Wimereux Communal Cemetery, Wimereux, Pas de Calais, France

WIMEREUX COMMUNAL CEMETERY

Wimereux

Pas de Calais

France

General Directions: Wimereux is a small town situated about 5 kilometres north of Boulogne. From Boulogne take the A16 to Calais and come off at Junction 4. Take the road to Wimereux north, D242, for approximately 2 kilometres, following the road through the roundabout. Take the first turn on the left immediately after the roundabout and the Cemetery lies approximately 200 metres down this road on the left hand side. The Commonwealth War Graves are situated to the rear of the Communal Cemetery.

Wimereux was the headquarters of the Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps during the First World War and in 1919 it became the General Headquarters of the British Army. From October 1914 onwards, Boulogne and Wimereux formed an important hospital centre and until June 1918, the medical units at Wimereux used the communal cemetery for burials, the south-eastern half having been set aside for Commonwealth graves, although a few burial were also made among the civilian graves. By June 1918, this half of the cemetery was filled, and subsequent burials from the hospitals at Wimereux were made in the new military cemetery at Terlincthun.

Casualty Details: UK 2330, Canada 220, Australia 208, New Zealand 79, South Africa 10, Germany 170, Total Burials: 3017

Further Information: This cemetery is also the burial place of the Canadian medical officer, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, who in 1915 wrote the famous poem "In Flanders Fields"

View 1920's Image of this cemetery