Every year in May the Friends of the British Cemetery honour the Regiments who fought at Albuera on 16 May 1811. We also remember those who fell at Badajoz.
Elvas was the key to the defence of the Alentejo and the southern invasion route. Elvas has not been taken by storm since D. Sancho II captured it from the Moors in 1228. A short tour of the massive fortifications gives some indication of why.
May Remembrance Ceremony 2010
Click on each photo to enlarge
2010 is the bicentenary of the battle of Buçaco and the Lines of Torres Vedras, truly the turning point of the war.
The annual May ceremony of The Friends of the British Cemetery took place on Friday, 14th May in Elvas, Portugal and was attended by the British Ambassador and Knights of the Order of Malta, who presented an antique light to be hung in the newly restored Chapel of S. João da Corujeira,
On Saturday 15th May there was a talk in the Elvas library by Mick Crumplin, the leading authority on medical matters in the Peninsular War.
