The town of Ismailia sits halfway between Port Said to the north and Suez to the south, on the western side of the Suez Canal. Ismailia was built up around the construction of the canal and its landscape is evidence of a history of British and French colonial influences.
The cemetery is less than a kilometre along the Port Said Road from the centre of town and the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery is within the Ismailia Civilian Cemetery. You can find the site’s entrance through the iron gates opposite the bus station.
The cemetery was established in February 1915 after the unsuccessful Turkish attempt to take the town. The defensive action against this attempt by British, French, Italian and Egyptian forces is commemorated by a nearby memorial at Gebel Maryam. An impressive construction, the monument is two granite obelisks separated by a space symbolising the canal and at its base are two figures, a torch bearer and a guardian of the destinies of the nations commemorated. A French project, the memorial was unveiled in 1930, its architect Michel Roux-Spitz and its sculptor Raymond Delamarre.
The deaths incurred during the Ismailia’s defence as well as ongoing battlefield and hospital deaths filled the cemetery in the war years which expanded beyond the Armistice to include surrounding burials.
One hundred of the burials interred here are Australian, 80 from the First World War, 20 from the Second. The graves from the Second World War are of those men who died of various illnesses, including meningitis and appendicitis, as well as general and flying accidents.
Image: Ismailia War Memorial Cemetery
Creator: Christopher Karykides