel of Niskayuna, New York. This page has been viewed 114 times since then and 8 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on December 3, 2024, by Steve Stoessel of Niskayuna, New York. 3. submitted on November 30, 2024, by Steve Stoessel of Niskayuna, New York.
