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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?
Rue de Fernelmont, 5020 Champion
 
View on map

History

The German army conquers Liège on 16 August 1914 and then faces the next hurdle on its path to France, viz. the Namur fortified position. The Germans have drawn lessons from the difficult battle for the Liège forts, avoid a number of crucial mistakes, and the besieged soldiers in Namur pay the piper. 
The Germans deploy their heaviest artillery to destroy the forts. On 21 August the first shells hit Fort Marchovelette. Austrian heavy mortars also try to make them surrender. 
A few days later German infantry attacks the Belgian positions. Without the support of the fort guns, the Belgian defence collapses like a house of cards. The Belgian 4th Army Division has no choice but to retreat towards France and leave the fortified position’s defence to the forts. 
Many Belgian and French casualties are abandoned on the battlefield and are initially buried in a temporary Franco-Belgian cemetery in Boninne. The military cemetery in Champion is established in 1923 as a cemetery common to Belgian and French fallen soldiers. The Belgians (179 of them unidentified) are buried under the familiar Belgian headstones, the French (all of them unidentified) are interred in two mass graves.   
The Ministry of Defence restores the cemetery in 2019: the front wall is cleaned, the curb stones are replaced and the trees, planted in 1923 and whose roots damage the graves, are felled. 

Casualties

520 Belgians First World War (179 unidentified) – 1 Belgian Second World War – 32 Frenchmen First World War (all unidentified)

Description

The rectangular cemetery is situated along the rue de Fernelmont, on a hill a few hundred metres from Fort Marchovelette. A stone wall with metal trelliswork borders the street. Low hedges line the sides. 
The central path leads up to a monument, the front of which depicts a Belgian and a French soldier. The sides of the monument mention the units that took part in the battle.