Haringe

This is Haringhe Military Cemetery, known to the British troops as Bandagem: a humorous contraction of the words 'bandage them', made to sound like a Flemish place name. During the war there were two casualty clearing stations - large scale medical facilities behind the lines - here at Haringhe. There were similar units at Mendighem (Mending them) and Dozinghem (Dosing them).

Haringe was far enough behind the front to be relatively safe from shellfire. However, bombs dropped from aeroplanes remained a constant threat. The village was also one of the places closest to the front where civilians were allowed to stay. One of those civilians was Karel Balduck - and his story is remarkable one (as you will shortly read).

The cemetery was created in 1917 during the Third Battle of Ieper. Most of the burials date from the autumn of that year and from the German Spring Offensive of 1918. Other burials from the surrounding area were brought here after the war. The French graves were later removed for repatriation or reburial elsewhere. In total, 811 soldiers from the First World War and 5 from the Second World War are now commemorated in Haringe. In addition to the Commonwealth casualties, 38 Germans, 4 members of the Chinese Labour Corps and 1 French civilian are also buried here.

On 30 April 1918 an ammunition train caught fire in an ammunition depot near Haringe. Five soldiers managed to attach a locomotive to the train and pulled it out of the depot before it exploded. This saved many lives, but three of the five soldiers were killed in the blast. They are now buried in plot III, row D, graves 31, 32 and 33.

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