Commonwealth War Cemetery Ravenna

Ravenna was taken by the Canadian Corps at the beginning of December 1944 and the burials in the cemetery there reflect the fighting for the Senio line and the period of relative quiet during the first three months of 1945.

Many of the men buried there were Canadians; one of the last tasks of the Canadian Corps before being moved to north-west Europe was the clearing of the area between Ravenna and the Comacchio lagoon. Others are Indians from the 10th Indian Division and New Zealanders.

The site for the cemetery was selected by the Army in 1945 for burials from the surrounding battlefields.

Ravenna War Cemetery contains 955 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 63 of them unidentified. There are also 33 First World War burials, 30 of them brought in from Gradisca Communal Cemetery in 1973, the others from communal cemeteries at Arzigano, Fano and Monterosso al Mare.

Among those buried in the cemetery are 33 men of the Jewish Infantry Brigade Group which was formed in September 1944, chiefly by volunteers from Palestine; the burials at Ravenna form the largest concentration of casualties from the Brigade.

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Source

• Text: Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• Photos: Commonwealth War Graves Commission