Hooge Crater Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery
| Hooge Crater | |
|---|---|
| Commonwealth War Graves Commission | |
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| Used for those deceased 1917–1918 | |
| Established | October 1917 |
| Location |
50°50′47″N 2°56′36″E / 50.84639°N 2.94333°ECoordinates: 50°50′47″N 2°56′36″E / 50.84639°N 2.94333°E near Ieper, West Flanders, Belgium |
| Designed by | Sir Edwin Lutyens |
| Total burials | 5924 |
| Unknown burials | 3578 |
| Burials by nation | |
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| Burials by war | |
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World War I: 5924
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| Statistics source: Battlefields1418.50megs.com | |
Hooge Crater Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission burial ground for the dead of the First World War located in the Ypres Salient in Belgium on the Western Front. Hooge Crater Cemetery is named after a mine crater blown nearby in 1915 (since filled in, see below) and located near the centre of Hooge, opposite the "Hooge Crater Museum" (founded in 1994) and separated from it by the Menin Road. Hooge itself is a small village on the Bellewaerde Ridge, about 4 kilometres east of Ypres in the Flemish province of West-Vlaanderen.
In World War I, the Flanders village of Hooge belonged to one of the eastern-most sectors of the Ypres Salient, which made it the site of intense and sustained fighting between German and Allied forces. From 1914 the front line of the Salient ran through the Hooge area and there was almost constant fighting in the area over the next three years, during which the village was totally destroyed.
Hooge was the site of a château which was used by the British Army as the divisional headquarters for the area. Several senior British officers from the 1st and 2nd Divisions were killed when the Château de Hooge was shelled by German units on 31 October 1914.German forces attacked the château from 24 May 1915, and, despite the detonation of a mine by the 175th Tunnelling Company (operating with the 3rd Division) on 19 July 1915, leaving a massive crater, took control of the château and the surrounding area on 30 July. This mine was only the second British offensive underground attack in the Ypres Salient; 173rd Tunnelling Company had blown five mines at Hill 60 on 17 April 1915, but none of these mines were even half as powerful as the Hooge charge. Following the detonation of the mine on 19 July 1915, the Château de Hooge and the craters (being strategically important in relatively flat countryside) were taken by the British 6th Division on 9 August.
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