Ernest Lawrence Stuart

BANNEVILLE-LA-CAMPAGNE WAR CEMETERY III E 27

In September 1944, the 4th Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment was fighting its way across the Franco-Belgian and Dutch borders into the Netherlands. As part of the 146th Infantry Brigade inside the famous 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division (known by their polar bear insignia), the battalion spent September pushing forward in the wake of the massive Allied breakout from Normandy.

Private Stuart did not live to see that month's advance into the Netherlands. He was killed in action during the final, intense weeks of the Normandy Campaign.

At the start of the month, the 4th Lincolns were involved in the bitter, methodical siege to liberate the heavily fortified French port of Le Havre (Operation Astonia). The city surrendered on 12 September.

Following the victory at Le Havre, the battalion moved rapidly eastward across northern France and into Belgium to keep pace with the retreating German forces.

By mid-to-late September, the battalion crossed the Belgian-Dutch border. They were operating on the flanks of Operation Market Garden, tasked with securing supply routes, clearing stubborn pockets of German resistance, and pushing towards positions near Tilburg and the Turnhout Canal.