Blankenberge Town Cemetery
- Country Belgium
- Total identified casualties 76 Find these casualties
- Region West-Vlaanderen
- Identified casualties from First & Second World War
- GPS Coordinates Latitude: 51.30725, Longitude: 3.12871
Location information
Blankenberge Town cemetery is located on the coast of Belgium, 4 km west from Zeebrugge and 20 km east of Oostende. The N34 runs from Zeebrugge to Oostende via the town of Blankenberge. From Zeebrugge or Oostende the N34 Koning Albertlaan leads directly to the town square. The cemetery itself is located via Kerkstraat N371, then right onto Zuidlaan for 500 metres, finally turning left along Landijk for 100 metres to the cemetery itself. This cemetery is not an open site and access is limited by normal cemetery opening hours.
Visiting information
The cemetery opening hours are as follows :
From 1 April until 30 April: from 08.00 hrs to 18.00 hrs.
From 1 May until 15 September: from 07.00 hrs to 19.00 hrs.
From 16 September until 15 November: from 08.00 hrs to 18.00 hrs.
From 16 November until 31 March: from 08.00 hrs to 16.0o hrs.
Wheelchair access possible via main entrance.
For further information regarding wheelchair access, please contact our Enquiries Department on telephone number: 01628 634221
History information
The British Expeditionary Force was involved in the later stages of the defence of Belgium following the German invasion in May 1940, and suffered many casualties in covering the withdrawal to Dunkirk. Commonwealth forces did not return until September 1944, but in the intervening years, many airmen were shot down or crashed in raids on strategic objectives in Belgium, or while returning from missions over Germany. The Commonwealth plot in Blankenberge Town Cemetery contains 80 burials of the Second World War, 14 of them unidentified. Over half the graves are as a result of the sinking of H.M.L.S.T. 420, which was carrying Royal Air Force personnel, outside the port of Oostende on the 7th November 1944. The plot also contains three war burials of other nationalities and one non-war grave. Elsewhere in the cemetery, there are ten Commonwealth burials of the First World War.