On the 30th October 1914, the village was held by the 1st and 2nd Life Guards, numbering between 300 and 400 men. It was bombarded for over an hour with heavy guns, and then taken by the 39th German Division and three attached battalions. The whole front of the 3rd Cavalry Division was driven back to the Klein-Zillebeke ridge. It was not possible to retake the village, which remained in German hands until the 28th September 1918. The Household Cavalry Memorial, unveiled by Lord Haig in May 1924, stands on the South side of the village at the place where part of the Household Brigade was annihilated in 1914.

ZANTVOORDE BRITISH CEMETERY, on the North-East side of the village, was made after the Armistice by the concentration of graves from the battlefields. Of these a very large number are those of soldiers who fell in the latter part of October 1914, in the desperate fighting round Zantvoorde, Zillebeke and Gheluvelt. One special memorial is erected to a soldier from the United Kingdom, believed to be buried here as unknown; and other special memorials record the names of 32 soldiers from the United Kingdom, buried in two German cemeteries, whose graves cannot now be found. The British Cemetery covers an area of 5,700 square yards. It stands on high ground, falling to the North-East; and the villages of Gheluvelt, Zantvoorde, Comines and Wervicq can be seen from it.

There are now over 1,500, 1914-18 and a small number of 1939-45 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, two-thirds from the 1914-18 War are unidentified and a special memorial is erected to a soldier from the United Kingdom, believed to be buried here. Other special memorials record the names of 32 soldiers from the United Kingdom, buried in two German cemeteries, whose graves cannot now be found. The Cemetery covers an area of 4,766 square metres.

Burials (Commonwealth War Graves Commission):

• United Kingdom: 1558 (+ 1 WW II)
• Canada: 22
• Australia: 2
• Undivided India: 1
• Total Commonwealth: 1583 (+ 1 WW II)