Digboi War Cemetery
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| Digboi War Cemetery | |
|---|---|
| Commonwealth War Graves Commission | |
 Panoramic view of Digboi War Cemetery | |
 | |
| For Commonwealth soldiers of the Second World War | |
| Established | 1940s |
| Location | 27°24′14″N 95°39′28″E / 27.40394°N 95.65767°E Digboi, Assam, India |
| Designed by | Commonwealth War Graves Commission |
| Total burials | 200 |
Unknowns | 6 |
| Burials by war | |
| |
| Statistics source: Commonwealth War Graves Commission | |
Digboi War Cemetery is a Commonwealth war cemetery located in Digboi, in the Tinsukia district of Assam, India. It commemorates soldiers of the Second World War who died during the Burma Campaign and related military operations in Northeast India. The cemetery is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC).[1]
Digboi is situated in the northeastern corner of Assam, near the India–Myanmar border, on the historic road to Ledo. The cemetery lies approximately 1.5 kilometres from the main India Oil (Assam) Works on the road leading to Pengaree Tea Estate.[1]
History
During the Second World War (1939–1945), Assam served as a crucial operational zone for Allied forces engaged in the Burma Campaign. Due to its proximity to the Indo-Burma frontier, Digboi became an important logistical and medical centre, where a military hospital was established to treat casualties.[2]
The cemetery was initially created to accommodate burials from this military hospital. By the end of the war, approximately 70 burials had been recorded.[3][1]
In the post-war period, graves from various temporary burial grounds in the region—including Panitola, Jorhat, Ledo, Margherita, and Tinsukia—were relocated to Digboi for centralized maintenance by the Army Graves Service.[2][1]
Additionally, graves were transferred from a former United States military cemetery at Shingbwiyang in Burma (now Myanmar), reflecting the multinational nature of Allied operations in the region.[3][1]
Relocation
The original cemetery site was situated on a spur near the military hospital. However, the 1950 Assam–Tibet earthquake and subsequent landslides rendered the location unstable.[3]
Subsequent landslides, particularly in 1953 due to heavy rainfall, further endangered the cemetery, making relocation necessary.[1]
As a result, the cemetery was relocated in the early 1950s to its present site, approximately 1.5 km from the Indian Oil Centre in Digboi, where it remains safe from erosion and geological disturbances.[2][1]
Description
The Digboi War Cemetery contains 200 burials of the Second World War, comprising 197 Commonwealth and 3 non-Commonwealth graves (including one Italian, one American, and one Belgian serviceman).[1]
Most of the graves belong to British and Indian servicemen who died between 1939 and 1945, with a small number of unidentified burials.[4]
Like other CWGC cemeteries worldwide, the site features uniform headstones arranged in orderly rows, reflecting the Commission’s principle of equal commemoration regardless of rank, race, or creed.[5]
An annual remembrance ceremony is held, typically on the second Saturday of November, during which prayers from multiple religious traditions—including the Bible, Guru Granth Sahib, Bhagavad Gita, and Quran—are recited in honour of the fallen soldiers.[3][6]
