The Cross of Sacrifice is a Commonwealth war memorial designed in 1918 by Sir Reginald Blomfield for the Imperial War Graves Commission. It is present in Commonwealth war cemeteries containing 40 or more graves. Its shape is an elongated Latin cross with proportions more typical of the Celtic cross, with the shaft and crossarm octagonal in section. It ranges in height from 18 to 24 feet. A bronze longsword, blade down, is affixed to the front of the cross. It is usually mounted on an octagonal base. It may be freestanding or incorporated into other cemetery features. The Cross of Sacrifice is widely praised, widely imitated, and the archetypal British war memorial. It is the most imitated of Commonwealth war memorials, and duplicates and imitations have been used around the world.
Cross of Sacrifice in Ypres Reservoir Cemetery in Belgium
Sir Frederic Kenyon
Sir Reginald Blomfield in 1921.
Cross of Sacrifice at Eindhoven, Netherlands.
A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war.
Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia
Jatiyo Smriti Soudho in Bangladesh commemorates those who gave their lives in the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971
Monument for the defenders of Jerusalem in 1948 dedicated to Israeli soldiers who fought for the liberation of the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War
An M4 Sherman tank in the centre of Bastogne, Belgium