Merville Communal Cemetery Extension

Historical  Information (Source: CWGC)

Merville Communal Cemetery was used by French troops (chiefly cavalry) in October 1914, and for Commonwealth burials from that date until August 1916 (in the case of officers, to March 1918).

 

It now contains 1,268 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, and 12 French war graves. There is also 1 non war burial. The Extension was opened in August 1916, and used by Commonwealth and Portuguese hospitals until April 1918. It was enlarged after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the battlefields immediately north and east of Merville and from the following cemetery:- CAUDESCURE HALTE CEMETERY, MORBECQUE, which was close to the road and the light railway from Merville to Hazebrouck, and just within the Bois-Moyen. It was made by fighting units, and it contained the graves of 38 soldiers from the United Kingdom who fell in the period April-August, 1918.

 

The Extension now contains 920 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, 345 of them unidentified. The 92 Second World War burials (18 of them unidentified) occurred mostly during the fighting in May 1940 and are interspersed among the First World War graves.  The Extension also contains 19 war graves of other nationalities. The Extension was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

 

Served with

  • United Kingdom (641)
  • German (11)
  • Canadian (5)
  • South African (2)
  • Australian (1)
  • Polish (1)

Served in

  • Army (641)
  • Air Force (20)
Merville Com Cem Ext
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