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!)
6183 Private Thomas Henry O’Donnell, 50th Battalion, 13th Australian Infantry Brigade, 4th Australian Division. Killed in action 28 September 1917, age 27. Grave Special Memorial No.4 Believed To Be Buried in this Cemetery. Son of Thomas Henry and Elizabeth Mary O'Donnell. Native of Tullow, Co. Carlow, Ireland. He was employed as a bank clerk in Angaston, Barossa, South Australia, before he enlisted on 29 September 1916. His twin brother Corporal John Patrick also enlisted earlier than his twin and served in the 10th Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Australian Division. Both brothers served in Gallipoli and on the Western Front and it is believed that they met briefly in France in 1917. In 1918, while he was recovering from a wound in Netley Hospital near Portsmouth, John wrote a poem to his brother ‘To Tom’ John survived the war and had a selection of war poems published under the title ‘Songs of an Anzac’. Thomas was killed during 4th Divisions attack towards the southern outskirts of Zonnebeke. The 50th Battalion leading the attack across an area known as Albania valley towards Tokio Spur an advance of approximately 1200 yards.
Lieutenant The Honourable Albert Edward Keppel, Mentioned in Despatches. 2nd Battalion Rifle Brigade, 25th Brigade, 8th Division. Killed in action 31 July 1917, age 19. Grave II.C.50. The youngest of four sons of The Earl of Albemarle and of Lady Gertrude, Countess of Albemarle, Quidenham, Norfolk. On the night of 30/31 July the Battalion moved up from Lock 9 to Half Way House located N.E. of Zillebeke in preparation for the attack on 31 July. Albert was killed in the attack and in a letter to his parents his commanding officer wrote: ‘He was perfectly splendid in the attack, and was killed aby a rifle bullet whilst running forward with a Lewis gun… His body is, I am afraid, up to the present not yet buried, as, after a swaying fight, the ground where he fell changed hands.’ A fellow officer wrote that ‘he was last seen chasing a German through some undergrowth, where he was killed either by machine-gun or a sniper…’ Originally listed as ‘unknown British soldier’ his body was exhumed from Lock 8 cemetery, this was in a field 200m to the north of Lock 8 on the Ypres – Comines canal, and was reburied at Aeroplane Cemetery. He was identified from his identity disc.
Lieutenant Stanley Knight Bates, 1/5th King’s Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment), 83rd Infantry Brigade, 28th Division. Killed in action 9 May 1915, age 17. Grave II.B.41. Son of Lieutenant Colonel John Henry Bates, T.D., 1/5th Bn. King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment), and Sarah Eleanor Bates, Fir Bank, Penrith, Cumberland. He was Gazetted on 10th August 1914, from Royal Lancaster Grammar School Cadet Corps and was said to be the youngest Lieutenant in the British Army. The 1/5th Battalion was a Territorial battalion. At the time of Stanley’s death, his father who was also the manager of the Bank of Liverpool in Penrith, and who was also a Major at the time and second-in-command of the Battalion, had been invalided back to the UK for an operation on his ear as a result of shell fire. The Battalion was engaged in what the British termed the Second Battle of Ypres, the German attack that opened with the gas attack at Langemark on 22 April. On the 8 May they were in the line supporting the 3rd Monmouthshire Regiment at Frezenberg Ridge which was under heavy shell fire which had blown in their trenches, and a German infantry attack that had taken their front line trenches and were now attacking the support trenches. The Battalion went forward in support and helped to hold the line. They subsequently had to with draw to Potijze. Stanley’s death, unlike that of other officers, is not recorded in the War Diary however, it was reported in the local paper on 22nd May with the headline ‘SHOT THROUGH THE NECK’. His body was buried in a battlefield grave and exhumed and reburied at Aeroplane Cemetery.
1617 Private John Alexander Batey, 1/9th Durham Light Infantry, 151 Infantry Brigade, 50th Division. Killed in action 12 May 1915, age 17. Grave VIII.A.14. Son of Robert and Francis Batey, 23 Peel Street, Southbank, Yorks. Clearly John, like many others, lied about his age. During, what the British termed the Second Battle of Ypres, the Germans had utilised gas as a weapon for the first time on the Western Front. This had resulted in them breaking through the French lines to the north of the Salient. As they also made gains against the British lines and with pressure now building and British casualties now at 60,000, the British began a phased withdrawal to shorten the line and reduce the size of the Salient. They withdrew to a line Wieltje-Klein-Zillebeke known as the GHQ line. On the 12 May the Germans did not make any infantry attacks but restricted their activity to shelling the British line. The Battalion was in the GHQ line and under heavy shell fire and the War Diary recorded 4 killed and 19 wounded.
Boy Soldiers
In the Ypres Salient, we are drawn to the graves of 6322 Private John Condon, 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Regiment, killed in action in May 1915, age 14 and the youngest known battle casualty of the war, although this is now questioned, and the grave of 5750 Valentine Strudwick, 8th Rifle Brigade, killed in action in January 1916, age 15. Strudwicks grave attracts a great deal of attention because of its location at Essex Farm and that locations association with Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae and the poem ‘In Flanders Fields.’ There are many more ‘Boy Soldiers’ buried across the Salient and who are not remembered and these include three from Falkirk District Private William Jamieson, age 17, https://www.theypressalient.com/post/william-jamieson Private James Duchart, age 16, https://www.theypressalient.com/post/james-duchart and Private Herbert Richmond, age 17, https://www.theypressalient.com/post/herbert-richmond There were many reasons why underage boys enlisted in 1914 and 1915 boredom with their jobs, looking for adventure, and escaping family pressures. The checks on age and qualification to enlist were more relaxed than later in the war. The army preferred younger recruits, there was a history of boy soldiers in the army going back over one hundred years. At Waterloo the army had a number of boy soldiers in their ranks. The army preferred younger recruits as they would follow orders and accept discipline more readily than older men. The boys had a belief in their own indestructibility and were prepared to take more risks. We tend to also forget the number of boys who served in the Royal Navy and we do not seem to have the same passionate response to their service as we do those who fought on the Western Front. With regards to the army, the difference was the sheer number who served on the Western Front and there were more boy soldiers in 1915 than served in Wellington’s army at Waterloo. For further reading on this subject I recommend Richard Van Emden’s excellent book Boy Soldiers of the Great War.
Major John Alonzo Cox DSO, Mentioned in Despatches, 1st Highland Cyclist Battalion attached 12th Battalion Highland Light Infantry, 106th Infantry Brigade, 35th Division. Killed in Action 29 September 1918, age 31. Grave VII.A.22. He was born in Teignmouth , Devon and was the son of Benjamin John and Lydia Cox, 29 Regent Street., Gloucester. He was educated at Orchard Gardens Private School in Teignmouth and then at the University of Glasgow where he also joined the Officer Training Corps. He was manager of the Kirkcaldy Branch of Messrs John Connel & Son, shipping agents. He enlisted in the Territorials on 31 October 1911 and was promoted to Lieutenant in January 1912 and further promoted to Captain in February 1913. In 1915 the 3/1st Highland Cycle Battalion was formed in Kirkcaldy and he was an acting Captain. The unit was disbanded in 1916 and the personnel drafted to other units. He was drafted to France as an officer replacement. He was sent back to the UK in December 1916 suffering from dysentery and was on sick leave until February 1917. He was second in command from 2 February 1918 and commanded the Battalion for the period 15 to 21 March 1918. From 17 May 1918 to 24 June 1918 he attended a course at Aldershot and returned to the Battalion on 14 July. He was awarded the DSO ‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty when the enemy raided our outposts with mounted patrols and cyclists. During the confusion, he, with another officer and a few men, put up desperate hand-to-hand combat with the raiders and so allowed time for the company to rally and show a united front. His quickness of perception and courage have been of the greatest assistance to his C.O. on many critical occasions.’. He was killed by shell fire on 29 September 1918 with the battalion in the line and about to advance on Zandvoorde in support of the 105th Infantry Brigade. His body was buried in a battlefield grave and reburied at Aeroplane Cemetery.
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. This would be the largest execution that the British Army would carry out and the army’s theory that a single soldier should be executed as an example had absolutely no bearing. 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
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
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.
The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.
Cemeteries concentrated here were:
Bedford House Cemetery (Enclosure No.2), Zillibeke – east of the Ypres – Wytschaete 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 of men killed between July to September 1917.
Burials:
UK – 825
Australian – 204
New Zealand – 17
Canadian – 47
Newfoundland – 1
South African – 1
Known unto God – 638
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