Boezinge (; vls, Boezienge) is a village in the municipality of Ypres in the Belgian province of West Flanders. Boezinge can be reached via the N369 road in the direction of

Diksmuide (; french: Dixmude, ; vls, Diksmude) is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of proper and the former communes of Beerst, Esen, Kaaskerke, Keiem, Lampernisse, Leke, N ...

. It was an independent municipality until 1977.

History

Boezinge was first mentioned in 1119 as Boesigha. The village was an ''

heerlijkheid A ''heerlijkheid'' (a Dutch word; pl. ''heerlijkheden''; also called ''heerschap''; Latin: ''Dominium'') was a landed estate that served as the lowest administrative and judicial unit in rural areas in the Dutch-speaking Low Countries before 1800. ...

''. Until 1556, it was part of the diocese of Terwaan. In World War I, the village belonged to the Ypres Salient, which made it the site of the Battles of Ypres between German and

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

forces. Today there are memorials and

war cemeteries A war grave is a burial place for members of the armed forces or civilians who died during military campaigns or operations. Definition The term "war grave" does not only apply to graves: ships sunk during wartime are often considered to be ...

in the area, many of which are maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. In 1970, the municipality merged with

Zuidschote Ypres ( , ; nl, Ieper ; vls, Yper; german: Ypern ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality co ...

, and in 1977, it was merged into Ypres.

Commemoration of World War I

Yorkshire Trench

In the 1990s an original British trench system ("Yorkshire Trench") was discovered by amateur archaeologists, on the site of an industrial estate near the village. Yorkshire Trench was a first line trench for about one year between summer or autumn 1916 until the summer of 1917. In spring of 1917,

173rd Tunnelling Company The 173rd Tunnelling Company was one of the tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers created by the British Army during World War I. The tunnelling units were occupied in offensive and defensive mining involving the placing and maintaining of ...

added a deep dugout to the existing trench. The completed Yorkshire Trench dugout then served as headquarters for the 13th and 16th Battalions of the Royal Welch Fusiliers at the start of the

Battle of Passchendaele The Third Battle of Ypres (german: link=no, Dritte Flandernschlacht; french: link=no, Troisième Bataille des Flandres; nl, Derde Slag om Ieper), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele (), was a campaign of the First World War, fought by t ...

later that year.Nicholas Saunders, '' Killing Time: Archaeology and the First World War'', The History Press 2007 (
see online
/ref> The BEF had decided to carry out all operations in the offensive of summer 1917 from deep dugouts. East of the Ypres Canal in the close vicinity of Yorkshire Trench there were several more dugouts, seven of which - all south and southeast of Yorkshire Trench - were finished by the 173rd or 179th Tunnelling Companies. Of these, ''Yorkshire Trench'', ''Butt 18'', ''Nile Trench'' and ''Heading Lane Dugout'' were double battalion headquarters, ''Bridge 6'' was a brigade headquarters, and'' Lancashire Farm Dugout'' contained two battalion and two brigade headquarters.Activities of The Diggers - Restoration of the Yorkshire Trench & Dug-out
, access date 10 July 2015 The condition of the ground made digging the deep dugouts extremely difficult and dangerous. Work had to be carried out silently and secretly, facing an observant enemy who was only a few hundred metres away. About 180 dugout sites have been located in the Ypres Salient and in the 1990s some of them were entered, at least in part. Yorkshire Trench was rediscovered by amateur archaeologists and systematically excavated in 1998. Although the area is now part of a large industrial estate, the location was opened to the public in 2003 Yorkshire Trench is located close to the John McCrae memorial site at Essex Farm.Boesinghe - The Forgotten Battlefield
access date 10 July 2015
access date 10 July 2015

John McCrae Memorial Site

Welsh Memorial Park

War cemeteries

Artillery Wood Cemetery Artillery Wood Cemetery, near Boezinge, Belgium, is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery from the First World War. The cemetery grounds were assigned to the United Kingdom in perpetuity by King Albert I of Belgium in recognition of the ...

, where the Welsh poet Hedd Wyn and the Irish poet

Francis Ledwidge Francis Edward Ledwidge (19 August 188731 July 1917) was a 20th-century Irish poet. From Slane, County Meath, and sometimes known as the "poet of the blackbirds", he was later also known as a First World War war poet. He befriended the establish ...

are buried * Bard Cottage Cemetery * Boezinge Churchyard war graves * Colne Valley Cemetery * Dragoon Camp Cemetery *

Duhallow ADS Cemetery Duhallow ADS (Advanced Dressing Station) Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission burial ground for the dead of the First World War located near Ypres on the Western Front in Belgium. The cemetery grounds were assigned to the United Kingd ...

* Essex Farm Cemetery * La Belle Alliance Cemetery * No Man's Cot Cemetery *

Talana Farm Cemetery Talana is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Nuoro, Sardinia, Italy. The town is located above a valley, at an elevation of almost . The area has been occupied since the Bronze Age, with many nuraghes nearby. It was part of the Giudic ...

Welsh Cemetery (Caesar's Nose) Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic p ...

The Castle of Boezinge (Boesinghe)

The estate was destroyed during the first world war in July 1917 and rebuilt after the war. In the private park lies a British command post.

References

External links

{{Authority control Ypres Populated places in West Flanders