Ridge Wood Military Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery - Foundation

Foundation

The cemetery was established in May 1915 for front line troops defending the area. The cemetery was used by the Royal Irish Rifles, the Durham Light Infantry and Canadian battalions.

The cemetery is in a dip behind a ridge that was the site of a wood. In the Spring Offensive of 1918, German forces pushed the front line on to the ridge, being moved back in July, before being swept away completely later in the year during the Hundred Days Offensive by the 6th and 33rd Divisions.

Of the 621 burials at the site, 292 are from Canada, 280 from the United Kingdom, 44 from Australia and 3 from New Zealand, in addition to two from Germany. The cemetery previously contained graves of a number of French soldiers, but these were concentrated elsewhere later.

The cemetery was designed by British architect Sir Edwin Lutyens.

Read more about this topic:  Ridge Wood Military Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery

Famous quotes containing the word foundation:

    “The foundation of empire is art & science. Remove them or degrade them, & the empire is no more. Empire follows art & not vice versa as Englishmen suppose.”
    —William Blake (1757–1827)

    “[The Settlement House] must be grounded in a philosophy whose foundation is on the solidarity of the human race, a philosophy which will not waver when the race happens to be represented by a drunken woman or an idiot boy.”
    —Jane Addams (1860–1935)

    “A face is too slight a foundation for happiness.”
    —Mary Wortley, Lady Montagu (1689–1762)