Salonika (Lembet Road) Military Cemetery

• Country Greece
• Total identified casualties 1683 Find these casualties
• Identified casualties from First World War
• GPS Coordinates Latitude: 40.65392, Longitude: 22.93469

Location information

The Cemetery is located at 192 Langada Street on the Serres highway approximately 2 km north of Thessaloniki city centre on the west side of Langada Street. The cemetery is inside a very large, mainly First World War Allied cemetery containing Serbian, French and Italian casualties and is known locally as ‘’Zeitenlik’’ and is to the rear of the Serbian, French and Italian sections. The main entrance to the CWGC cemetery is clearly signposted on Langada Street.

Visiting information

PARKING

There is a large parking area with a flagstone and tile surface where there are parking spaces for up to six vehicles.

The parking area for the Allied Military Cemetery is close to the Cross of Sacrifice, within 2 metres of main entrance.

ACCESS, LAYOUT & MAIN ENTRANCE

The main entrance to the cemetery has a double metal gate, approximately 4 metres wide and is close to the Cross of Sacrifice.

At the main gate there is a steep ramp directing visitors to a second entrance near trees at the side of the cemetery.

There are seating areas scattered around the main cemetery.

Most of the internal paths are flat, some may be uneven because of gravel, tree and hedgerow roots.

The Register Box for the (Allied Military Cemetery) is located on the right-hand side of the Stone of Remembrance. The stone of remembrance is on a stone platform where the ground slopes downwards, leaving an uneven level step from the paving to the grass.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The cemetery is permanently open.

There is a prominent memorial to Katherine Harley, Benefactor of the Serbian people, who helped create the Women’s Emergency Corps during the First World War.

History information

At the invitation of the Greek Prime Minister, M.Eleftherios Venizelos, Salonika (now Thessaloniki) was occupied by three French Divisions and the 10th (Irish) Division from Gallipoli in October 1915. Other French and Commonwealth forces landed during the year and in the summer of 1916, they were joined by Russian and Italian troops. In August 1916, a Greek revolution broke out at Salonika, with the result that the Greek national army came into the war on the Allied side.

The town was the base of the British Salonika Force and it contained, from time to time, eighteen general and stationary hospitals. Three of these hospitals were Canadian, although there were no other Canadian units in the force.

The earliest Commonwealth burials took place in the local Protestant and Roman Catholic cemeteries. Salonika (Lembet Road) Military Cemetery (formerly known as the Anglo-French Military Cemetery) was begun in November 1915 and Commonwealth, French, Serbian, Italian and Russian sections were formed. The Commonwealth section remained in use until October 1918, although from the beginning of 1917, burials were also made in Mikra British Cemetery. After the Armistice, some graves were brought in from other cemeteries in Macedonia, Albania and from Scala Cemetery, near Cassivita, on the island of Thasos.

There are now 1,648 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. The Commonwealth plot also contains 45 Bulgarian and one Serbian war graves.