The Amara War Cemetery is a

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

British

military cemetery A war grave is a burial place for members of the armed forces or civilians who died during military campaigns or operations. Definition The term "war grave" does not only apply to graves: ships sunk during wartime are often considered to ...

in Amara, now known as

Amarah Amarah (), also spelled Amara, is a city in south-eastern Iraq, located on a low ridge next to the Tigris River waterway south of Baghdad about 50 km (31 mi) from the border with Iran. It lies at the northern tip of the marshlands between ...

, southern Iraq, that is the responsibility of the

Commonwealth War Graves Commission 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 mil ...

(CWGC). It contains more than 4,600 graves including three recipients of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

but is now in poor condition as the CWGC have not been able to work in Iraq since 1991.

Location

The cemetery is located immediately to the south of one of the branches of the

River Tigris The Tigris ( ; see below) is the eastern of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, before merging w ...

where it splits at Amarah in an area that was seized by the

Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force The Mesopotamian campaign or Mesopotamian front () was a campaign in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I fought between the British Empire, with troops from United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Britain, Australia and the vast major ...

during the First World War. Amarah became a major hospital centre with medical detachments on both sides of the river and seven general hospitals. The cemetery is now the responsibility of the

.AMARA WAR CEMETERY.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 27 April 2016.

Burials

The cemetery contains 4,621 burials from the First World War, of which more than 3,000 were interred after the end of the war. Only 3,696 of the dead have been identified. In 1933, the grave headstones were removed after it was found that they were being damaged by salts in the soil and a memorial wall erected instead with the names of the dead engraved upon plaques. Graves at Amara include the surgeon Sir Victor Horsley, and Victoria Cross recipients Sidney William Ware, Edgar Christopher Cookson, and Edward Elers Delaval Henderson. Captain Alfred Wallace Harvey of the

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) was a specialist corps in the British Army which provided medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. On 15 November 2024, the corps was amalgamated with the Royal Army De ...

, who was shot by a sentry from his own side, is also buried at Amara. Immediately to the south of the British cemetery is the

Amara (Left Bank) Indian War Cemetery The Amara (Left Bank) Indian War Cemetery is a War grave, 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 o ...

which contains the graves of more than 5,000 Indian soldiers killed during the Mesopotamian campaign.

Condition

In 2003, the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

reported that the cemetery was in the care of Hassan Hatif Moson who said that he took the keeper's job in 1977 and had maintained the cemetery despite threats from

Ba'ath Party The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party ( ' ), also known simply as Bath Party (), was a political party founded in Syria by Michel Aflaq, Salah al-Din al-Bitar, and associates of Zaki al-Arsuzi. The party espoused Ba'athism, which is an ideology ...

officials. He said he had not been paid since 1991 but received support from Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, founder of the charity AMAR. The CWGC, however, said that Mosa has never been in their employ but that they would be appointing a caretaker for the cemetery. In 2014, commentating on the run-down condition of the cemetery, Iraqi sources urged that the cemetery be restored after neglect that they blamed on the local government and the fact that the cemetery was not recognised as part of Iraq's heritage. Commentators argued that it was an important site in the history of the local area and a monument to the resistance of local tribesmen to British occupation and so should be preserved.مقبرة-الانكليز-في-العمارة-حافظت-على
Almada Press. 9 September 2014. Retrieved 29 April 2016. In April 2016, Martin Fletcher of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', reporting from Amarah, wrote that the cemetery had seriously deteriorated, with plaques falling from the memorial wall and the

Cross of Sacrifice The Cross of Sacrifice is a Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth war memorial designed in 1918 by Sir Reginald Blomfield for the Imperial War Graves Commission (now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission). It is present in Commonwealth War grave ...

smashed. The perimeter wall and other cemetery infrastructure are also damaged. A man who described himself as the caretaker reported the cross being blown up one night in 2006. The CWGC commented that they had not been able to work in Iraq since 1991, but the cemetery would be restored when conditions allowed.British war graves left to crumble in the dust
Martin Fletcher, ''The Times'', 25 April 2016, pp. 14–15.

References

External links

A modern image of Amara Cemetery cross.Amarah memorial wall.
{{coord, 31.8454, 47.1606, type:landmark_region:IQ, display=title Amarah Military cemeteries Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries in Iraq

Location

Burials

Condition

See also

References

External links