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Attention: the War Dead Register only lists Belgian fallen soldiers.  
The War Dead Register provides basic personal information (name, first name, date and place of birth, etc.) and does not contain military files (giving a complete overview of the military career). According to date of birth the files are kept either by the Royal Military Museum or by the Defence archives service. The files safeguarded at the Military Museum can be consulted on site (Parc du Cinquantenaire in Brussels). The files kept up till now by Defence are currently transferred to the General State Archives.
The date on which they will be once again available has not yet been determined.   

 

Archives of the Royal Military Museum 

Documentation Centre 
Parc du Cinquantenaire 3
1000 Brussels
E-mail : cdoc.klm-mra@warheritage.be   
Website: www.warheritage.be

Cemetery details

Where?
Kleine Kerkhofstraat, 8310 Assebroek
 
View on map

History

The Bruges municipal graveyard, which encompasses the military cemetery, is one of the oldest in Belgium: Bruges inhabitants are already buried here in 1787. Its current size and shape are obtained through the purchase of various plots. 
The first military casualties are buried as early as 1914, but most servicemen are given a last resting place here at the end of the conflict. Bruges, with its civilian hospital and many field hospitals, is painfully confronted with the violence of war. Interments are organized daily throughout 1919. Spanish flu also claims numerous victims. 
In 1924 many military cemeteries are reorganized: some dead are reburied in their former places of residence, while others are transferred from small cemeteries in the vicinity. This is also the case in Bruges. The cemetery is expanded during the Second World War; most victims then fall in 1940. Today the site counts 610 Belgian casualties: 523 from the Great War, 86 from the Second World War and one from the war in Korea. Some civilians and members of the resistance have also been laid to rest here. 

 

Casualties

523 Belgians First World War (15 unidentified) – 86 Belgians Second World War – 1 British Second World War – 1 Belgian Korean War

 

Description

The military cemetery is located in the north-eastern corner of the Bruges graveyard and is trapezoidal in shape. An open area divides the cemetery into two almost symmetrical blocks. 
A flagpole flies the Belgian tricolour in the middle of the plot. Some rows present gaps: these casualties have been buried elsewhere and their tombstones have been removed.

 

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