Commonwealth War Cemetery Fayid

Fayid War Cemetery was opened in June 1941 for war burials from the numerous military hospitals in the area. It was planned by the military authorities for ultimate use as a garrison cemetery and was so used until Commonwealth forces finally withdrew from Egypt, the last burials being made in 1955. The cemetery contains 765 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 190 of which were brought in after the war from the remote Qassassin African Cemetery, where permanent maintenance would not have been possible. The non-war graves, those of members of the forces, their dependents and civilian organisations attached to the garrison, number 616. There are also 440 war graves of other nationalities in the cemetery. At the far end of Fayid War Cemetery stands the Fayid Memorial which commemorates 265 men from East Africa, West Africa, High Commission Territories, Palestine, Middle East Territories and Sudan, serving either in their own forces or in Commonwealth units, who died in non-operational zones of Egypt and whose graves, so situated that permanent maintenance was impossible, could not be moved to a war cemetery on national or religious grounds.

Fayid War Cemetery contains a plot with a large number of graves of German prisoners-of-war, who died in camps in the surrounding area.

In World War II, there were several large POW-camps around Fayid, with each up to 15,000 prisoners. Due to the heat and the bad circumstances, many prisoners committed suicide. Others died of diseases. Some graves date post-World War II. The last prisoners-of war were released in 1948.

Do you have more information about this location? Inform us!