Jan Theuninck
POLYGON WOOD
like a shrine
you lie
in the middle
of the wood
and warn
of those
who preach
peace
and make
war
©Copyright 2004 by Jan Theuninck
View of the Butte with the Australian Memorial on the top as you enter Polygon Wood
Standing directly in front of the Australian Memorial the view shows the Stone of Remembrance, the New Zealand Memorial to the Missing, and also one of the ‘rides’ in Polygon Wood beyond
Polygon Wood is a small wood which is about four miles east of Ypres. The wood was sometimes known as Racecourse Wood, as there was a track within it. Before the Great War, Polygon Wood was by the Belgian Army and within it stands a large mound, known as the Butte, which was used for musketry training. On the Butte today stands a memorial to the 5th Australian Division.
During the War, Polygon Wood was totally destroyed, and the wood was replanted after the war. There are ‘rides’ or tracks running through the wood which can be walked, and in terms of the Great War, there is a large cemetery, plus a New Zealand Memorial to the Missing as well as the Australian Memorial within the wood itself. Just outside the wood is a small original wartime cemetery. In fact, the entrances to the two sites are directly opposite on either side of the road, at the north-eastern apex of the wood.
The cemetery is quite large, and is one which was made after the Armistice. It contains the graves of many soldiers recovered some time after they had died. Thus, although there are 2,103 burials here, only 428 of these are identified. This means that over three quarters of the burials are men ‘Known Unto God’. Most of those buried here died in 1917