Kantara War Memorial Cemetery is situated at Kantara East on the eastern side of the Suez Canal, 160 kilometres north-east of Cairo and 50 kilometres south of Port Said. In the early part of the First World War, Kantara was an important point in the defence of Suez against Turkish attacks and marked the starting point of the new railway east towards Sinai and Palestine, begun in January 1916. Kantara developed into a major base and hospital centre and the cemetery was begun in February 1916 for burials from the various hospitals, continuing in use until late 1920. After the Armistice, the cemetery was more than doubled in size when graves were brought in from other cemeteries and desert battlefields, notably those at Rumani, Qatia, El Arish and Rafa.<!-- Frameworks --><!-- Libraries --><!-- Custom scripts --><!-- Fonts --> <style type="text/css">cufoncanvas{text-indent:0!important;}@media screen{cvml\:shape,cvml\:rect,cvml\:fill,cvml\:shadow{behavior:url(#default#VML)!important;display:block!important;antialias:true!important;position:absolute!important;}cufoncanvas{position:absolute!important;text-align:left!important;}cufon{display:inline-block!important;position:relative!important;vertical-align:text-bottom!important;}cufon cufontext{position:absolute!important;left:-10000in!important;font-size:1px!important;}a cufon{cursor:pointer}}@media print{cufon cufoncanvas{display:none!important;}} </style>