The Amara (Left Bank) Indian War Cemetery is a military cemetery in Amara, now known as Amarah, southern Iraq, which contains the graves of more than 5,000 Indian soldiers who died during the First World War. It is the responsibility of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC).
The cemetery is located immediately to the south of one of the branches of the River Tigris where it splits at Amarah in an area that was seized by the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force during the First World War. [1] Amarah became a major hospital centre with medical detachments on both sides of the river and seven general hospitals. The Indian cemetery is immediately to the south of the British Amara War Cemetery and marked on the map of the British cemetery with the words "Muhammadan and Hindu Cemeteries". [2]
There are thought to be over 5,000 Indian soldiers interred at Amara, however, only 9 are identified, [3] [4] all of whom were interred after the armistice. According to the CWGC, who are responsible for the cemetery, the records of interments were sent to the Army Adjutant General at Simla Headquarters in 1919 but have since been destroyed. [5]
A memorial was erected that read "In memory of the brave Muhammadans who sacrificed their lives in the Great War for their King and their country".
In April 2016, Martin Fletcher of The Times in Amarah, reported that the cemetery had been taken over by the Maysan Funfair who had installed merry-go-rounds and a ferris wheel. [6] [7]
El Alamein is a town in the northern Matrouh Governorate of Egypt. Located on the Mediterranean Sea, it lies 106 kilometres (66 mi) west of Alexandria and 300 kilometres (186 mi) northwest of Cairo. As of 2007, it had a population of 7,397 inhabitants.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars. The commission is also responsible for commemorating Commonwealth civilians who died as a result of enemy action during the Second World War. The commission was founded by Sir Fabian Ware and constituted through Royal Charter in 1917 as the Imperial War Graves Commission. The change to the present name took place in 1960.
The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme is a war memorial to 72,337 missing British and South African servicemen who died in the Battles of the Somme of the First World War between 1915 and 1918, with no known grave. It is near the village of Thiepval, Picardy in France. A visitors' centre opened in 2004. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, Thiepval has been described as "the greatest executed British work of monumental architecture of the twentieth century".
A war grave is a burial place for members of the armed forces or civilians who died during military campaigns or operations.
Sai Wan War Cemetery is a military cemetery located in Chai Wan, Hong Kong which was built in 1946. The cemetery was created to commemorate soldiers of Hong Kong Garrison who perished during the Second World War. The cemetery also contains 12 World War I burials. A total of 1,528 soldiers, mainly from the Commonwealth, are commemorated here. Most of the remaining burials are located at the Stanley Military Cemetery.
Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery is a Second World War military war grave cemetery, located in the village of Hautot-sur-Mer, 5 km (3.1 mi) south of Dieppe in Normandy, France. It contains Canadian and British soldiers killed during the Dieppe Raid on the 18/19 August 1942. This large scale daylight assault on a fortified objective was an abject failure and casualties were very heavy. Of an attacking military force of some 6,100, over 3,600 were killed, wounded, missing or taken prisoner.
Aldershot Military Cemetery is a burial ground for military personnel, or ex-military personnel and their families, located in Aldershot Military Town, Hampshire.
The Taukkyan War Cemetery is a cemetery for Allied soldiers from the British Commonwealth who died in battle in Burma during the Second World War. The cemetery is in the village of Taukkyan, about 25 kilometres (16 mi) north of Yangon on Pyay Road. It is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Madras War Cemetery is located in Nandambakkam, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It was created to receive Second World War graves from civil and cantonment cemeteries in the south and east of India where their permanent maintenance could not be assured.
The Jerusalem War Cemetery is a British cemetery in Jerusalem for fallen servicemen of the British Commonwealth in the World War I in the Palestine campaign.
The North Front Cemetery is a cemetery located in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. Also known as the Gibraltar Cemetery and the Garrison Cemetery, it is the only graveyard still in use in Gibraltar. It is also the only Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) cemetery in Gibraltar. The two CWGC monuments, the Gibraltar Memorial and the Gibraltar Cross of Sacrifice, are positioned nearby at the junction of Winston Churchill Avenue and Devil's Tower Road.
The Chattogram Commonwealth War Cemetery or Chattogram War Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in Chattogram, Bangladesh.
The Basra Memorial is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission war memorial near Zubayr, Iraq. The memorial commemorates 40,682 Commonwealth forces members who died during the Mesopotamian Campaign, from the Autumn of 1914 to the end of August 1921, and whose graves are not known. The memorial was designed by Edward Prioleau Warren. It was unveiled by Gilbert Clayton on 27 March 1929. Originally located eight kilometres north of Basra, near the Shatt al-Arab River, it was moved southwest in 1997 to a battleground from the much more recent Gulf War.
Ranville War Cemetery is a Second World War cemetery of Commonwealth soldiers in France, located in Ranville, 10 km (6.2 mi) north east of Caen, Normandy. The cemetery contains predominantly British soldiers killed during the early stages of the Battle of Normandy. A large proportion of those interred were members of the British 6th Airborne Division. The cemetery is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
The Amara War Cemetery is a First World War British military cemetery in Amara, now known as Amarah, southern Iraq, that is the responsibility of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). It contains more than 4,600 graves including three recipients of the Victoria Cross but is now in poor condition as the CWGC have not been able to work in Iraq since 1991.
The Basra War Cemetery was a military cemetery in Basra, Iraq, built for soldiers killed during the Mesopotamian campaign in the First World War. It was maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission until 2007. Those buried at the cemetery include Victoria Cross recipient George Godfrey Massy Wheeler, and Henry Howard, 19th Earl of Suffolk.
Pietà Military Cemetery in Pietà, Malta, is a burial ground for military personnel and their dependants. It is located in the south western suburbs of Valletta, on a minor road. The following are cared for by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC):
The Delhi War Cemetery, in the Delhi Cantonment, Delhi, India, is the site of the graves of 1,154 service personnel who served the British Empire during the First and Second World Wars. The cemetery was established in 1951 to ensure the permanent preservation of the remains of soldiers across various cemeteries in northern India.
The Baghdad War Cemetery is a cemetery in Baghdad in Iraq. The cemetery contains 4480 interments and commemorations. Many graves are marked by Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) gravestones. The CWGC graves in the cemetery commemorate military personnel killed in the country in World War I and World War II. In 2012 511 CWGC headstones were repaired with new concrete bases and a new boundary fence was completed.