Australian Army Museum of Western Australia > Records

World War 2, South-West Asia, Palestine, Gaza, Deir-el-Belah, 1942

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1942

Overview

Group of soldiers outside Deir-el-Belah War Cemetery. Deir El Belah is in Palestine about 16 kilometres east of the Egyptian border, and 20 kilometres south-west of Gaza.

Historical information

On 28 February 1917, the cavalry of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force entered Khan Yunus, midway between the Egyptian border and Deir el Belah causing the Turks to withdraw to Gaza and Beersheba. The railway was pushed forward to Deir el Belah, which became the railhead in April 1917, and an aerodrome and camps were established there.

The cemetery was begun towards the end of March and remained in use until March 1919. Most of the burials were made either from field ambulances from March to June 1917, or from the 53rd, 54th, 66th and 74th Casualty Clearing Stations, and the 69th General Hospital, from April 1917 until the Armistice with Turkey. A number of graves, the majority of which were originally at Khan Yunus, were brought into the cemetery after the Armistice.

The cemetery contains 724 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, 5 of which are unidentified. The 64 casualties buried in the Indian Section are commemorated on panels in the cemetery. There are also ten war graves of other nationalities, two being unidentified.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-32-P1900.2260

Item type

Photographs

Themes

War and Conflict
War and Conflict > World War 2

Year

1942

Geotag

31.416305882177, 34.352666725917

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