The Western Front Today - Spoilbank Cemetery
Spoilbank Cemetery, close to Zillebeke and 4.5km south-east of Ypres, contains 426 U.K. burials plus 67 Australian, 16 Canadian and 125 unknown graves. There are 11 special memorials in the cemetery. Two brothers are buried side by side, both killed on 17 February 1915: Second Lieutenant G Keating and Lieutenant J Keating.
Spoilbank Cemetery has also been variously referred to as Chester Farm Lower Cemetery and Gordon Terrace Cemetery. It was established in February 1915 and remained in use by troops in the area until March 1918. Many of the burials are of men killed while defending the 'Bluff' during the first months of 1916; it was subsequently enlarged after the war.
References:
Before Endeavours Fade, Rose E.B. Coombs, After the Battle 1994
Major & Mrs Holt's Battlefield Guide - Ypres Salient, Leo Cooper 2000
The "Red Baron" was the allied nickname for German air ace Manfred von Richthofen, the leading ace of the war.
- Did you know?
