Commonwealth War Cemetery Zandvoorde

CWGC Zandvoorde British was built after the war. It is a British common cemetery, which means that the bodies come from scattered graves in the fields and smaller cemeteries. This way, a number of British soldiers buried here were formerly transferred from the German Ehrefriedhöfe (Cemeteries of Honour) in Komen, Wervik and Kruiseke.

The construction of the common cemetery had already begun by the end of 1919. It was designed by the architects Charles Holden and William Cowlishaw. Initially, the graves were marked with wooden crosses. The state purchased the expropriated site in 1926. The cemetery then took on its present appearance.

Today this cemetery accommodates 1583 graves and ‘special memorials’. The latter are meant for soldiers whose graves could not exactly be located but who are supposed to be buried here. Most casualties fell in 1914 in Zandvoorde, Geluveld and Zillebeke, during the First Battle of Ypres. In addition, the graves in the I, II and III plots mainly date back to 1918 when British troops had succeeded in definitely expelling the Germans during the Final Offensive.

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Source

• Text: Luc Van Waeyenberge
• Photos: Ricky van Dyck (1, 2, 3, 4), Luc Van Waeyenberge (5)
• Informatiebord