Serre Road No.1 Cemetery is a very large Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery situated on the No Man’s Land over which the Leeds and Bradford Pals attacked the village of Serre.

The Memorial to the Missing is the largest British war memorial in the world.

The memorial carries the names of 73,412 soldiers missing after the Battle of the Somme.

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). 

A typical cemetery is surrounded by a masonry wall with wrought iron gates at the entrance. In larger sites a historical notice gives an account of the conflict in which those commemorated in the cemetery died and the history of the cemetery.  A register for the cemetery is also likely to be found within a bronze register box. 

After the Great War the public wanted to set up permanent memorials to those who had fallen during the conflict. 

In 1917 the Imperial War Graves Commission was formed to design the cemeteries and memorials to those who had been killed.