FORLI INDIAN ARMY WAR CEMETERY

LOCATION

Take the autostrada A14, Bologna to Ancona and exit at Forli. Follow the road into the town of Forli for about 3 kilometres and the Indian War Cemetery can be found on the left hand side, opposite the Communal Cemetery. Within the cemetery, is the Forli Cremation Memorial commemorating over 700 Hindu and Sikh officers and men of the Indian Army who were killed in the fighting in Central Italy between 16th April 1944, and October 1944, and during the attacks on the Gothic Line and the final breakthrough, August 1944 untill April 1945, and whose bodies were cremated. This is one of three Indian cremation memorials in Italy, the others being in Sangro River War Cemetery and in Rimini Gurkha War Cemetery.

CEMETERY INFORMATION

The site of the cemetery was selected in December 1944 by the 10th Indian Division, which had come into the line in the Adriatic sector south of Cesena at the beginning of October 1944. The division had played an important part in the heavy fighting, in appalling weather, between then and the end of the year, suffering considerable casualties. It had been preceded on the Eighth Army front by the 4th Indian Division which had left to go to Greece, and during the fighting in the spring of 1945, the 8th Indian Division also fought on this front. Forli Indian Army War Cemetery contains 496 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War. Within the cemetery, is the Forli Cremation Memorial commemorating nearly 800 Hindu and Sikh officers and men of the Indian Army. This is one of three Indian cremation memorials in Italy, the others being in Sangro River War Cemetery and in Rimini Gurkha War Cemetery.

Forli Cremation Memorial

©Paul Reed 2006