Artillery Wood

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Artillery Wood Cemetery, near Boezinge is a First World War (1914-1918) cemetery in Belgium. It is the location of the 1917 National Eisteddfod winning Welsh Poet, Hedd Wyn's grave.

Boezinge is located north of the town of Ieper on the N369 road in the direction of Diksmuide. The Cemetery is located in the Poezelstraat, east of the village.

[edit] Historical Information

Until July 1917, the village of Boesinghe (now Boezinge) directly faced the German front line over the Yser canal, but at the end of that month, the Battle of Pilckem Ridge pushed the German line back and Artillery Wood, just east of the canal, was captured by the Guards Division.

They began the cemetery just north of the wood when the fighting was over and it continued as a front line cemetery until March 1918.

At the time of the Armistice, the cemetery contained 141 graves, but it was then greatly enlarged when graves were brought in from the battlefields and small burial grounds around Boesinghe.

There are now 1,307 First World War casualties buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 506 of the burials are unidentified but special memorials commemorate 12 casualties known or believed to be buried among them.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.