| Region : |
Antwerp, Antwerpen, Belgium |
| Latitude : |
51.16445 |
| Lontitude : |
5.01507 |
| CWGC Link : |
2085400
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| Geel is located midway between Antwerpen (46 kilometres), Hasselt (38 kilometres) and Leuven. In the early part of September 1944, Geel was the scene of some of the heaviest fighting encountered by Commonwealth troops since they had left Normandy. The 50th (Northumbrian) Division and the 15th Scottish Division were both involved here in the forcing of crossings of the Albert Canal and the Meuse-Escaut Canal, necessary for the advance into Holland. Some of the casualties they suffered were originally buried in a meadow near the centre of the commune, and some in the St. Dymphna civil cemetery; these graves were later moved into Geel War Cemetery. The cemetery contains 400 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, six of them unidentified. |
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