The Nairobi War Cemetery is a

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 ...

burial ground for the dead of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

located in

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

History and previous use

The cemetery was opened in 1941, and is the largest war cemetery in East Africa. It houses the graves of casualties from the East African campaign, some of which were transferred from civil cemeteries and temporary army burial grounds in other parts of Kenya. Nairobi was the operational headquarters of the British

Middle East Command Middle East Command, later Middle East Land Forces, was a British Army Command established prior to the Second World War in Egypt. Its primary role was to command British land forces and co-ordinate with the relevant naval and air commands to ...

during the East African campaign, and the base for the conquest of

Jubaland Jubaland (; ; ), or the Juba Valley (), is a States and regions of Somalia, Federal Member State in southern Somalia. Its eastern border lies no more than east of the Jubba River, stretching from Dolow to the Indian Ocean, while its western si ...

and

Italian Somaliland Italian Somaliland (; ; ) was a protectorate and later colony of the Kingdom of Italy in present-day Somalia, which was ruled in the 19th century by the Sultanate of Hobyo and the Majeerteen Sultanate in the north, and by the Hiraab Imamate and ...

. The cemetery was the location of two field hospitals, No. 87 which operated from June 1943 to December 1945, and No.150 British General Hospital, which operated for a period in 1943.

Internments

Interned at the cemetery are members of the East African Military Labour Corps, the

South African Air Force The South African Air Force (SAAF) is the air warfare branch of South African National Defence Force, with its headquarters in Pretoria. The South African Air Force was established on 1 February 1920. The Air Force saw service in World War II a ...

, the

King's African Rifles The King's African Rifles (KAR) was a British Colonial Auxiliary Forces regiment raised from Britain's East African colonies in 1902. It primarily carried out internal security duties within these colonies along with military service elsewher ...

, the

Nigeria Regiment The Nigeria Regiment was a British Colonial Auxiliary Forces unit of the Royal West African Frontier Force was formed by the amalgamation of the Northern Nigeria Regiment and the Southern Nigeria Regiment on 1 January 1914. Structure At that ...

, the

Northern Rhodesia Regiment The Northern Rhodesia Regiment (NRR) was a British Colonial Auxiliary Forces regiment raised from the protectorate of Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in Southern Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. ...

, and the African Pioneer Corps. The cemetery also houses the East African Memorial, commemorating the casualties from the advance into Italian Somaliland and Ethiopia who have no known resting place, as well as casualties from the 1942

Battle of Madagascar The Battle of Madagascar (5 May – 6 November 1942) was an Allied campaign to capture the Vichy French-controlled island Madagascar during World War II. The seizure of the island by the British was to deny Madagascar's ports to the Imperial ...

who have no known grave. Also memorialized are those lost in the sinking of the troopship

Khedive Ismail Isma'il Pasha ( ; 25 November 1830 or 31 December 1830 – 2 March 1895), also known as Ismail the Magnificent, was the Khedive of Khedivate of Egypt, Egypt and ruler of Turco-Egyptian Sudan, Sudan from 1863 to 1879, when he was removed at the ...

, which sank en route to Ceylon on 12 February 1944 carrying 996 members of the East African Artillery's 301st Field Regiment, 271 Royal Navy personnel, 19 WRNs, 53 nursing sisters and their matron and nine members of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry. The cemetery is open to the public, and is a popular site for photography.

References

{{reflist Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries in Kenya