French war dead

It’s not easy to find a definitive list of burials online, so we’ve compiled a cemetery register.

The list is derived from two sources.

An early cemetery register, transcribed by the French embassy in Ankara in 2015. The first four columns hold data from this list.
The website MemorialGenWeb.org, whose volunteers have researched names against casualty records. These columns are labelled with the prefix ‘MGW’. The link takes you to the MemorialGenWeb.org website which details the man's background, service and more.

We describe below how the data has been compiled.

Early typewritten register. Image: booklet produced by the French embassy in Ankara, 2015.

List of burials

List of burials, French military cemetery, Seddul-Bahr

How the data was compiled

The data is derived from two lists. We used the grave number as the key.

One list was derived from the transcript of an early cemetery register, published in 2015 by the French embassy in Ankara.

It seems that the French embassy had access to two registers, one ordered by grave number, the other by name. The former was found to be more reliable, and was used for the transcript.
Notes made during the transcription are recorded in the column Observations. They record the discrepancies between the two registers.
The booklet’s author cautions that comprehensive research was not conducted at the time, nor should the list be considered definitive.
The first four columns in our spreadsheet were derived from this list.

Another list was scraped from MemorialGenWeb.org.

MemorialGenWeb is run by volunteers. Jean-Claude Stella is credited on the page for the Seddul-Bahr cemetery. We assume that he and other volunteers walked the cemetery and recorded names and grave numbers.
The MemorialGenWeb list is especially useful, as the volunteers have matched names to personnel records.
The columns in our spreadsheet prefixed 'MGW' hold data from the MemorialGenWeb list.

In addition, we made minor corrections and additions to the list. For example, adding the 17 men found in 2022 during excavation work at Seddul-Bahr castle.

Using and re-using the data

Licence

The data from MemorialGenWeb.org is made available under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 licence.

The spreadsheet on this page is made available with the same licence.

Use this list with caution

Names often have variant spellings, are incomplete or misspelled.

Errors might have crept in when we performed OCR on the booklet, scraped the MemorialGenWeb website, or merged the data.

Updating the data

How to update the list on this website

Please contact us.

How to correct errors on grave markers

Requests should be made to the French ministry of defence, direction des Patrimoines, de la Mémoire et des Archives (DPMA).

The French cemetery at Seddul-bahr. In the middle distance stands the Turkish Abide monument atop Eski Hissarlik at the entrance to the Dardanelles. Image: Serpil and Bill Sellars.

Visiting the French military cemetery

The best way to get there is by car.

Two main roads run south from Eceabat and Kilid Bahir, the crossing points from Çanakkale. There is good signage. Plenty of parking is available at the cemetery.
Taxis can be found at Eceabat and Kilid Bahir. They are metred, with the fare on the rear-view mirror.
If you'd like a local travel company to arrange transport or a guided tour, contact Crowded House Tours.

Local buses are an option but not for those with a tight schedule.

Minibuses run from Kilid Bahir. Look for buses going to Seddülbahir and Abide, the main Turkish monument.
Ask for Fransız Mezarlığı (Frahn-suhz Mez-ahr-luh).
Getting back can be difficult unless you arrange a time with the driver. You can walk to the Abide monument and wait, or walk back to Alçıtepe village (7 km, 90 minutes) and explore locations like the Quadrilateral on the way.

Cemetery plan

Graves are numbered from 1 to 2256 and laid out sequentially. There are no plots. If you’re facing the main memorial, grave number 1 is at the far left corner of the row closest to the memorial.

To find a grave, Geneanet.org has a useful map.