Search tips


First search generally, then specifically. Example: don’t look for “François Van Damme”, but try “Van Damme” first and filter the search.
The person you are looking for does not appear? Try another spelling. Example: don’t only try “Vanwymelbeke”, but also “Van Wymelbeke” or “Vanwijmelbeke”.
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?
Liniestraat, 3545 Halen
 
View on map

History

On 12 August 1914, in the rolling countryside around Halen, the Belgians and the Germans stand face to face. The Belgian artillery, deployed on Metten Hill, bombs the Germans in the centre of Halen. The enemy can only eliminate these guns by launching a storm attack on the Belgian positions. The Belgian cavalry, supported by the 4th brigade, dismounts and awaits the opponent behind the river Grote Gete. The German cavalry charges ruthlessly, with drawn swords, but runs into Belgian fire. The battle of Halen is one of the last attacks on horseback, as the cavalry then displays its limits in modern warfare.  
After this “Battle of the Silver Helmets” (the name refers to the countless shiny metal German helmets scattered all over the battlefield after the event) many bodies remain on the battlefield. Upon initiative of Mr Eugeen Cleeremans (Mayor of Velpen, a hamlet close to Halen), they are buried where they can still be found today. The cemetery is laid out and enlarged in the years following the war, until it contains 180 casualties, 30 of them unidentified.

 

Casualties

180 First World War (30 unidentified) – 1 veteran passed after the war

 

Description

The cemetery covers some 1.2 acres and is hence one of the smaller ones among the 23 military cemeteries. It is bordered by a street-side brick wall capped by bluestone copings and can be accessed through a one-step stairway. The graves are arranged back to back in parallel rows and a central aisle divides the cemetery into two large plots. A bluestone cross in the rear displays the word PAX. A flagpole in the middle of the central aisle flies the Belgian tricolour.