Les Baraques Military Cemetery CWGC, Sangatte, Calais

Page updated: February 22, 2021

Les Baraques Military Cemetery CWGC

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Les Baraques Military Cemetery CWGC

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In April 1915, No.6 Base Supply Depot was started at Calais to help relieve the pressure on Boulogne and to provide a base nearer to the front than Havre or Rouen. The base remained open until the last Commonwealth forces left France in March 1921. The 30th, 35th and 38th General Hospitals, No.9 British Red Cross Hospital and No.10 Canadian Stationary Hospital were also stationed in the town providing about 2,500 beds. For three years, Commonwealth burials were made in Calais Southern Cemetery, but it later became necessary to start a new site and in September 1917, the first burials took place at Les Baraques. The cemetery continued in use until 1921. The cemetery now contains 1,303 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, together with more than 250 war graves of other nationalities, all but 2 of them German. The cemetery also contains seven Second World War burials. The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker. (From CWGC website)

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Les Baraques Military Cemetery CWGC

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Les Baraques Military Cemetery CWGC

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Les Baraques Military Cemetery CWGC

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29 January 2018

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Les Baraques Military Cemetery CWGC

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Les Baraques Military Cemetery CWGC

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29 January 2018

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Les Baraques Military Cemetery CWGC

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Les Baraques Military Cemetery CWGC

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29 January 2018

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Les Baraques Military Cemetery CWGC

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Designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

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Sir Herbert Baker.

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Les Baraques Military Cemetery CWGC

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29 January 2018

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Les Baraques Military Cemetery CWGC

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About 248 Germans are buried here as will.
Second from the left is: -
GEFR. Hermann Van Thiel, 5./IR67, +28:02:19
MUSK. Franz Risau, 1./IR66, +27:02:19.

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Les Baraques Military Cemetery CWGC

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29 January 2018

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Les Baraques Military Cemetery CWGC

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Les Baraques Military Cemetery CWGC

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29 January 2018

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Les Baraques Military Cemetery CWGC

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D. Buchan, Deck Hand. RNR. 4701/DA, H.M. Drifter "Protect", 16th March 1917 Age 46.
In loving memory of my dear husband,

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H.M. Drifter "Protect" would have looked like this and she sank on the 16th March 1917.
PROTECT, hired drifter, Adty No 1392. Built 1907, 98grt, Banff-reg BF.511. Armament: 1x3pdr AA. In service as net vessel. Mined 16.3.17 off Dover.

Les Baraques Military Cemetery CWGC

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29 January 2018

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Les Baraques Military Cemetery CWGC

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L: P.O. H. D. Dixon, Pilot, RAF, 27th May 1940. One of the few we may owe so much.
R: 536679 LDG. Aircraftman, D McL. Nimmo, Air Gunner, RAF 27th May 1940, Age 24, To live in hearts he left behind is not to die.

Leading Aircraftman D McL Nimmo and Pilot Officer H D Dixon: report of deaths; Lysander L4782 crashed at Blériot Plage, Sangatte, France, 27 May 1940. Note: With identity discs (AIR81/597).

He died on Monday, 27th May 1940, as a Pilot Officer in the RAF, 26 Squadron. On the previous night Calais had fallen into enemy hands; British forces had been besieged and had relied on air drops for re-supply. On the morning of 27 May the RAF sent aircraft to drop further supplies by air, not knowing the town had been overrun. Still unaware, more aircraft set out to drop ammunition and water into the Citadel on the western edge of Calais, in the belief that British troops were still there. Westland Lysanders from 26 Army Air Co-operation Squadron had set out across the English Channel from Lympne to conduct both reconnaissance and re-supply missions to the Citadel, but three of the squadron aircraft were shot don, With six crewmen being killed. One of the Lysanders lost was L4782 flown by Pilot Officer Herbert Dixon (pilot) and Leading Aircraftman Daniel Nimmo (air-gunner) who were conducting an armed reconnaissance. They crashed at 5:40 am near Sangatte. (From The Dover War Memorial Project)


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Lysander.

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Air Gunner.

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Pilot Officer H D Dixon.

Les Baraques Military Cemetery CWGC

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29 January 2018

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Les Baraques Military Cemetery CWGC

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Norfolk, The Kings, Sapper, RAOC, RAOC, Yorkshire, RA.

Les Baraques Military Cemetery CWGC

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29 January 2018

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Les Baraques Military Cemetery CWGC

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11031 Labourer, Hassan Moustafa, Egyptian Labour Corps, 11 September 1917.

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Egyptian Labour Corps, Boulogne 1917

Les Baraques Military Cemetery CWGC

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29 January 2018

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Les Baraques Military Cemetery CWGC

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Joseph Leng, Drowned at Audruiq, 2nd October 1919, Aged 7 years, Beloved son of Sapper & Mrs. J. Leng New Sheldon, England Suffer little children to come unto me.

I wrote that at Les Baraques, I was surprised to see a headstone for a 7 year old Joseph Leng who drowned at Audruiq (and not Audricq as wrongly spelt in that Journal) on 2nd October, 1919. Why Audruicq, and what was there? Since posing that question, I have managed to acquire an, as yet, limited understanding to answer. It would appear that the village, like many in the Pas de Calais area was a link in the logistic chain that supported the British Army in its role to prosecute the war against the Germans. Rations, fuel, clothing, medical stores, and other material, everything necessary that kept the man in the front line equipped would be stored so that it could be shipped where it was required. Audruicq was the location of a large depot for the storage of ammunition. It appears that on 20th July, 1916 during a night attack, a lone German aircraft was able to bomb the depot, and the equivalent of almost a week’s artillery shell requirements for Rawlinson’s IV Army then exploded, and were set alight. It has to be borne in mind of course that IV Army were, at that time, heavily engaged at the Battle of the Somme! Very little information appears to have been released, and the military censors were clearly hard at work in suppressing the news to prevent it reaching German ears. The German aircraft was brought down, the crew were captured and were thus in no position to report their success. Apparently there were comparatively few casualties amongst the depot’s staff, with only five deaths reported. However, a Major was duly recognised for extricating a train from the depot that was fully loaded. A published account describes a pilot flying across the Channel seeing what looked like a large thundercloud extending from Audruicq to Cap Gris Nez, while another from a nurse visiting the aftermath stated that the area was heavily cratered, so much so that the village could have fitted into those craters quite comfortably, while unexploded large calibre shells were lying wherever that they had been thrown by the explosion, and in many cases they were hot to the touch! It seems though the depot had been rebuilt by September and resumed functioning as before. So, may be there is new light on young Joseph’s tragic end, and if his life ended in a water-filled crater, his death indirectly became the sixth death that resulted from that bombing raid more than three years after its successful outcome. From CHANNEL ISLANDS GREAT WAR STUDY GROUP

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A German bombing photo after the explosion

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Plan of the railway layout.