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updated: May 27, 2003
LEBUCQUIERE COMMUNAL EXTENTION
Lebucquiere village was occupied by British forces on the 19th March, 1917, during the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line. It was recaptured by the Germans on the 23rd March, 1918, after a fierce resistance by the 19th (Western) Division; and it was finally reoccupied by the 5th Division on the 3rd September, 1918. The Cemetery Extension was begun on the 24th March, 1917, and was used by the 1st Australian Division and other units for almost a year; and after the reoccupation of the village it was used again for a fortnight. It contained at the Armistice 150 graves, but it was then greatly enlarged by the concentration of British graves from the surrounding battlefields. There are now over 750, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, over a third are unidentified and special memorials are erected to 19 soldiers from the United Kingdom and one from South Africa, known or believed to be buried among them. Another special memorial bears the name of a soldier from the United Kingdom, buried in Bertincourt German Military Cemetery, whose remains could not be found on exhumation. The cemetery covers an area of 2,949 square metres and is enclosed by a low wall.