11 and 12 February 2012 mark  the 70th Anniversary of the Cross Channel Dash when half a dozen antiquated Swordfish torpedo bombers operated by 825 Naval Air Squadron were shot out of the sky by the Germans in February 1942 as they tried to stop a breakout of three enemy warships.

As part of the commemorations, Admiral Sir Ian Garnett (previous Vice Chairman of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission) will lay a wreath at the grave of Lieutenant Commander Eugene Esmonde VC, who is buried  Gillingham (Woodlands) Cemetery, Kent (Grave 187 Naval Reservation).

The Commission staff responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of Kandy War Cemetery in Sri Lanka, have recently had their work recognised by the country's Central Province Department of Agriculture.  

Kandy War Cemetery has received the award (shown in the photograph above) for its high standard of care and maintenance, as well as beautiful surroundings.  This is demonstrated in the photograph below.

Kandy War Cemetery in central Sri Lanka commemorates 196 Commonwealth casualties of the the Second World War.

As we continue our monthly walk-though of countries where the Commission has a commitment, we reach E for a second time.

This month we feature Estonia, where 15 British casualties are commemorated in two cemeteries.

The other E's where the Commission has a commitment are:

Egypt, Eritrea and Ethiopia.

The Commission's commitment in Estonia is overseen by the Director of Outer Area, based in Maidenhead (United Kingdom).

A regular soldier in the Royal Sussex Regiment, Serjeant George Hutson was one of tthe most promising British distance runner of his generation.

George Hutson was born on 22 December 1889 in Lewes, East Sussex Great Britiain and went on to run for Surrey Athletics Club, and represent Great Britain at the Stockholm Olympics in 1912, where he won a Bronze Medal in the Men's 5,000 metres.

George's Athletics career was cut short when he died in France on 14 September 1914.  He has no known grave and is commemorated on La Ferte Sous Jouarre Memorial, France,  which commemorates nearly 4,000 officers and men of the British Expeditionary Force who died in August, September & October 1914.

In the last issue of our newsletter we featured Captain Noel Chavasse VC & Bar, MC.

This prompted a response from some of our readers to contact us with additional information of their own about him. 

We are therefore taking this opportunity to provide you with some additional information on him which may be of interest.

Click the read more button below for the pictures and information.

Our aim is always to provide you with the service you require.

We would therefore be most grateful if you could give us five minutes of your time by completing our online survey.

Your comments are important to us.  Indeed over the past few months, many of you have helped us through telephone and online surveys and even focus groups, for which we are very grateful.

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In this month's Battle of the Month feature, we look at The Advance to the Hindenburg Line in February 1917.

Thanks to the Western Front Association (WFA) for providing this article. The WFA is a registered charity dedicated to perpetuating the memory of those who served in the First World War.

For further information about the WFA please visit their website>> If you enjoy reading these articles from the WFA, you may wish to join - to do so, please click here.

Click the Read More button for the full battle feature

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is proud to announce that our new website was launched on 31st January 2012.

Thank you for all your feedback which is important to us.

We are delighted to hear that so many of you like the new "look and feel" of our website, particularly the search engine. 

There remain some minor technical issues which are currently being resolved as part of the launch.  Please bear with us while we deal with these issues. Thank you

On 3rd February at 15.00 the burial of an unknown New Zealand soldier took place at Messines Ridge British Cemetery, Belgium.

The remains were discovered in a field last July alongside a New Zealand Rifle Brigade hat badge and other items

The service was also attended by Chief of Defence Force, Lieutenant General Rhys Jones, Defence Secretary John McKinnon, Mesen Mayor Sandy Evrard, and representatives from Belgian military, Flemish Foreign Affairs, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the Royal British Legion.

We don’t often receive visitors who have walked some 2,800 miles in 280 days to get to Flanders. Amazingly, that happened on the 4th February when Lord Michael Bates arrived at the Menin Gate.

Lord Bates had walked across much of Europe from Olympia in Greece to spread his campaign for the Olympic Truce between 27 July and 9 September to be respected – a true quest for peace.

Full details about Lord Bates’ Walk for Truce, including those CWGC cemeteries he visited, can be found at The Walk for Truce website.