Polygon Wood

Polygon Wood was already in use before the war as a training ground for units of the Belgian Army stationed in Ieper. The 'hill' that now stands in Buttes New British Cemetery is, as the name implies, a rifle butte, where the soldiers practiced their marksmanship. The butte stopped the bullets that passed through the practice targets. The wood and its 'hill' were of strategic important during the war, and changed hands several times.

From 1915 onwards the wood was in German possession. In its relative shelter they installed anti-aircraft guns, barracks, underground passageways, a command post and a pioneer park. From May 1915 they also buried their dead here in the ‘Kriegsfriedhof Am Polygonenwald’ (Polygon Wood War Cemetery). This cemetery was cleared in 1955 and the graves moved elsewhere.

There are still two Commonwealth war cemeteries in the woods.

Polygon Wood Cemetery was started by Australian troops in 1917, and later used by Scottish and New Zealand units serving in the area. Buttes New British Cemetery was started after the war, to accommodate the many dead from the battlefields around Zonnebeke.

Vl. Toeristisch bezienswaardigheden