This site was in no man’s land until 31 July 1917. During the first day of Third Battle of Ypres, the 15th (Scottish) and the 55th (West Lancashire) Divisions captured Verlorenhoek and Frezenberg. The cemetery was begun by the 15th (Scottish) and 16th (Irish) Divisions on 1 August as the New Cemetery, Frezenberg. It was renamed Aeroplane Cemetery on account of a wreck of a British aeroplane being near the site of the Cross of Sacrifice that we see today. (X marks the spot!)
Cemeteries concentrated here were:
Bedford House Cemetery (Enclosure No.2), Zillibeke – east of the Ypres – Wytschate Road. It contained fourteen graves from the 1st Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry and six men from the 1st Devonshires who were killed in April 1915. It was separate from the others that now form Bedford House Cemetery.
Lock 8 Cemetery, Voormezeele – This was in a field 200m to the north of Lock 8 on the Ypres – Comines canal. It had nineteen British, two Australian and two German graves killed between July to September 1917.
Shot at Dawn Graves
Five men from the 3rd Worcesters, 7th Brigade, 3 Division who had deserted in late 1914 and early 1915 were shot at dawn. Three, Private John Robinson, Private Alfred D Thomson, and Private Bert Hartells are buried here. They had originally, along with Corporal Ives and Private Fellows, been buried in the Ramparts Cemetery but had been moved here. Ives and Fellows were moved to Perth (China Wall) Cemetery.
Read more on the Shot at Dawn in Aeroplane Cemetery here
Cemetery location
The cemetery is located on the south side of the Potijze – Zonnebeke road and 1.2km from the roundabout in Potijze. The French cemetery is located nearby.
FALKIRK DISTRICT MEN BURIED HERE
Muiravonside
17897 Pte Thomas Adam
12th Battalion Highland Light Infantry
Age 21
30/9/1918
VII.A.21
Links to the area
3080 L/Cpl John Bryson Dunsmuir
Battn 56th Battalion, Australian Infantry
Age 31
26.9.17
VI.B.39
Native of Grangemouth
Burials:
UK – 825
Australian – 204
New Zealand – 17
Canadian – 47
Newfoundland – 1
South African – 1
Known unto God – 1
Unnamed - 637
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