The Buttes New British Cemetery (New Zealand) Memorial is a World War I memorial, located in Buttes New British Cemetery, near the town of

Zonnebeke Zonnebeke (; vls, Zunnebeke) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the villages of , , Passendale, Zandvoorde and Zonnebeke proper. On January 1, 2006, Zonnebeke had a total population of ...

, Belgium. It commemorates 378 officers and men of the New Zealand Division who were killed in the vicinity and have no known grave.

History

The Polygon Wood Sector was part of the

Ypres Salient The Ypres Salient around Ypres in Belgium was the scene of several battles and an extremely important part of the Western front during the First World War. Ypres district Ypres lies at the junction of the Ypres–Comines Canal and the Ieperlee ...

and the scene of heavy fighting for most of the war. It was originally held by the Allied forces but lost to the Germans in 1915. It was recaptured in September 1917 by the

Australian 5th Division The 5th Division was an infantry division of the Australian Army which served during the First and Second World Wars. The division was formed in February 1916 as part of the expansion of the Australian Imperial Force infantry brigades. In add ...

.Gray, 2010, pp. 170–171 After the

First Battle of Passchendaele The First Battle of Passchendaele took place on 12 October 1917 during the First World War, in the Ypres Salient in Belgium on the Western Front. The attack was part of the Third Battle of Ypres and was fought west of Passchendaele village. Th ...

(12 October), soldiers of the

New Zealand Division The New Zealand Division was an infantry division of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force raised for service in the First World War. It was formed in Egypt in early 1916 when the New Zealand and Australian Division was renamed after the detachmen ...

wintered in the area until February 1918, when they were sent to a rest area, before being transferred to the Somme during the German spring offensive.McGibbon, 2001, p. 3 Consequently, many of those killed in action or who died of their wounds during this period were buried in the vicinity. After the war, over 2,000 of the Allied soldiers buried around Polygon Wood in wartime graves were re-interred in Buttes New British Cemetery, located in the north-eastern corner of Polygon Wood.Buttes New British Cemetery (New Zealand) Memorial
Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 18 September 2014

The Memorial

The New Zealand Memorial to the Missing, designed by the English architect

Charles Holden Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

, lists 378 officers and men of the New Zealand Division with no known grave who were killed between September 1917 and May 1918 while serving in the Polygon Wood Sector or in the

Battle of Polygon Wood The Battle of Polygon Wood took place from 26 September to 3 October 1917, during the second phase of the Third Battle of Ypres in the First World War. The battle was fought near Ypres in Belgium, in the area from the Menin road to Polygon Woo ...

. Most of those commemorated were from the Otago Regiment. It is one of seven such memorials on the Western Front to the missing dead from New Zealand. There are three in Belgium: Buttes plus Messines Ridge British Cemetery and

Tyne Cot Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and Memorial to the Missing is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) burial ground for the dead of the First World War in the Ypres Salient on the Western Front. It is the largest cemetery for Common ...

and four in France: Caterpillar Valley Cemetery (in

Longueval Longueval () is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography Longueval is located northwest of Amiens on the D919 road, at the junction with the D8. Longueval is found in the north-east of the départeme ...

Grévillers Grévillers is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography Grévillers is a farming village situated west of Bapaume and south of Arras. Population Places of interest * The church of Notre- ...

Cité Bonjean Cité may refer to: Places * Cité (Paris Métro), the metro station on the ''Île de la Cité'' * Cité (Quebec), type of municipality in Quebec * Citadel, the historical centre of an old city, originally fortified * Housing estate A hous ...

(near Armentières) and Marfaux. Other memorials and cemeteries in the area, related to the Battle of Polygon Wood, are a memorial to the Australian 5th Division and the Polygon Wood Cemetery.Polygon Wood Cemetery
Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 18 September 2014

Notes

References

* *

External links

Commonwealth War Graves Commission details of the Memorial

New Zealand Memorial Polygon Wood
(Belgian heritage register)
Catalogue entry for the Memorial register
(National Library of Australia)
Photograph of the memorial
(CWGC)
YouTube video of Polygon Wood
* {{Find a Grave cemetery British military memorials and cemeteries Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorials World War I memorials in Belgium World War I cemeteries in Belgium New Zealand military memorials and cemeteries Charles Holden buildings