Discover Commonwealth War Graves in Kenya

Mentioning the two world wars immediately evokes the bloody trench fighting of the Western Front, the Invasion of Normandy and the jungle fighting in Burma. But some of the hardest fighting of both wars took place in the harsh climates of Africa. Discover more about the world wars in East Africa and find out more about Commonwealth war graves in Kenya.

Kenya in World War I

At the outbreak of the war, much of Africa was under the control of European colonial powers including Great Britain, Germany, France, Belgium and Portugal. This influence meant that the European war overspilled into Africa.

Some of the earliest fighting of the war happened in Africa, in fact the first shot of the war by a British soldier was fired in Togo by Regimental Sergeant-Major Alhaji Grunshi of the Gold Coast Regiment.

Much of East Africa was split between British East Africa, now Kenya, and German East Africa, now Tanzania. When war was declared, these two powers faced each other across a long border. Initial fighting was piecemeal, such as German raiding parties crossing the border, and the British Naval bombardment of Dar es Salaam. One of the major battles of the early years of the war in East Africa was the amphibious attack on the port of Tanga by the Indian Expeditionary Force. Despite a strong advantage in numbers, the attack failed.

During 1915 British naval forces gained control of Lake Tanganyika, while a large force was assembled in British East Africa consisting of Indian, South African, British and locally-raised troops, supported by a large Carrier Corps of African porters and labourers. In March 1916, British forces under the command of South African general Jan Smuts, fresh from victory in German South West Africa, launched an invasion of German East Africa.

The capital Dar es Salaam was quickly captured but, despite being isolated and heavily outnumbered, German forces under the command of Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck conducted a successful retreat into the country’s interior. Over the next two years, Allied troops pursued German forces in a gruelling campaign, failing to inflict a decisive victory. The war in Africa only came to an end after news reached von Lettow-Vorbeck of the armistice on the Western Front, and German forces formally surrendered on 25 November 1918.

Kenya in World War II

Throughout the war, Kenya was caught between two enemy forces. To the North, Italian East Africa, an area of east Africa that today makes up Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia. To the East lay the Indian ocean where vital trade routes between Allied forces in Europe, Africa and Asia were at constant risk of attack by enemy raiders.

Much of the fighting in Kenya during the war occurred at the northern Kenyan border against Italian forces in East Africa. The Italian forces, who also had British forces on the northern border of their African holdings, were squeezed between two fronts. Initially, the Italian forces attacked the borders of Kenya and Sudan, as well as threatening the Suez canal in the North and capturing British Somaliland.

In response, the British planned a three-pronged attack. In early 1941, forces from Sudan attacked into Eritrea, while troops from Kenya advanced north into Italian Somaliland and an amphibious attack landed to retake British Somaliland. These three forces advanced into Ethiopia and the campaign eventually ended with the Battle of Gondar in November 1941. This spelt the end of any official Italian presence in East Africa, although guerrilla forces continued to harass British troops until the official Italian surrender in 1943.

The vastness and difficulties of the terrain in East Africa are exemplified by the story of Blenheim Z7763, which crashed near Mount Kenya in 1942 and lay undiscovered for 60 years. Such was the remoteness of the crash that the plane was not recovered until 2016. Upon recovery, the four South African Air Force airmen were identified and buried at CWGC Nanyuki War Cemetery. (Left: Bristol Blenhiem IWM CM 3108)

One of the major operations in the region during World War Two was Operation Ironclad, an amphibious invasion of Madagascar in 1942. The island was under the control of Vichy France and was a strong strategic position that would allow Japanese submarines a base from which to attack Allied shipping.

The attack began on 5 May 1942 with the aim of capturing the important port of Diego Suarez. On 6 May, the destroyer HMS Anthony steamed straight past the harbour defences of Diego Suarez and landed 50 Royal Marines to the rear of the Vichy forces. The following day the garrison surrendered, and the French governor-general of Madagascar agreed to negotiate.

Despite this, most of the island remained out of Allied control. In September, Commonwealth forces, including troops from East and South Africa, began a series of amphibious landings around the island. On 6 November, the governor-general agreed to an armistice.

Kenyan War Dead

In World War One, Kenyan combatant troops raised for the East African campaign numbered at least 10,500. They largely served with the King’s African Rifles, a mixture of British soldiers and men from across East Africa.

Kenya also provided nearly 200,000 non-combatant porters, stevedores and followers, largely serving in the Military Labour Corps. These men provided vital support to military operations in East Africa, transporting valuable supplies and equipment across difficult terrain that was often impassable for vehicles. At least 26,000 Kenyans serving in these capacities were killed in action or died of sickness or wounds.

(Right: Men of the Kings African Rifles IWM Q 34470)

Remembering and Commemorating Kenyan War Dead

After the war, the Commission faced considerable difficulties with the commemoration of servicemen who had died in East Africa. In the vast majority of cases, the military authorities had not marked the graves of Indian and African servicemen during the war, leaving little in the way of physical evidence on the ground. In the war’s aftermath, the same authorities were unable to provide the IWGC with detailed lists of the dead.

Believing few records or war grave locations existed, but also wrongly assuming that African ethnic groups would not value European forms of commemoration, the Commission allowed most graves to “revert to nature” and constructed symbolic but nameless memorials for these casualties.

Where East African servicemen had been buried in permanent military cemeteries, the Commission typically did commemorate them by name. However, for the vast majority of East Africans who died in the war, the Commission’s three African memorials – one in Tanzania at Dar es Salaam, and two in Kenya at Mombasa and Nairobi – serve as points of commemoration.

Working in Kenya following the Non-Commemoration report

Following the release of the Non-Commemoration report in April 2021, the Commission has been working to right the historical wrongs outlined in the report of the Special Committee.

One of the key areas of interest is the search for names in East Africa, with priority given to the search for names in the CWGC Archive and in other archives across the UK, Kenya and Tanzania. By the end of 2021, we had found the names of 6065 men predominantly from East Africa, and had begun the process of verifying and accepting them into our war records.

We have also been looking at partnerships in Africa, India and the United Kingdom with the aim of engaging local communities with the culture, heritage and stories of those not commemorated. Our first such event took place at Kariokor in Nairobi, where local students found out more about the history of the world wars in Kenya and researched some of the casualties commemorated there.

Explore Commonwealth War Graves in Kenya

There are 38 Commonwealth war graves and sites in Kenya. Find out more about them, and some of the stories of the men commemorated there.

You can discover more about the CWGC sites in Kenya including visiting information and more about the records we maintain through our Cemeteries and War Memorials search tool.