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OFFICIAL
POST OPERATION REPORT
Weekend
Patrol of Bruges and the Ypres Salient
10
August 2002 (cont.) |
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Arrive Polygon wood. Initially inspect a small haphazard graveyard where it seems soldiers were buried roughly where the fell after the battle.
We then cross the lane and walk through the forest that contains the Australian 5th Division Memorial: an obelisk on a bank of earth overlooking a graveyard containing 564 Australian
soldiers; 407 of which are unidentified. |
Click on any image
for a larger version |
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CPL Dermody gives us a very thorough briefing of Australian actions in the area including hand-outs produced in PowerPoint.
These described The Battle of Polygon Wood on 26 September
1917 which involved the Australian 4th and 5th Divisions and
five British Divisions. |
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During this battle, the 5th Division suffered
5471 casualties out of a division strength of approximately
10,000.
His presentation also includes
the story of Pte
Patrick Bugden VC.
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He points out to us that the bank of earth that
the memorial sits dates from when the site was used by the
Belgian Army as a rifle range prior to the war. |
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[Saturday
10 August cont.] or [Back] |
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