In January and February 1942, the redeployment of the Polish Armed Forces in the USSR (General Anders' Army) from the Russian Federative Soviet Socialist Republic to the Central Asian republics took place. Units of the 7th Infantry Division were located in what was then the Navarre region. Karmana was home to Epidemic Hospital No. 2 and Soviet Hospital No. 4460.
Many soldiers of the 7th Infantry Division and civilian Poles died as a result of the typhus epidemic, as well as general exhaustion. Of those who were laid to rest in the Karmana-City cemetery, the majority died in Soviet Hospital No. 4460. They were initially buried next to the Uzbek cemetery, but soon a separate area, surrounded by an earth embankment with an entrance gate, was set aside. On assuming command of the division on 21 April 1942, Colonel Leopold Okulicki unveiled a monument in this cemetery, designed and executed by the soldiers.
In 1994, there was a visit to Uzbekistan by a Polish delegation who, during their visit to the cemetery located in the town of Karmana, found that only a small part of it had been preserved. Fragments of three gravestones remained in two opposite corners of a plot measuring approximately 10 x 15 m - a plaque, lying almost in the area of the present road, which reads: "Ewa Kruszyńska / z Wiśniewskich/ 1910-6.V.1942 / Honour her luminous memory / Under Your protection we take refuge/ Holy Mother of God", a gravestone with a text that is difficult to read: "sap. Eng. Orłowski / Witold / 1903 27 II 1942 / daughter", as well as the aforementioned monument from 1942 with an engraved eagle and the inscription: "Let no one weep / over the grave / with this / Let no one sob / with a word of complaint / Trapped only dust / wandering / Spirit creates with us / Poland new".
After the visit of the Polish delegation, the three preserved tombstones were partly renovated by the local authorities, while the remains exhumed in the built-up parts of the cemetery were deposited at the obelisk. The plot, however, has not been fenced off.
As part of the work carried out in 2001 by the Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites, the 120 m2 plot was separated by a fence made of steel rods and stone elements. A new central monument was erected in the depths - a milepost with a characteristic perpendicular shape, uniform for all rebuilt cemeteries in Central Asia, topped with an eagle bas-relief. Its form refers to the soldier's wandering. Engraved on the monument is the text: Here rest / Poles / 207 soldiers / of the Polish Army / in the East / Gen. Wl. Anders/ and civilians / former prisoners of war / prisoners / of Soviet camps / who died in 1942 / on their way to their homeland / Honour their memory. On either side of it, plaques were placed with 207 names of the deceased soldiers. On the created symbolic rows of graves tombstones with the relief of a cross were placed. Two original gravestones and a surviving memorial from 1942 were restored.
In 2014. OPWiM Council replaced the name plates to make them more legible. On this occasion a correction of the inscriptions was made. There are currently 210 soldiers and 56 civilians commemorated here, whose names have been determined from the records of the Gen Sikorski Archives and Museum in London.
Following the liquidation of the OPWiM Council, the care of the cemetery is financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. In 2017. The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage replaced the plaques at the entrance to the cemetery informing about the institution taking care of it (two plaques - in Polish and Uzbek).
The Ministry is conducting research work to establish a census of civilians buried in cemeteries in Central Asia. The acquisition of new archival sources will allow the lists of the buried to be re-verified. This is of great importance in the case of the two cemeteries in Karmana, as there are discrepancies in the available documentation regarding the location of some burials.

Compiled by R. Piątek / MKiDN, X 2025