​​Anns Hill Cemetery​

​​Of the 173 burials, 144 are in the Commonwealth War Grave Commission plot at the Western end. 29 men who served in the German Airforce or German Army are also buried in this plot. Some of the German Airforce burials are related to bombing raids on the South Coast from 1940 onwards. Wounded Germans who were prisoners of war from D-Day and the Battle of Normandy and died in the UK were also buried here. These men succumbed to their injuries on route or in the Ports Hospitals once ashore.

Of the Allied burials in the plot, 139 are from the UK. Three Canadians, one New Zealander and one Belgian are also buried here. Two women who died of tuberculosis, writer Gladys Stephens, and Grace Young, are also buried in the cemetery.

In relation to Operation Overlord, there are three other burials of note. Dennis Dewel was killed on 2 June 1944 during an accident with a Landing Craft Tank, when his Assault Vehicle Royal Engineer (AVRE) slid on the deck in rough seas, crushing him against the side of the craft. Ernest Brotherton was killed on 6 June. He is unlikely to have made it off his landing craft, and was either immediately killed in action off Sword Beach or died of wounds on the return. Frederick Horton of the 2nd Royal Warwickshire Regiment was also killed on 6 June. Like Brotherton, he may not have even left his landing craft, and either died of wounds or was killed at Sword Beach.

As you walk through the communal cemetery you will notice scattered graves among the many rows, marked with the distinctive Commonwealth War Grave Commission headstones. There are civilians who were killed by enemy action between 1939 and 1945 and who are also buried in the cemetery. These are private graves, with their own memorial and headstones.

Close to the CWGC plot is a memorial to those killed in bombing raids by the German Airforce on Gosport.