MESSINES RIDGE BRITISH CEMETERY
Mesen
West-Vlaanderen
Belgium
GENERAL DIRECTIONS: From Ieper centre leave via the Lille Gate and continue directly over the crossroads with the Ieper ring road, the road name then changes to Rijselseweg (N365), follow this road to the town of Mesen, then take a right turn into Nieuwkerkestraat, the cemetery can be found a further 250m on the left.
Messines was a strong tactical position during the Great War, mainly due to its height above the plain below and the extensive system of cellars under the convent known as the Institute Royale.The village was taken from the 1st Cavalry Division by the German 26th Division on 31 October-1 November 1914, the French then unsuccessfully attempted to retake the village on 6-7 November. It was not until June 1917, the first day of the Battle of Messines that the village was finally recaptured by the New Zealand Division, the village was once again lost on 10-11 April 1918 despite a stubborn defence by the South African Brigade, it was finally retaken on 28-29 September 1918.
The cemetery stands on ground which belonged to the Institution Royale, it was made after the armistice when graves from the surrounding battlefield and a number of small cemeteries were concentrated here. Although there are burials from each year of the war, the majority of graves here are from the 1917 fighting. Within the cemetery stands the Messines Ridge (New Zealand) Memorial which commemorates over 800 soldiers of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force who died in or near Messines in 1917-1918 and have no known grave.
CASUALTY DETAILS: UK 1003; Canada 1; Australia 342; New Zealand 128 South Africa 57 ;Total burials 1531
The New Zealand Memorial
4631 Private
Henry Charles Ellis Rundle
32nd Bn. Australian Infantry,
A. I. F.
19/02/1918, aged 26.
Son of Henry and Agnes Sarah Rundle, of Wild Horse Plains, South Australia.
Plot I. B. 60.
Picture courtesy of Sharon Rundle, great-niece of this soldier
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