Croonaert Chapel Cemetery
- Admin
- Aug 28
- 4 min read
Updated: 17 hours ago
This is a cemetery that is very rarely visited. Croonaert Chapel was a shrine in a hamlet on the Wytschaete-Voormezeele road, and was in No Man's Land before the Battle of Messines in June 1917. The cemetery was begun by the 19th Division Burial Officer in June 1917, and used until the following November. Two further burials were made in April 1918 and January 1919. The 51 German graves of June 1917 were removed after the Armistice.
Hollandescheschuur Farm and Cratering the Ridge – The Battle of Messines
On the 7 June 1917 the British Second Army launched its attack along the Messines Ridge with the detonation of nineteen mines comprised of one million pounds of ammonal explosive beneath the German defenders. The Battle of Messines was the most effective integration of mines with an infantry attack that was supported by an artillery barrage which stupefied the German defenders. Read more here
Memorial to Major Croppers Tunnellers
Located just off the main square in Wytschaete (now Wijtschate) is a bronze statue of a tunneller. A memorial to the men of 250 Tunnelling Company who dug the galleries for the eleven mines on this 3,000 yard front
Bayernwald
From 1915, the Germans began to use armoured concrete blocks to build shelters. There is a good example of these shelters in the preserved Bayernwald (Bavarian Wood) or Bois Quarante on British trench maps near Wytschaete. You can visit Bayernwald which is located on the hill overlooking Croonaert Chapel Cemetery. Read more about Bayernwald and the other German shelters and dugouts.
Private Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was at Bayernwald with the Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment 16. Due to the high losses suffered by the regiment at Gheluvelt at the end of October 1914, on the 1 November he was promoted to Gefreiter a rank within the Bavarian Army still within the rank of Private, although he is incorrectly ranked as a Corporal in British publications. On the 9 November he was assigned to the regimental HQ as a despatch runner. It was at this time during the latter stages of First Ypres that Hitler won the first of two iron crosses. The story goes that he may well have saved his commander’s life in the area of Bayernwald. According to one report, in an attack that was to cost 122 men, Hitler and his fellow despatch runner Anton Bachmann, saw that their commander Lieutenant Colonel Philipp Engelhardt had stepped out of the cover on the edge of the wood, Bois Quarante, and had drawn French fire. In a report, written in 1932, the former regimental adjutant Georg Eichelsdorfer, stated that Hitler and Bachmann had dramatically leapt forward to cover their commander’s body and took him back to safety. In another report published in 1915, it was four despatch runners who came to their commander’s aid and the report states that Engelhardt was not actually under fire and that the despatch runners were worried about the heavy fire he would draw. It is interesting that the 1915 report has Bachmann as the hero who crawled out 30 to 40 metres from the safety of the trench line to bring back a wounded man through French fire. Hitler, and the three other despatch runners, along with sixty men from the regiment, received their iron crosses, his was second class, on 2 December 1914.
Alias Buried Here
23127 Private Thomas Milton Mason (served as John Davies), 9th Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers, 58th Infantry Brigade, 19th Division. Killed in action 7 June 1917, age 31. Grave A.18. Son of Joseph Mason, 86 Quarella Road, Bridgend, and the late Annie Mason. He landed in France on 20 July 1915. Image source: rwfmuseum.org.uk
The 19th Division, north of the Vierstraat–Wytschaete road, attacked with two brigades into the remains of Grand Bois and Bois Quarante. Three mine explosions at Hollandescheschuur allowed the infantry to take a dangerous salient at Nag's Nose, as German survivors surrendered or retreated. The Battalion was involved in the opening attack of the Battle of Messines. Having achieved all their objectives and consolidated their position on the Black Line at Oostaverne Wood with Battalion HQ sited at Onraet Farm until 9 June. The War Diary records the Battalion casualties at 9 June were 4 Officers wounded, and 15 Other Ranks killed, 99 wounded, and 3 missing.
Location
Croonaert Chapel Cemetery is located 6 kilometres south of Ieper town centre, between the villages of Voormezele and Wijtschate. From Ieper town centre the Kemmelseweg is reached via the Rijselsestraat, through the Lille Gate (Rijselpoort), and straight on towards Armentieres (N365). 900 metres after the crossroads is the right hand turning onto the Kemmelseweg, (made prominent by a railway level crossing). Follow the Kemmelseweg to the crossroads next to the Goudezone factory. Turn left into Vierstraat and follow this road and then take the first turning left. The cemetery is along here on the left.
The cemetery was designed by W.C. Von Berg
Burials
UK – 74 (of which seven are unnamed)
Chinese Labour Corps - 1
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