Visiting Information: This cemetery is kept locked at most times and to gain access it is recommended visitors contact our Local Supervisor, Malta, at the following address: Mark Fitzgerald 68 St Paul's Court - Pioneer Road Bugibba St Paul's Bay, Malta. Tel: Home 00356 580234 Mobile 00356 9 443068
Location Information: Marsa is a village on Marsa Creek, a continuation in land of Grand Harbour, and the Cemetery is about 4.5 kilometres away by road from Valletta. The Cemetery is situated on the side of the main road that runs to Qormi just at the south-eastern corner of the Marsa Sports Club. The Cemetery is easily located by following the signs to the airport within the vicinity of the sports club. GPS Co-ordinates: 35.873642, 14.494239.
Historical Information: From the spring of 1915, the hospitals and convalescent depots established on the islands of Malta and Gozo dealt with over 135,000 sick and wounded, chiefly from the campaigns in Gallipoli and Salonika, although increased submarine activity in the Mediterranean meant that fewer hospital ships were sent to the island from May 1917. During the Second World War, Malta's position in the Mediterranean was of enormous Allied strategic importance. Heavily fortified, the island was never invaded, but was subjected to continual bombardment and blockade between Italy's entry into the war in June 1940 and the Axis defeat at El Alamein in November 1942. At the height of Axis attempts to break Malta's resistance in April 1942, the island and her people were awarded the George Cross by King George VI. Malta's defence relied upon a combined operation in which the contributions made by the three branches of the armed forces and Merchant Navy were equally crucial. Although heavily pressed in defence, offensive raids launched from the island by air and sea had a crippling effect on the Axis lines of communication with North Africa, and played a vital part in the eventual Allied success there. Turkish Military Cemetery, Marsa was made by Turkish prisoners of war during the First World War. The Turkish graves were later removed but the cemetery now contains seven Commonwealth burials of the First World War and four from the Second World War. The Commission also cares for 15 French war graves in the cemetery.