Adinkerke

Adinkerke is a small town in north west Belgium close to the French border. It is a conurbation with the coastal town of De Panne which in turn is part of the west Belgian coastal conurbation. Adinkerke railway station is also the Western terminus of the Belgian coast tram line to De Panne, Nieuwpoort, Ostend and beyond.

The 'kerke' suffix is common in west Flanders as an area surrounding a church (similar to kirk in Scotland). The closest French town is Dunkerque/Dunkirk. Which can be accessed via the E40 (A16) motorway, N39 (N1) A road, or N386 (D 60) minor road in addition to a canal. (The roads names in parenthesis are employing the French nomenclature once crossing the border).

From June to November 1917 the Commonwealth XV Corps held the front from the Belgian coast to St. Georges. The 24th and 39th Casualty Clearing Stations were posted at Oosthoek (between Adinkerke and Veurne) from July to November, and the 1st Canadian Casualty Clearing Station was at Adinkerke for a short time in June.

During the Second World War, 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.

Adinkerke Military Cemetery contains 168 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, and 55 from the Second World War. There are also 142 Czech and German war graves.

Adinkerke is the closest Belgian town accessible to the French ferry ports, and has the unusual claim to fame of having the greatest number of tobacconists per capita of any area in Europe. This is because literally hundreds of French smokers and British booze cruisers every day make the trip across the border to take advantage of the considerably lower tobacco duty in Belgium.

Many shops opened around the clock, which provided the advantage of offering other shops and fuel services that would not normally be found in a town of such a small size. While this may have proved beneficial to travellers, local people were inconvenienced by the constant traffic, so the local Mayor has recently ordered the tobacco stores to close during the night.

Due to its juxtaposition, and the smuggling associated with reduced tobacco duty, it is not uncommon for the E40 to be closed at night at junction 1 and French and Belgian police question drivers and passengers of vehicles on the N34 road over the motorway.