Reykjavik is in the south-western part of the island. The Fossvogur Cemetery lies south of the town on the road to Hafnarfjordur in two plots about 90 metres apart.
Iceland was under Allied occupation for much of the Second World War, primarily to guard against possible German invasion, but the considerable air and naval forces based there also provided an important link in the defensive chain across the Atlantic for the protection of shipping. Commonwealth land forces were relieved by the Americans in October 1942, but the naval and air force presence was maintained until 1945. No 50 General Hospital was based at Reykjavik from June 1940 to March 1942 and No 30 General Hospital from July 1940 to September 1941. This civil cemetery has two war graves plots containing a total of 199 commonwealth burials. Four of these burials were made in the Summer of 2000 when weather conditions made it possible to recover remains from an aircraft that had crashed into a glacier in 1941. The war graves plots also contain one Russian and eight Norwegian war graves, and eight non-war burials.
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