Chittagong War Cemetery (চট্টগ্রাম ওয়ার সিমেট্রি)

Chittagong War Cemetery, also called the Chittagong Commonwealth War Cemetery, is a Second World War cemetery at 19 Badsha Mia Road in the Dampara area of Chattogram, maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Entry is free, and it suits visitors tracing family graves and anyone interested in the Burma campaign.

Graves moved in from Lushai Hills, Cox's Bazar and Dacca

The British Army created the cemetery during the war, when it held about 400 burials. Graves were later moved here from smaller burial grounds across the region, including the Lushai Hills in Assam, Cox's Bazar, Chittagong Civil Cemetery and Dacca Military Cemetery. The land was once paddy fields.

731 Commonwealth burials by nationality

There are 731 Commonwealth burials of the 1939 to 1945 war, 17 of them unidentified. By nationality the largest groups are from the United Kingdom (471) and pre-independence India (207), followed by Canada (25), Australia (9) and New Zealand (2). The cemetery also holds 20 foreign national burials, 19 Japanese soldiers, one of them unidentified, and one seaman of the Dutch Navy, as well as four non-war British military graves.

Headstone rows below the Finlay guest houses

The burial area sits at the bottom of a slope behind the Finlay guest houses, surrounded by fruit, flowering and forest trees. A paved lane leads from the entrance to a metal gate flanked by two small brick chapels, and the rows of headstones stand in neatly kept lawns around a Cross of Sacrifice. Cemetery registers are kept on site.