Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery

Geschiedenis

Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) burial ground for the dead of the First World War in the Ypres Salient on the Western Front. After Tyne Cot, it is the second largest cemetery for Commonwealth forces in Belgium. Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery is located near Poperinge in the province of West Flanders. Most of those buried in the cemetery are war casualties who had been wounded near Ypres and later died in the four large Allied casualty clearing stations located in this area.HistoryDuring the First World War, the village of Lijssenthoek was situated on the main communication line between the Allied military bases and the Ypres battlefields. Because of its location close to the Ypres frontline, but out of the range of most German field artillery, Lijssenthoek was chosen as the site of Allied casualty clearing stations. A farm called Remi Quaghebeur became the centre point at Lijssenthoek around which a number of field hospitals were established. During the war, the location was also known as Remy Farm, and many structures in the vicinity were used for medical purposes. Farm buildings also stood just north-west of the modern-day cemetery, and this site was known as Corfu Farm during the war. Rail tracks were constructed from the main railway line to enable ambulance trains to bring Allied wounded into these medical units from Poperinge and to take them from there on to the large military hospitals on the French coast.