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 Moeuvres Communal Cemetery Extension

 

 

 

Moeuvres was the scene of heavy fighting during the initial stages of the Battle of Cambrai, with the 9th (North Irish Horse) Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers participating in the 36th (Ulster) Division's attack on the village on 22 and 23 November 1917. For most of the men recently transferred-in from the 2nd Regiment North Irish Horse, this was their first full-blooded battle. Although the village was briefly captured it could not be held in the face of a heavy German counter-attack. The Battalion lost one Officer killed and six wounded, with 82 Other Ranks listed as casualties. The Officer, 2nd Lieutenant Lawrence Henry Martin, is buried at Moeuvres Communal Cemetery Extension (see photograph below) alongside 564 other Commonwealth casualties. The inscription on his gravestone reads:

SECOND LIEUTENANT

L. H. MARTIN

ROYAL IRISH FUSILIERS

23RD NOVEMBER 1917 AGE 20

THEIR BODIES

ARE BURIED IN PEACE

THEIR NAME

LIVETH FOR EVERMORE

 

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