Historical
Information: |
The Cemetery was in fact
begun by French troops in August, 1915,
but it was first used as a British Cemetery
by the 47th (London) Division in January,
1916. During the greater part of the
War it was a front-line cemetery, protected
from enemy observation by a slight rise
in the ground, and used by fighting
units and Field Ambulances. Plot II
was begun in April, 1917, by the 46th
(North Midland) Division. By the middle
of October, 1918, Plot III, Row A and
part of Row B, had been filled; and
the remainder of Plot III and the ends
of certain rows in Plot I contain the
remains of soldiers buried on the battlefields,
or in small cemeteries, North and East
of Grenay, and brought in after the
Armistice. There are now over 1,000,
1914-18 war casualties commemorated
in this site. Of these, nearly 300 are
unidentified and special memorials are
erected to 89 British soldiers known
to be buried among the unknown graves.
In particular, 87 officers and men of
the 6th London Regiment, who fell on
the 25th September, 1915, in the capture
of Loos, and were buried by themselves
on the South-West side of the town,
are now buried (but without individual
identification) in Plot III, Rows H,
J, K and L. The 8th Canadian Battalion
erected a wooden memorial in the cemetery
to their officers and men who fell in
the Battle of Hill 70 (East of Loos)
on the 15th August, 1917. The cemetery
covers an area of 5,652 square metres.
MAROC CHURCHYARD, in the middle of the
village, was used for the burial of
18 British soldiers, between June, 1915
and January, 1916; but these were among
the graves moved into Maroc British
Cemetery after the Armistice. It was
an enclosure not intended for burials,
and not used for civilian burials. |
