Core Location 5 – Langemarck German Cemetery

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Directions – From Ieper follow the D369 northwards towards Diksmuide. You’ll soon be driving along the left bank of the Yser Canal. After about 3 km turn right over the canal signposted to Pilkem and Langemarck. Carry on for about 4 km and turn left at the traffic lights in the middle of Langemarck village. The German Cemetery is just beyond the village on the left.

Practical Information – Don't be put off by the "no left turning" arrow at the traffic lights in the middle of Langemarck – this only applies to lorries over 7.5 tonnes. At the cemetery itself, there’s plenty of room to park and very few visitors. For those used to the serene atmosphere of the Commonwealth cemeteries, the mood here is very different. Trees and shrubs lend the place a gloomy feel and "sombre", "sad" and "forbidding" are just a few of the words commonly used by visitors to describe it.

Historical Notes – Langemarck village was on or near the front line for most of the war. Successfully defended by the British and French in First Ypres, it fell to the Germans in the gas attack of April 1915 only to be recaptured by the British 20th Light Division during Third Ypres together with 2,000 prisoners. Relinquished again following the German Spring Offensive in 1918, the village was finally taken by the British X Corps in September 1918. By this time not a single building was left standing – what you see of the village today has been entirely rebuilt since 1919.

The cemetery contains the remains of over 44,000 German soldiers and is the only German cemetery within the Ypres Salient. There were others but, following the Second World War, the Belgium government requested that burials from 128 small cemeteries be concentrated at Menen, Vladslo and here, at Langemarck. Most of those transferred, 25,000 in all, were reinterred in the mass grave, which confronts the visitor at the entrance. Flat stones mark the earlier burials, sometimes six or eight to a grave. At the rear of the cemetery is a statue of four mourning figures by the sculptor Emil Krieger – the sense of sadness is overwhelming.

Along the north wall are huge blockhouses, which formed part of the German defences during Third Ypres. Interestingly, when the Germans invaded Belgium again, this time successfully in May 1940, Adolf Hitler made an address to his assembled entourage from the roof of one of the blockhouses, regaling them with his experiences here as a corporal in the earlier conflict.

If you continue past the cemetery and take the next turning on your left, you will come to a memorial to the officers and men of the British 34th Division and a bunker captured by the division in September 1918. The 34th Division was composed mainly of men from the north-east of England and they fought here at Third Ypres from 13th to 23rd October 1917. The bunker was later used as an ADS by T.E. Lawrence's brother, Robert, in the final push of September 1918.

UPDATE – In 2009 a new car park and interpretative entrance shelter displaying a short film about the fighting in the area was opened.

Eyewitness Account – In his documents and reminiscences W.F. Chapman describes Langemarck following its capture by 20th "Light" Division on 16th August 1917:

"The ground was quite reasonable on top of Pilckem Ridge but by Langemarck it was terrible – just a mass of shell holes. The church was just a heap of rubble with not one brick upon another…We just hauled off dead mules from the duckboard track and shoved the bodies into shell-holes. It needed 200-men working parties to clear up the mess."