Oosttaverne Wood Cemetery

Oosttaverne Wood Cemetery is a British war cemetery located roughly 6 kilometres south of the centre of Ypres (Ieper), on the N336 road connecting Ieper to Lille, within the municipality of Heuvelland close to the village of Wijtschate (Wytschaete). The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, one of the principal architects commissioned by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) after the First World War.

Where does the name come from and what happened here?

The cemetery takes its name from the nearby Oosttaverne Wood and from the so-called Oosttaverne Line, a German defensive work running north to south from the River Lys to the Comines Canal, passing just east of the village of Oosttaverne. This line was captured on 7 June 1917, the first day of the Battle of Messines, one of the significant operations on the Western Front that year. The village and the surrounding wood were taken by the British 19th (Western) Division and the 11th Division.

How was the cemetery formed?

Immediately after the ground was taken, the IX Corps Burial Officer established two cemeteries on the site, designated No 1 and No 2. These were used until September 1917, covering the continued fighting in the Ypres sector. These original plots now form part of Plot I, II and III of the present-day cemetery.

The cemetery reached its final form only after the Armistice, when, as part of the post-war concentration of graves, remains were brought in from surrounding battlefields — including a substantial number from Hill 60, one of the bloodiest points of the fighting around Ypres — as well as from German cemeteries located in the area.

How many burials are here?

The cemetery contains 1,119 First World War burials in total, of which 783 are unidentified — a particularly high proportion even by the standards of cemeteries from this period, reflecting the chaos and destructive scale of the fighting around Ypres. Also scattered among the graves are 117 burials from the Second World War, five of them unidentified.

Can visitors access the cemetery?

Yes, the cemetery is permanently open and can be visited at any time. It sits in a quiet, rural corner of West Flanders, close to other sites of remembrance connected with the Battle of Messines, making it a natural stop on a battlefield tour of the wider Ypres Salient.

Frequently asked questions

Who designed Oosttaverne Wood Cemetery? The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, a British architect responsible for numerous Commonwealth war cemeteries and memorials built after the First World War.

Which battle is most of the cemetery connected to? Most burials are connected to the Battle of Messines in June 1917 and the fighting that continued in the sector until September 1917, though many graves were brought in after the war from other battlefields, including Hill 60.

Why are so many graves unidentified? Of the 1,119 First World War burials, 783 belong to unknown soldiers — a result of intense artillery bombardment and repeated changes of hands over the ground, which made identifying the fallen extremely difficult.

Are there also Second World War graves at the cemetery? Yes, alongside the 1917 burials the cemetery contains 117 graves of soldiers who died during the Second World War, five of which remain unidentified.