CWGC War Cemetery at Kandy

Initially known as Pitakande Military Cemetery, it was originally obtained by the British military authorities and then became a permanent war cemetery under the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). The cemetery holds war graves moved from various locations, including Divatalawa Boer Military Cemetery, Galkissa General Cemetery, Kandy Civil Cemetery, and Mahaiyawa Cemetery, among others. The cemetery includes a Special Memorial which was erected to honor a naval serviceman whose grave location is unknown. In total, the cemetery contains 197 Commonwealth burials from the Second World War, one Commonwealth burial from the First World War, four Foreign National burials, and two non-world war burials.

Towards the final phase of World War II, Kandy became the headquarters of both Britain’s South East Asia Command (SEAC) (from April 1944), previously based in Singapore, and for Britain’s Special Operations Executive’s (SOE) far eastern branch, Force 136 (from December 1944), previously based in Delhi. The United States’ Office of Strategic Services (OSS) also operated a detachment out of Kandy that was attached to SEAC. From Kandy, Force 136 mounted and supported clandestine operations in Japanese-occupied Southeast Asia for the rest of the war.