Evere, Vlaams-Brabant
Brussels Town Cemetery is located in the north east corner of Brussels in the district of Evere. Follow the E40 Brussels-Liege road in the direction of Brussels and leave at junction 19, signposted Woluwe and Evere. Follow the sign Evere to the right and continue 500 metres along the avenue des Communautes to the first set of traffic lights. Go straight ahead here and down the avenue Ciceron to turn left around the roundabout at the bottom of the road. The entrance to the Town Cemetery is then on your right. Follow the main avenue through the cemetery as far as you can go and the Commission plot is on your left.
Brussels was in German hands from 20 August 1914 to the date of the Armistice and the majority of the Commonwealth burials in Brussels Town Cemetery dating from this period are those of prisoners of war whose bodies were brought back from Germany by the Canadian Corps in April 1919. 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. Most of the Second World War casualties buried in the town cemetery died on lines of communication duties after the liberation of Brussels at the beginning of September 1944, but a few date from the brief period that the BEF spent in Belgium in May 1940. Brussels Town Cemetery contains 54 Commonwealth burials of the First World War and 590 from the Second World War. There are also a number of war graves of other nationalities.
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