Wancourt Cemetery

Wancourt is a village about 8 kilometres south-east of Arras. It is 2 kilometres south of the main road from Arras to Cambrai. The cemetery is a short distance south-east of the village.

Wancourt played an important role in the attacks by General Allenby's Third Army in 1917. The village was captured on 12 April 1917, after very heavy fighting, and the advance was continued on the following days. The cemetery, called at first Cojeul Valley Cemetery, or River Road Cemetery, was opened about ten days later. It was used until October 1918, but was in German hands from March 1918 until 26 August, when the Canadian Corps recaptured Wancourt .

At the Armistice, the Cemetery contained 410 graves, but was very greatly increased in the following years when graves were brought in from small cemeteries and isolated positions on the battlefields south-east of Arras. The cemetery now contains 1, 936 burials and commemorations of the First World War, including the grave of Alfred Ormerod (Grave Ref. VII. C. 14.), of the Royal Fusiliers, who died on 24 April 1917.