Knightsbridge War Cemetery

Knightsbridge War Cemetery is a war grave located in Acroma, Libya is located 750 metres south of the main road from Benghazi to Tobruk, 25 km (16 mi) west of Tobruk. The cemetery is situated in open country, the Cross of Sacrifice is set high above the level of the cemetery and is easily seen from the road. The cemetery is reached from a track branching off the main road.[1][2]

Knightsbridge was the name given to a static base or "box" established around a junction of tracks some 20km east of Tobruk and 16km south of Acroma. This box commanded all the supplies which went to the allied front lines, as well as the fuelling stations and airfields at Acroma, El Adem, El Duda, Sidi Rezegh and Gambut. Knightsbridge was therefore a key position and the heavy armoured battles which started in late May 1942 pivoted on this position, with fierce fighting throughout this area. A battlefield cemetery ws created in all of these area to bury the Commonwealth troops killed in these actions.[1]

It is the resting place of 3,651 Commonwealth servicemen who were killed or died during the fighting in the area during World War II, 2,676 of whom have been identified. Many had been buried in temporary battlefield cemeteries or individual graves and their remains were relocated to Knightsbridge while those who lie without graves are commemorated at the Alamein Memorial. There are also 18 non-Commonwealth burials at Knightsbridge including one Polish soldier and one non-combatant.[1]

Among those buried there are Victoria Cross holder John Beeley,[3] and fighter aces Noel Agazarian[4] and George Goodman.[5]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Kinghtbridge War Cemetry". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 2016-11-26.
  2. ↑ http://www.australianwargraves.org/countries/libya.php
  3. ↑ "Casualty Details: BEELEY, JOHN". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
  4. ↑ "Casualty Details, AGAZARIAN, NOEL Le CHEVALIER". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  5. ↑ "Goodman, George Ernest." cwgc.org Commonwealth Graves Commission. Retrieved: 1 March 2009.

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