Polish War Cemetery in Iraq

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henryk
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Polish War Cemetery in Iraq

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Post by henryk » 22 Aug 2014, 19:35

http://www.thenews.pl/1/10/Artykul/1795 ... remembered
Iraqi Khanaqin cemetery remembered
PR dla Zagranicy Peter Gentle 22.08.2014 12:09
Poland’s embassy in Baghdad has released photos of a former burial ground of WWII-era Polish soldiers in Khanaqin, an area under threat by ISIS jihadists in north east Iraq.
photo - bagdad.msz.gov.pl/pl
The cemetery was set up in 1942 after Polish servicemen who had been prisoners of war in Russia made the long trek south to join up with British and Commonwealth fighters in Iraq. Many died form illness after the long march and hundred of Poles were buried at Khanaqin, north east of Baghdad and close to the Iranian border and the area now controlled by Kurdish Iraqis. Together with the 3rd Carpathian Division already in the Middle East, the men formed the Polish Army in the East (ed not the Soviet controlled Polish Army of the East) and remained in the Khanaqin area for some time, organising, training and assembling equipment.
After the war, the cemetery became difficult to maintain and in 1965, it was decided to construct a memorial in Baghdad’s North Gate Cemetery to commemorate the 104 Commonwealth and 439 Polish servicemen buried in Khanaqin. The Polish Embassy in Iraq has released photos, taken in July this year, of the cemetery, at a time when the area has become a battlefield, with ISIS jihadist insurgents fighting Kurdish Peshmerge troops and Shia militia close to Baquba, the regions capital. (pg)
http://bagdad.msz.gov.pl/pl/wspolpraca_ ... r_cemetery
A number of photos are shown. Slightly polished Google translation.
Khanaqin War Cemetery
Khanaqin and the nearby Qizil Ribat were one of the main places of stationing of the Polish Army of General. Wladyslaw Anders in Iraq. Due to the state of health of the evacuees from the USSR, Polish soldiers and refugees, who had experienced Soviet prisons, labor camps, deportations, and then forced marches, there was created a large field hospital soon after their arrival in September 1942,.

Bogdan Skaradziński described the place: "On one of the slopes, on the TIE chimneys and pipes refinery, huge silver tanks. U stop those tanks at the bottom of the basin (...). High metal mesh separates the large square, with lush as Iraq grass, which - aligned in military ranks - are stuck white stone tablets with pointed tops. Robust gate forged in a thick chain with a padlock (....) Does not look to me like a cemetery. Neither ounce, or weeping willows, nor sorrow. movin to at that strange stone arrays (...) because the stone is bright and the characters undyed. At the top of a large eagle with a crown. On the inscription: Polish Forces, referred to as rank, name, military unit assigned, date and place of birth, date of of death. pattern faithfully repeated, long rows until the monotony (...). 438 of the graves are Polish. Also in the Khanaqin Cemetery, in a separate area are 98 Indian soldiers. "

the Cemetery in Khanaqin occupies an area of ​​several thousand square meters. Zbigniew Dunin Wilczynski says that the cemetery was designed and constructed in 1969-1970. Due to the tense situation with Iran and the location of the refinery complex, the cemetery remained completely inaccessible to tourists. In addition, due to the political and social conditions, it was difficult to keep the necropolis in an appropriate manner. That is why in September 1965 it was decided to build a memorial in the Baghdad North Gate War Cemetery, commemorating those buried at the Cemetery in Khanaqin: 104 Allied soldiers coming of the British Commonwealth, 438 soldiers of the Polish Army in the East, and three Arab soldiers.

We provide contemporary photos of the area, where in 1942-43 were the camp, hospital and cemetery Poles, soldiers and civilians >>>

February 27, 2013
Andrzejewski - Butkiewicz

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