The First World War battle of Moreuil Wood was fought in March 1918. On 27 March the Canadian Cavalry Brigade was assigned to the 2nd British Cavalry Division, and three days later was ordered to recapture Moreuil Wood, near Amiens, France, which had recently fallen to the German advance. Lord Strathcona’s Horse’s C Squadron, commanded by Gordon Muriel Flowerdew, began circling the wood to attempt to trap the enemy. The troop was confronted by two lines of Germans, “each about sixty strong, with machine guns in the centre and flanks,” Flowerdew would recall. Given the choice between retreat and attack, either of which might lead to substantial losses, Flowerdew chose the latter. In a cavalry charge reminiscent of Waterloo or Balaklava, C Squadron inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy and forced the survivors to withdraw, but lost 70 per cent of its own troopers doing so. Flowerdew himself, wounded in both thighs, died the next day. He was awarded the Victoria Cross.
