Foncquevillers Military Cemetery is located on the western edge of the village of Foncquevillers.

Foncquevillers Military Cemetery was made originally by French troops and taken over by the British in the summer of 1915. 

Gommecourt Wood New Cemetery is situated 0.5km north west of Gommecourt, to the west of the D6 road to Foncquevillers.

Foncquevillers was in British hands in 1915 and 1916. 

On July 1, 1916 the northern part of Gommecourt was attacked by the 46th (North Midland) Division and the southern part of the village by the 56th (London Division). 

Gommecourt is in the centre, Gommecourt Wood left of centre and Foncquevillers beyond the village and wood. 

The German front lines skirted the edge of Gommecourt Wood, crossing the road leading from the foreground to the village just before the dogleg in the road. 

At the time of the attack, Gommecourt was a strongly fortified village held by the Germans. 

The village in the foreground is Hébuterne.  The wood in the centre-upper part of the picture is Gommecourt Wood, with the village of Gommecourt itself just beyond the wood.  The village in the top left of the picture is Foncquevillers. 

The German front line ran along the nearest edge of Gommecourt Wood, the tip of the wood to the left being the site of the ‘Kaiser’s Oak’. 

Gommecourt is situated approximately 15km north of Albert on the D6 between Puisieux and Foncquevillers.

Some of the bloodiest fighting of the entire Somme offensive took place around the village of Gommecourt.  On the first day of the battle there were a total of almost 9,000 Allied and German casualties in a single day. 

The irony was the attack on Gommecourt was not a part of the Somme offensive in the accepted sense – it was merely a diversionary tactic to take German attention away from the preparations further south.