WW1 Cemeteries on the Yser/IJzer Battlefields & Belgian Coast, Belgium

This Belgian military cemetery contains the remains of 1,647 identified and two unidentified Belgian servicemen. It is situated in Adinkerke on the Heldenweg to the west of the church. The cemetery was laid out as an extension to the churchyard. Most of the casualties buried here died as a result of wounds in the Belgian military hospital at De Panne.

Open daily from sunrise to sunset.

There are 67 identified British servicemen buried in the Belgian military cemetery located to the west of the church in Adinkerke village. The graves are laid out in two small plots, one close to the entrance to the cemetery and the other at the far end of the cemetery. All but 8 of these British casualties died in July 1917.

For further information about the British and Commonwealth War Graves in this cemetery visit the website of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission:

Website: www.cwgc.org

The cemetery contains 218 identified burials from the First and Second World Wars. It is located south of the village of Adinkerke in the locality of De Panne. The cemetery lies just to the south of the Dunkirk-Veurne-Nieuwpoort canal.

There are 168 Commonwealth graves for First World War servicemen. The graves date from the period of June - November 1917 when the XV Corps of the British Army was holding the line here. Two British Casualty Clearing Stations were located during that time at Oosthoek between Adinkerke and Veurne (Furnes): 24th C.C.S. and 39th C.C.S. The 1st Canadian C.C.S. was stationed at Adinkerke village in June 1917.

There are 55 British and Commonwealth graves from the Second World War in the cemetery.

There are 142 Czech and German military graves.

For further information about the British and Commonwealth War Graves in this cemetery visit the website of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission:

Website: www.cwgc.org

The civilian cemetery on the Kleine Kerkhofstraat, Brugge-Assebroek, contains 611 military graves from the First and the Second World Wars.

Of the First World War graves 520 are Belgian soldiers buried here, of whom 509 are identified. Almost all the Belgian casualties died in the area during the push for victory (Bevrijdingsoffensiev) in October and November 1918. Some casualties died of wounds here after the Armistice.

There is one British WW1 burial in the Belgian plot. He is Corporal Lambert Robinson, no. 313798, of 202nd Squadron, Royal Air Force. He died in Brugge after the end of the war on 14 February 1919.

During the 1914-1918 occupation of Brugge there were 807 German military graves originally located in this cemetery. It was named Brugge-Steenbrugge. After the Second World War all the German graves were removed to Vladslo German military cemetery. A German memorial has been left in the cemetery.

Access is during the normal opening hours of the cemetery.

For further information about the British grave in this cemetery visit the website of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission:

Website: www.cwgc.org

A Commonwealth War Graves plot for British servicemen is located in the Belgian civilian cemetery on the Kleine Kerkhofstraat, Brugge-Assebroek, in the south-east of Brugge.

81 of the British burials are Second World War casualties and there is one Dutch war grave in the plot. Many of the British servicemen who died were killed as part of the defence of Belgium after the German Army invaded Belgium in May 1940. Others were shot down or crashed during Royal Air Force missions to Germany.

Access is during the normal opening hours of the cemetery.

For further information about the British and Commonwealth War Graves in this cemetery visit the website of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission:

Website: www.cwgc.org

The cemetery contains 1631 identified burials, of which 1507 are from the First World War. The cemetery was designed by Edwin Lutyens.

For further information about the British and Commonwealth War Graves in this cemetery visit the website of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission:

Website: www.cwgc.org

This Belgian Military cemetery is located on the south-eastern outskirts of De Panne. It forms an extension to the communal civilian cemetery and contains the remains of 3,748 Belgian military burials. It is the largest Belgian Military cemetery. Many of the casualties buried here were brought to this cemetery from outlying cemeteries and small burial sites in the area.

Access is available during normal cemetery opening hours.

Of the 259 burials and commemorations in this cemetery there are two First World War burials. All the others are Second World War casualties and almost all died during the defence by the British Expeditionary Force against the German advance at end of May to early June 1940.

The two First World War burials are to be found in Block F of the civilian section in the French communal cemetery. These graves are close to the entrance to the Belgian Military plot which is an extension of this communal cemetery. One burial is unidentified but known to be a man from HMS Hughli. The other casualty is John Cain aged 50, Assistant Cook of the Mercantile Marine HMS Hughli, whose death was from drowning on 26 April 1919. HMS Hughli was a salvage ship of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. On 26 April 1919 she exploded when she was off the Belgian coast and she sank with the loss of 19 crew.⁽¹⁾

Access is available during normal cemetery opening hours.

For further information about the two British graves in this cemetery visit the website of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission:

Website: www.cwgc.org

Acknowledgements

⁽¹⁾ Loss of HMS Hughli: historicalrfa.org

20 Commonwealth First World War casualties are buried in the Belgian military cemetery.

For further information about the British and Commonwealth War Graves in this cemetery visit the website of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission:

Website: www.cwgc.org

70 British First World War servicmen are buried in the Commonwealth War Graves plot in Nieuwpoort Communal Cemetery. The cemetery is located on the N367 Brugsesteenweg the eastern outskirts of the town.

The German Army launched an attack on the Allied line at Nieuwpoort and most of the burials date from the months of June to August 1917.

31 Second World War burials in a separate plot include four unidentified servicemen. These casualties were killed serving with the British Expeditionary Force in May and June 1940 during the defence of Belgium and the withdrawal of the BEF to Dunkirk.

Open daily from sunrise to sunset.

For further information about the British and Commonwealth War Graves in this cemetery visit the website of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission:

Website: www.cwgc.org

There are 643 First World War Belgian military casualties buried here, of whom 232 are identified. Burials and casualties discovered in the battlefield area after the war and the reclamation of the flooded land here were reburied in this cemetery.

There are 841 First World War casualties buried here, of whom 312 are unidentified. Many of the casualties were killed during June to November 1917 when the British XV Corps was located here.

For further information about the British and Commonwealth War Graves in this cemetery visit the website of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission:

Website: www.cwgc.org

The cemetery is located on the south side of Stuiverstraat in Oostende. The Commonwealth War Graves plots are situated towards the rear of the cemetery on the right side of the central path. There are 349 identified British and Commonwealth casualties buried in this communal cemtery.

There are 50 burials from the First World War.

366 burials are for casualties from the Second World War. There are 8 non-military graves and 8 graves for soldiers of other nationalities included in the plots.

For further information about the British and Commonwealth War Graves in this cemetery visit the website of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission:

Website: www.cwgc.org

There are 30 identified British First World War casualties buried in the Belgian military cemetery. Over 500 Belgian soldiers are buried in the cemetery.

Open daily from sunrise to sunset.

For further information about the British and Commonwealth War Graves in this cemetery visit the website of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission:

Website: www.cwgc.org

There are 69 identified casualties buried in this cemetery. There are two First World War casualties also buried in the adjacent Belgian communal cemetery.

For further information about the British and Commonwealth War Graves in this cemetery visit the website of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission:

Website: www.cwgc.org

Latitude N 51° 4' 15.27" ; Longitude E 2° 55' 48.12"

The cemetery is located in the Praatbos (Praat Wood) on the Houtlandstraat, north east of Vladslo village.

Burials of German war dead were begun from 16 October 1914 during the Battle of the Yser. After the war many German military dead were brought to this cemetery from elsewhere in Belgium and Luxembourg. This is one of four large collective German military cemeteries in Belgium. There are 25,644 war dead buried at the cemetery.

The two figures depicting “Parents in Mourning” by Käthe Kollwitz is located at the far end of the cemetery. Her son is buried in this cemetery.

Vladslo cemetery is looked after by the German war graves organisation, the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (VDK).

For further information about the graves in this cemetery visit the website of the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge war graves agency:

Website: www.volksbund.de

There are 30 graves of servicemen who died during the First World War located in the churchyard of Sint Donaas in Zeebrugge. 13 of the men are identified.

For further information about the British and Commonwealth War Graves in this cemetery visit the website of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission:

Website: www.cwgc.org