Maroeuil French Cemetery

Historical Information (Source: Wikipedia))

The French Nécropole Nationale de Maroeuil covers an area of 2,200 square metres and contains the remains of 585 French soldiers from the First World War in individual graves.  It was created during the course of the war.

Monument to the 160e RI - In honour of the 160e RI

 

Within the cemetery you will also find the monument erected in honour of the soldiers from the 156e and 160e Régiments d’Infanterie.

It was inaugurated on the 11th May 1919 and financed by the parents of Commandant Georges Lillemann who had been killed at La Targette on the 9th May 1915. (A Commandant is more or less a Major but such a rank would command one of the three battalions in the regiment).  There are approximately 150 officers and men remembered on the monument. Some of them are buried within the cemetery the Commandant Lillemann lies in Row 2 Grave 109.

 

To the memory of Commandant Lillemann and his companions in arms. Heroes of the fields of honour in Lorraine and Artois.

Lillemann, Georges Modèste, Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur, twice mentioned in dispatches. Battalion commander of the 156e Régiment d’Infanterie. An officer of great valour and uncommon energy. Made his battalion within his six months of command a unit of the highest order. Leading his men against the German trenches on the 9th May he was fatally injured by a head wound at the age of 43.