Belgian Military Cemetery

Despite a bloody resistance by the Belgian and French troops during the Battle of the Yser, the forest fell to the Germans on 21 October 1914. It would remain in their hands until almost exactly four years later.

The Germans immediately turned it into a veritable fortress from which they could pour machine gun fire into the Belgian trenches.

An overview of the Battle of the Yser

On 28 September 1918 The Belgian Army began its advance to liberation from behind the IJzer Canal. Following a three hour bombardment of the German front line nine Belgian Divisions advanced against the German lines under a covering bombardment of 600 soixante-quinze 75mm cannon.

The attack commenced at 05:30 hours and by 10:00 hours much of the Germans first four lines of defence had collapsed and part of the great Houthulst Forest had also been captured.

The following day the Belgians pressed on taking Diksmuide and the remainder of Houthulst. 3,500 Belgian soldiers died over those two days and the majority of them are here in this cemetery.

Before the war the forest covered hundred of hectares but the bombardments reduced it down to less than 70.

The forest is still used today by the Belgian Army for the disposal of the seemingly never ending finds of munitions dug up each year by farmers.

It is reckoned that each year about 200 tonnes of unexploded munitions are recovered in the Westhoek area. So many of the shells are gas that a special plant has had to be built to deal with them all.

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The Cemetery

It is a little difficult to appreciate at ground level but if you look at the photos at the entrance you will see that the cemetery is laid out in the form of a star.

The cemetery is a concentration cemetery created in 1923 with the majority of those buried here having fallen in the autumn of 1918.

There are now 1,723 Belgian burials in the cemetery, 493 of them unknown soldiers (onbekend - inconnu).

In the top left hand corner under their own flag you will find the graves of 81 Italian soldiers; prisoners used by the Germans as forced labour.

Soldaat Jan Hubert Ruyters, 4� Regt Karabineers
Born in Opglabbeek 6 November 1893
Died on 28 September 1918
Grave: M1 1446

Soldat Oscar d'Hondt, 3� Regt Chasseurs à pied
Born in Mouscron 31 January 1891
Died on 30 September 1918

Soldat Charles J Van Hoof, 14� Ligne
Born in Holenbeek St Jean 22 June 1897
Died on 3 October 1918
Grave: H 298

Soldaat Jozef A Vercaignie, 14� Ligne
Born in Kortrijk 20 June 1892
Died on 2 October 1918
Grave: H 297