Commonwealth War Graves in Iraq
WW1 Aviation & 6 Squadron RAF
Khanaqin (Polish) War Cemetery
The subject of this section of my website is the abandoned Polish war cemetery at Khanaqin. It is my understanding that the ongoing maintenance of the cemetery is a shared financial responsibility between the British Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the equivalent Polish body but that any maintenance is carried out by the CWGC. Due to the fact that the cemetery is close to the Iranian border, it has long been too dangerous for any reparation work to be carried out.
The following News posts on my website may also be of interest:
Location and size of Khanaqin War Cemetery, Diyala, Iraq
Surviving headstones at the Khanaqin War Cemetery, Diyala, Iraq
Introduction to the Khanaqin War Cemetery
The Khanaqin War Cemetery is the final resting place of 542 (five hundred and forty two) soldiers, comprising four hundred and thirty seven (437) who were serving with the Polish forces, one hundred and two (102) with the Indian forces and three (3) Arab Legion fighters. I have attached below an Excel spreadsheet containing the names of each of the men who were buried there. For greater detail on each man buried at Khanaqin, visit the Commonwealth War Graves Commission page for the Khanaqin War Cemetery Memorial which was erected at the Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetery, Iraq, in lieu of a monument on the original site at Khanaqin. It should be noted (as far as can be determined without carrying out excavation of the remains or a more simpler method of confirmation using Ground Penetrating Radar) that the row of graves with the headstones broken off at the base indicate that the bodies of the fallen remain in situ and undisturbed.
History of the Khanaqin War Cemetery
At the start of World War II in 1939, tens of thousands of Polish Nationals, both soldiers and civilians, fled from the parts of Europe that were under German and Soviet occupation, with many ending up in Iraq at Khanaqin, located in the north-eastern part of the Diyala Governorate and close to the Iranian border. Khanaqin was already an important city by that time, being the site of the first major oil refinery in Iraq that had been completed in 1927. During World War II, though Khanaqin saw no fighting, it served as a base and field hospital for the Commonwealth Forces. A plague during 1940-1941 took the lives of more than 100 Polish civilians and soldiers who had settled in Khanaqin and they were eventually buried at a new cemetery located to the south-east of the city and two kilometers west of the Alwand Dam.
By 1942, the number of Polish settlers in Khanaqin had swelled to three thousand, including Polish soldiers who had been evacuated from Russia through Iran as part of the Anders Army (PAIFORCE) and had eventually relocated in Iraq. Many had had a long and arduous march from Russia where they had been prisoners of war and were not in good health by the time they reached Khanaqin. While stationed there many Polish soldiers died of sickness or from accidents. As mentioned above, the Khanaqin (Polish) War Cemetery was established in May 1942. Between then and November 1943 when the cemetery closed, a total of four hundred and thirty-seven (437) Polish men who died in the Diyala Governorate were buried at the predominantly Polish cemetery. In addition to the Polish graves, a further one hundred and two (102) Commonwealth soldiers (Indian forces) and three (3) Arab Legion fighters were also buried there, bringing the total to five hundred and forty-two graves.
After WW2 the maintenance of the Khanaqin (Polish) War Cemetery was jointly funded by the United Kingdom and Poland with the actual work carried out by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. However, due to the ongoing strained relationship with Iran in the early nineteen- sixties, access to the cemetery was not possible and it was decided in September 1965 to build a memorial to the fallen at Khanaqin in the Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetery. Since that time, the cemetery at Khanaqin has fallen into complete disrepair.
Location of the Khanaqin War Cemetery
The Khanaqin (Polish) War Cemetery is located in the north-eastern Diyala region of Iraq close to the Iranian border and 1.5 miles west of the Alwand Dam. The exact coordinates for the centre of the cemetery (viz. the memorial) are:
The area of the cemetery is appoximately 5,600 square metres and accomodfates the graves of 542 Polish and Indian soldiers as well as three Arab fighters. The average space per grave represents 10.40 square metres, similar to the figure of 10.66 square metres per grave at the Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery in Baghdad (formerly known as the RAF Hinaidi (Peace) Cemetery.
Map of Iraq showing location of Khanaqin
Satellite photo showing location of Khanaqin Cemetery
Enlarged satellite photo showing location of Khanaqin Cemetery
Enlarged satellite photo showing location and size of Khanaqin Cemetery
Enlarged satellite photo showing GPS location and dimensions of Khanaqin Cemetery
Khanaqin War Cemetery Condition Today
The current condition of the Khanaqin War Cemetery is worse than the Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery, with no perimeter walls, no standing headstones or even fragments of headstones anywhere on the site. The only visible markings that differentiate the cemetery grounds from the surrounding barren landscape are a row of headstone bases (see video further down this page that shows the bases) and a small fenced monument standing in the middle of the cemetery grounds. I do not have any details as to what, if anything, is written on the monument / memorial but it is hoped that in the near future it will be possible for the British Defence Attaché to Iraq to visit this cemetery as well as the other allied military cemeteries in Iraq and make a record of anything that remains today of the original Khanaqin cemetery.
The two photographs immediately below this text are of the Khanaqin War Cemetery, the first a photograph taken from a position just outside what used to be the northern perimeter wall with the camera facing the south-east. Three quarters of the cemetery is in view, with the only visible identifying feature in the photograph being a small monument protected by an iron fence. I do not know what is written on the monument but I have made a request to the Head Office of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission asking if they have a transcription held in their archives. The second photograph is an aerial shot of the Khanaqin War Cemetery, cemetery, with the field of view for the first photograph overlaid on the photograph.
Photo of Khanaqin Polish War Cemetery taken from north-west corner
Satellite image showing position of camera in above photo of Khanaqin Cemetery
Whilst the condition of all 542 graves has yet to be determined, there is no evidence that any of the human remains have been disturbed, especially as the following video taken at the site in recent months shows a line of approximately twenty graves whose headstones have been broken off from their concrete base but the bases themselves remain intact. Only by excavation or carrying out GPR (Ground -Penetrating Radar) will this be confirmed.
Video showing row of broken headstone bases at the Khanaqin War Cemetery
Khanaqin War Cemetery Artefacts
Though nothing remains above ground on site at the Khanaqin War Cemetery, a few artefacts taken from the cemetery are on display at the Diyala Museum of Archaeology, Baqubah. These are under the protection of Mr Majid, who also has been acting as custodian of the cemetery and was the man who took the video shown above. Below are four photographs, one of the bottom of an ornate column and the others fragments of three headstones. I have conducted my own research and identified the burials that match the headstones, being Corporal Z Piechocki and Rifleman L Lastowski of the Polish Army and Signalman Muhammad Juma of the Indian Army (details shown below).
