Egypt/Palestine 1916-1918

[michaeldr]

quote from the CWGC:

"Haifa was captured by the Mysore and Jodhpur Lancers on 23 September 1918 and the 33rd Combined Clearing Hospital was moved to the town on the 15 October. Haifa War Cemetery, which was originally part of the German cemetery, was used mainly for hospital burials, but some graves were brought in from the battlefields."

Can anyone account in more detail for the phrase

"but some graves were brought in from the battlefields"?

We touched on this question when we remembered Saddler Ahmed Abdor Rahman died 6 Oct 1916 (Haifa Indian Cemetery)

ie why did they carry the body so far from Sinai to Haifa, passing on the way cemeteries at Gaza (2), Beersheva, Ramleh and Jerusalem?

Looking at the adjacent Haifa War Cemetery it seems that this anomaly is more common than was thought, for there are in the Haifa War Cemetery

1st/4th Norfolks: 2 from May 1917

1st/5th Norfolks: 4 from May, 1 from September and 1 from December 1917

1st/8th Hampshires: 2 from May 1917

1st/4th Essex, ALH, London Regiment (Finsbury Rifles): each with 1 from May 1917

1st/4th Welsh: 1 from July 1917

MGC (Cav) 21st Sqdn: 1 from January 1918

Any ideas?

Thanks

Michael

[wroclaw]

Michael

Could it be that these are people who died in captivity and buried in marked graves by captors? Otherwise it seems that there is no plausible reason for such a number of cases….

Unfortunately in all cases I inquired about the location of "field" burials in this region, the documentation did not exist at the CWGC.

BTW – since you are well into the issue of the Haifa cemeteries, maybe you could help me solve a small mystery created by some pictures posted in a local discussion forum. A guy who visited the museum at the former British mandate time Jerusalem prison ("Russian Yard") pictured defected headstones that are said to have been made by inmates (and left there since they were damaged during the work). One of these headstones carries the name of a police officer at the PPF who died at 1946 from natural causes (we made contact with the organization of veterans of that force in the UK) and is buried in Haifa. The question is how come headstones that were destined to the Haifa cemeteries, was curved in Jerusalem…

Any idea?

[michaeldr]

Sorry Gal, I've no ideas on the headstone

Employment for prisoners has traditionally been simple stuff like sewing mail bags. This is a slightly more intellectual occupation, but why carve the headstone in Jerusalem if it was destined for Haifa? Surely there was someone closer who could have handled the job, without all the transport problems for the finished article. If the correct headstone is in Haifa then it must be at the HAIFA (SHARON) BRITISH CIVIL CEMETERY as I understand that the Jaffa Road group was closed before 1946

Back to my original post & enquiry

Yes it is a possibility that they were prisoners

but at the time when we discussed Ahmed Abdor Rahman, we thought it unlikely in his case, given his behind-the-lines trade of 'saddler.'

Thanks for your thoughts