Commonwealth War Graves Leuven

The Communal Cemetery of Leuven contains the graves of twentyfive Commonwealth servicemen, the five graves on the right are World War I graves and the twenty graves on the left are World War II graves. Al Second World War graves date from 1940 or 1944, there are British, Canadian and Australian graves.

Seven graves from 1944 are from May 12th 1944, when the British 'Bomber Command' flew a raid over Leuven to bomb the crossroads around Leuven. During this mission with 126 Lancasters and 6 Mosquito's, four Lancasters got lost. Of these four Lancasters, the first one was shot down on the way to Leuven in Holland, all these crewmembers are buried on the cemetery in Aardenburg. The next two of these Lancasters crashed in Wilsele, probably due a mid-air collision between the two Lancasters. There were no survivors, these crewmembers are buried on the churchyard of Wilsele, not far from this churchyard. The Fourth Lancaster crashed in Leuven, the crewmembers of this Lancaster are buried on this cemetery.

The graves lie in a small field of honour. Next to this field is a small Dutch field of honour with the graves of two Dutch servicemen.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar.nl
• Photos: Luc van Waeyenberge