Poperinge, West-Vlaanderen
Nine Elms British Cemetery is located west of Poperinge on the Helleketelweg, a road leading from the N33 Poperinge ring road. From Ieper follow the signs to Poperinge. At the traffic lights at the end of the expressway turn left onto the Poperinge ring road, the Europalaan. Follow the ring road to the roundabout and take the second exit. At the next roundabout take the second exit, follow the ring road and take the first turning on the left, the Helleketelweg. The cemetery is along here on the left.
The cemetery was first used from September to December 1917 for burials from the 3rd Australian and 44th Casualty Clearing Stations, which had been moved to Poperinghe (now Poperinge) in preparation for the 1917 Battle of Ypres. The cemetery was used again by fighting units between March and October 1918, the period of the German offensive in Flanders. The cemetery contains 1,556 Commonwealth burials of the First World War and 37 German war graves from this period. There are also 22 Second World War burials in the cemetery, all dating from the Allied retreat to Dunkirk in 1940. The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.
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