CWGC Digital Basra Memorial - Useful Hint No 1

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission Digital version of the Basra Memorial provides the most up-to-date listing of the names of the 40500+ Commonwealth forces members who died during the Mesopotamian Campaign, from the Autumn of 1914 to the end of August 1921, and whose graves are not known. The real Memorial at Basra (comprising 69 panels), holds the names of only 7,385 of the men. This figure is made up of all of the British deaths and those of Indian Officers. Indian NCOs and Indian 'Other Ranks', making up more than 33,000 of the total number, are only listed as numbers under the relevant Military Unit. With better research carried out by the CWGC since the physical memorial was constructed, many of the names on the original panels have disappeared (e.g. actual burial location of the fallen since determined) and many added. I became aware of the large number of differences as part of my ongoing research on the Basra Memorial and from queries received via my website and I have asked the CWGC (May 2026) to verify the extent of the differences and the various reasons for the deletions/additions.

By and large the CWGC Digital Basra Memorial is a very useful tool for anyone researching individual names of the fallen and it can be used in conjunction with the names on the 69 panels at Basra which can be viewed HERE. For anyone researching by Regiment name there is a degree of difficulty in that the men of almost 50 Regiments appear in two distinct locations on the digital memorial, as men (British and Indian) who died in captivity in Turkey (Türkiye) with unknown graves are listed separately towards the end of the digital Basra Memorial database. Currently the CWGC Search facility only displays the first occurrence of the Regiment name and the men attached to it and there is currently no way of reconciling the total number displayed on the Search screen against the number of names, as it is not possible to search for the remaining men of that Regiment who died in Türkiye.

The best way to ensure that you have not missed any men from the Regiment you are researching is to move forward to digital panel numbers 270 thru 277 and scroll through the these panels one by one to search for the Regiment name. The good news is that any single Regiment will only appear in a maximum of two locations, whereas a Regiment does appear on a number of panels at the real Basra Memorial.

As always, if you have any problems, send me a message via my CONTACT page.

I have attached several screen shots which give an example of a Regiment with deaths in Türkiye - The Dorsetshire Regiment.

CWGC Digital Basra Memorial for Dorset Regiment (1st Part)

CWGC Digital Basra Memorial for Dorset Regiment (2nd Part)

CWGC Digital Basra Memorial for Dorset Regiment (Total of Part 1 and Part 2)