Adinkerke Military Cemetery, Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in De Panne, Belgium.
Adinkerke Military Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission site in De Panne that honors soldiers from various Commonwealth nations who died during World War I. The graves are arranged in organized rows, each marked with a uniform headstone bearing the soldier's name and unit.
The cemetery was established in 1917 and reflects the military operations that unfolded in this coastal region during World War I. Architect Noel Ackroyd Rew designed its enduring layout as a memorial to those who died.
Since 16 May 1970 a memorial procession has left De Panne each late May for the cemetery, with veterans, army representatives, diplomats, the mayor and local residents. Since the 1993 break-up of Czechoslovakia, the Czech and Slovak embassies in Brussels have organised the ceremony in turn. Forty Czechoslovak soldiers are buried here, their headstones marked with the Czechoslovak state emblem and the words "CZECH ARMY".
The cemetery lies south of Adinkerke village near De Panne, close to the French border and about 20 km east of Dunkirk. It can only be reached on foot via a 50-metre grassed path that is not suitable for vehicles, so park elsewhere and walk in. The ground is a walled enclosure on a grassy slope, with the Cross of Sacrifice inside.
Among the 142 non-Commonwealth graves are 40 Czechoslovak soldiers of the Czechoslovak Independent Armoured Brigade, which was based in the area from autumn 1944 to May 1945 and took part in the siege of Dunkirk. Most of them fell in an attack on 5 November 1944. Their headstones carry the Czechoslovak state emblem and the words "CZECH ARMY".
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