Basra Memorial Location
Until 1997 the Basra Memorial was located on the main quay of the naval
dockyard at Maqul, on the west bank of the Shatt-al-Arab, about 8 kilometres
north of Basra.
Because of the sensitivity of the site, the memorial was moved by
presidential decree. The move, carried out by the Iraqi authorities,
involved a considerable amount of manpower, transport costs and sheer
engineering on their part. The memorial has been re-erected in its
entirety.
The Basra Memorial is now located 32 kilometres along the road to Nasiriyah,
in the middle of what was a major battleground during the First Gulf War.
Historical Information - Basra Memorial
The Basra Memorial commemorates more than 40,500 members of the
Commonwealth forces who died in Mesopotamia from the Autumn of 1914 to the
end of August 1821 and whose graves are unknown. Henry George Simmonds born
1893 in Farncombe, Surrey, is among these.
The memorial was designed by Edward Warren and unveiled by Sir Gilbert
Clayton on 27th March 1929.
Basra Cemetery
During the First World War, Basra was occupied by the 6th (Poona) Division
in November 1814, from which date the town became the base of the
Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force. A number of cemeteries were used by the
MEF in and around Basra; Makina Masul Old Cemetery was used from December
1914 to October 1916 and the Makina Masul New Extension was begun alongside
the cemetery in August 1917. These two sites, enlarged later when more than
1,000 graves were brought from other burial grounds, now form Basra War
Cemetery.
The cemetery now contains 2,551 burials of the First World War, 74 of them
unidentified. The headstones marking these graves were removed in 1935 when
it was discovered, that salts in the soil were causing them to deteriorate.
The names of those buried in the graves affected are now recorded on a
screen wall.
The cemetery also contains the Basra (Tanooma Chinese) Memorial,
commemorating 227 unidentified casualties of the Chinese Labour Corps, who
were attached to the Inland Water Transport during the First World War. A
panel in their memory was added to the screen wall, when it became evident
that their graves in Tanooma Chinese Cemetery, could no longer be maintained.
During the Second World War, Basra was the scene of fighting from 2nd to 7th May
1941, when Iraqi forces were driven from the town, which then became a base
for Commonwealth forces. Basra War Cemetery was used once again and after
the war, further graves were brought in from other burial grounds in Iraq
and Iran.
Directly opposite Basra War Cemetery is the Basra Indian Forces Cemetery
containing burials of both wars, and the Basra Cremation Memorial
commemorating Indian casualties of the Second World War, whose remains were
cremated in accordance with their faith.