History
Ramskapelle is a cemetery associated with the battles of 1914. On 30 and 31 October 1914 heavy fighting rages in the Ramskapelle area. The rising water washing through the Nieuwpoort locks and flooding the Yser flatlands brings salvation. The village remains in Belgian hands. The swampy surroundings preclude large offensives and the war is limited to reconnaissance and skirmishes. The Ramskapelle railway station (converted into a concrete observation bunker) and the embankment between Nieuwpoort and Dixmude constitute the primary line of defence.
Land for the cemetery is purchased in 1922 and shortly afterwards bodies in field graves around Ramskapelle are transferred to the new graveyard, as are those buried in the municipal cemeteries of Nieuwpoort, Lombardsijde, Westende, Sint-Joris or Mannekensvere.
635 soldiers are buried here, 404 of them unknown. Two factors explain the extremely complicated identification. On the one hand some ten years elapsed between death in 1914 and reburial; on the other hand the area was flooded.
Casualties
635 First World War (404 unidentified)
Description
Graves in this triangular cemetery planted with rose bushes and daffodils are arranged in single curved rows facing the entrance. The central access path leads to the rear of the plot and the flagpole.
On the street side a red brick wall capped with bluestone copings and trelliswork border the cemetery. The other sides are lined with greenery.