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Eastern Libya, World War Two Battle Grounds-Military War Graves
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This is
the War Graves and Cemeteries page of Travels in Libya
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World War
Two Cemeteries are around Tobruk about 1500 kilomtres east of
Tripoli, the capital of Libya. We
had arrived in Tobruk the night before
and had had a busy evening looking
for food and
looking unsuccessfully for Rommel's
Bunker. The next morning we had an unpleasant breakfast
of bread, cheese triangles made of synthetic plastic cheese
and jam. My Sainsbury's coffee bags were wonderful and I will never
travel without them again. We
left the hotel and drove out to the French war cemetery.
The graves, marked by crosses, are all around the perimeter
of the cemetery. There is a monument in the middle with
a description in French and English of the battle. It
is very upsetting. But also stirring. |
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is a very sad but great tale of victory. A
force of three thousand men fought a valiant battle against
the massed ranks of The German Africa Corps at the Battle of
Bir Hakeim. Such
was the importance of the battle that Romell came to lead the
combat. The Free
French Army at the time, as you can see from the names on the
graves, consisted of men from all over the world.
There are French, Congolese, Vietnamese, German, Italian,
Polish, American, Muslim and Jewish names.
Ironically their leader was Colonel Koenig: German, probably
French Foreign Legion.
Their successful defence of the area allowed the British
Army to reach El Alamein in Egypt where a famous decisive victory
was eventually achieved.
The French forces were trapped and surrounded behind
enemy lines but they managed to dramatically blow their way
out and escape to rejoin the British troops. Some might
consider their losses relatively low given the might of the
Africa Korps and the reputation of Rommel. The
bravery of the soldiers at this battle strategically facilitated
Montgomery's victory at El Alameinin Egypt. |
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| We then
moved on to the Commonwealth Cemetery where there are thousands
of graves and the inscriptions on the graves are terribly sad:
So many very young men of nineteen and twenty. |
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The entrance
to the Commonwealth Cemetery |
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The thousands of graves stretching into
the distance is such a grim site |
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The
gravestones record in detail the soldiers' unit, and battalion
and their jobs be it sharpshooters or pilots, tank crew or
artillerymen. Some
inscriptions read:
"He died for his king and country, his mum and dad and his brother and
sister" ;
"Only
A beautiful memory, but its sweetness will last, Mam dad brother
and sister";
At
rest, To Live in the hearts of those we love is not to die":
"It
needs no special day to bring you to our mind," Days
with no thought of you are very hard to find;"
Others are quotes and paraphrases from the bible, Shakespeare,
or poetry," what greater gift can a man give than give his life for those who he loves."
And the
grimly laconic Australian "Duty done." It
makes me sad just writing about it now. The seemingly
endless lines of graves recede into the distance. |
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A
moment of somber contemplation |
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| I have
visited war cemeteries all over the world but these were truly
the most upsetting. We left
to visit the German war memorial,
which is an enormous four-towered sand coloured castle. |
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| Access
is gained by getting the key from the local shepherd.
The inside of the castle is done in forbidding black
gloss, mat black and slate gray.
A soviet style realist bas-relief in gray slate depicts
the tank crews of the Africa Korps with their military overalls
and classic forage caps.
The walls are black slate engraved with the names of
thousands of the dead soldiers. There
are no details about which outfit they came from or which unit
or what their jobs were. Some
people think this is symbolic of the anonymity of death being
the great leveler but others see this as an assimilation of
the German Army into, and the glorification of, the Africa Korps. |
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| This is
a gothic, depressing, somber place where a large black steel
cupola supported by four angels of death holds an eternal flame,
which has gone out |
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I noticed
from the visitors' book that the British Ambassador had been
there the week before.
Also Peter Greenaway who made that terrible movie '
The Draughtsman's Lunch Pack.' We
left this grim place behind to visit a place called
Al Birdi about 150 kilometers east
of Tobruk.
We
were looking for the cell of a British POW who during his
four year incarceration had painted murals with mud and charcoal
on the wall of his cell to stop himself going mad.
After
we visited Al Birdi and the immediate
surrounding area we returned to Tobruk and paid a successful
visit to Rommel's Bunker
before taking the Derna road out
of town to visit the British war graves at the
Knightsbridge Acroma Cemetery.
As with
the other cemeteries this is naturally a somber place with
the graves of thousands of young men from all over the world. |
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The shadow
is saluting. |
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Mohamed
the cemetery manager showed me the grave of one rifle man, J
Beeley, who had earned a Victoria Cross and later showed me
the formal citation and description of his actions recorded
from official dispatches and reproduced in the 1950s British
Legion handbook. The inscription
on the grave reads: "They bade goodbye to the days of
peace to die for gains they will not share".
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| I walked up
to the the large crucifix in the distance and contemplated
the the terrain of the area where such terrible battles had
been fought. |
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| We had
tea with Mohamed and his young son who was learning the job
from his dad as Mohamed had from his dad.
This cemetery, like the others we had visited, was immaculately
maintained, watered, (no mean feat in the Libyan desert) and the plants,
trees and foliage were blooming in an orderly way. Mohamed
showed us the book by Michael Palin, which goes with the TV
series about traveling in the Sahara.
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| On the
right is Mohamed our driver actually holding the book by Michael
Palin. Mohamed the cemetery manager is pouring the tea as his
son Mohamed looks on. |
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There
was no litter or graffiti and the Jewish graves had not been
desecrated. Note the Star of David between two Christian
crosses. I do not know which regiment is represented
by the antelope's head on the upper part of the grave stone
but there were many of them in this part of the cemetery.
Credit
must be given to the hard working Libyan men and women who
toil in the searing desert temperatures to keep these places
beautiful and orderly.
Credit also to The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
and to the British Legion.
No credit to the British Labour Government who, under
Tony Blair, as a cost cutting exercise, cut the pensions and
tiny salaries of the war graves cemetery attendants throughout
the world. After having
a cup of tea with Mohamed and his son we set off down the
beautiful coastal road for Derna
and the eastern Jebal Akdar or
Green Mountain.
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Derna Libya, North Africa. March
2006.
TRAVELS
IN LIBYA You are on the Cemeteries and War graves page.
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