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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?
Wijngaardstraat, 3300 Sint-Margriet-Houtem
 
View on map

History

After the battle of Halen the German troops advance between Tienen and Halen towards the river Grote Gete. The 3rd, 22nd and 23rd line regiments get the dubious honour of covering the retreat of the Belgian field army. They take up positions to the northeast of Tienen to prevent the enemy’s passage. 
In the afternoon of 18 August the Germans vehemently attack the entrenched Belgians. German artillery sows death and destruction in the Belgian ranks and hundreds of lives are lost. Especially the 22nd line regiment pays a heavy price in this merciless battle. It loses more than 50% of its men.  
After the battle, Belgians and Germans meet in order to organize the burial of the dead who are scattered all over the battle scene. Not only Belgian but also German soldiers are thus given a final resting place in the church of Grimde and in municipal cemeteries near the battlefield. 
Land for the Sint-Margriete-Houtem cemetery is purchased in mid-1916, and Belgian, German and French dead are laid to rest. 173 Belgian casualties (four of them unknown) are still buried here, the majority of them from the 22nd line regiment. Many victims interred around Tienen are dug up under supervision of Léonard Reynaerts, a young Red Cross volunteer who makes it his mission in life to give the dead a dignified grave. Countless fallen soldiers are given a final resting place in Sint-Margriete-Houtem through his efforts. 

 

Casualties

173 First World War (4 unidentified)

Description

The cemetery is situated on a height overlooking the old battlefield and today, a century after the events, its appearance is quite unchanged. The low stone wall surrounding the cemetery dates from the time of construction, as does the (German) statue in the rear of the cemetery. Originally, this statue featured a German helmet, but vandals destroyed it. Locals nickname the statue “De Gust” (The Gust, “Gust” being a common first name at the time), derived from the German caption “August 1914”, which of course refers to the battles of 1914. 
The graves are laid out in long parallel rows with their tombstones facing the front. The central path leads to the rear of the cemetery and divides it into two plots.