Serre was one of a number of front line villages in the Somme sector that had been heavily fortified by the Germans ever since they had taken up their positions in the area in late September 1914.

Owl Trench Cemetery is located 2km south east of Gommecourt on the south side of the road from Gommecourt to Puisieux.

The village of Hébuterne was in Allied hands from 1915 until the German advance of March 1918 when part of it had to be given up. The eastern part of the commune remained in German hands until February 1917, and was theirs again in the summer of 1918.

Rossignol Wood Cemetery is located 1.75km south east of Gommecourt on the south side of the road from Gommecourt to Puisieux.

Hebuterne village remained in Allied hands from March 1915, to the Armistice, although during the German advances in the summer of 1918, it was practically on the front line.

Rossignol Wood was taken by the Germans at the end of March 1918 and recovered in the following July.

The cemetery was begun in March 1917, by the 46th Division Burial Officer, about 350 metres to the west of the wood. The German plot was added after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the battlefields immediately to the south and south-west.

Gommecourt British Cemetery No.2 is situated 1km south east of Gommecourt, on the north side of the minor road between Hébuterne and Bucquoy.

Many of those from the 56th (London) Division killed at Gommecourt are buried in Gommecourt British Cemetery No.2. 

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. 

Gommecourt Wood is right of centre and Gommecourt in the centre. 

The 46th (North Midland) Division attacked the German positions along the edge of Gommecourt Wood from trenches which ran across the fields in the foreground. 

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’. 

Gunner N.H Bradbury enlisted in the Territorial service on May 6th, 1909.  He was mobilised on August 4, 1914, his unit then being the 3rd London Brigade, R.F.A., which stayed in England until October 4, 1915 when it embarked for France. 

Its first action was at Sailly-au-Bois, November 1915.  On January 27, 1916, the Kaiser's birthday anniversary, he was in the front line at Loos, going from there to the Somme, where he took part in offensive of July 1, 1916.  He wrote:

A soldier serving in Queen Victoria's rifles described the events of the day:

We left our trenches under cover of a terrific artillery fire from our own guns and a barrage of fire from the German trenches and guns, and also machine gun fire from them, and also under cover of a tremendous cloud of smoke which we threw out.  At about 7.30 in the morning we went over in waves at about 40 yards interval.