Almost 1,000 fallen soldiers of the forces of the British Commonwealth were laid to rest on the 1 hectare great area designed by the British architect Philip Hepworth. Soldiers from Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Poland are buried here.
The casualties buried here were mainly soldiers of the Royal Air Force but also soldiers from other services who were killed in Northern Germany during World War II and who were transferred to Kiel.
Each grave is marked by a headstone of English sandstone on which as far as it is known the rank, age and date of death is engraved. Furthermore on each headstone the regimental emblem and on some headstones an inscription chosen by the relatives can be found.
The Kiel War Cemetery is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and not by the federal state capital Kiel. This Commission maintains War Cemeteries throughout the world.
The principles of the Commission say that each of the dead should be commemorated individually by name either on the headstone or by an inscription on a memorial. The headstones should be uniform. There should be made no distinction on account of military or civil rank, race or creed.
The area is characterised by the Hall of Honour built in the classicist style with the Stone of Remembrance situated in front of it and the Cross of Sacrifice visible from far away.
In the Hall of Honour a niche can be found which contains a small booklet entitled “The War Dead Of The British Commonwealth And Empire”. In this booklet all wartime incidents starting with the landing of the Allied Forces in Normandy and ending with May 1945 are depicted as well as the names of the soldiers buried here, the location of their graves and their identifcation data.